Our last week in San Juan was spent saying many goodbyes. After two months, you would not expect to become so integrated into a community, but el calor puertorriqueño makes it impossible not to. The friendly faces are truly what have made this experience so special, and I am so grateful for the people that I met and hope to stay in touch with for years to come.

We did the best that we could to get as close to our goal as possible, but we had some cancellations and no-shows this week. We were still able to run a few sets of participants before we packed up our bags and left the lab. Although the air conditioner was broken and it got pretty crowded with four peoplein one small room, I still grew to like our workspace and am thankful that our UPRRP faculty member was generous enough to let us use her space for the two months we were there. The beautiful campus that we got to work at each day will also be dearly missed, so I was glad to have spent some time outside in the campus garden before leaving.

We also had to say goodbye at our local bakery, where we spent many early mornings chatting with the community members and enjoying delicious pastries and coffee. Enrique, one of the owners, almost brought me to tears when he said that we would always have a home there. We were so lucky to be welcomed into the neighborhood with such kindness.

And of course, I had to say goodbye to my octopus friend! Until this week, I was not able to capture a photo of her, but she posed very nicely for me as a goodbye present. I showed her off to one of our friends here, who was amazed that she stayed in the same spot pretty much constantly. We also got to see a fantastic last sunset on the beach complete with a rainbow!

Although it was very tough to leave such a colorful, warm, and scenic place, I can’t wait for the fall, when we will analyze the data that we collected to look for code switching patterns. I am so thankful for PIRE and this unforgettable experience and for all of the people that helped me along the way.