A long time coming...

As a disclaimer...I am on a computer without English spell check, and I suck at spelling....sorry!

Yes, it has been a long time since I have updated, this I know. And, boy, do I have a lot of things to tell vosotros! One of the main reason I haven't updated in two weeks is because the first week of my absence was plagued with really bad homesickness. I was getting very frustrated with some of the things going on at my school, and this just triggered a cascade of emotions that I think were just waiting to be released. This is normal, of course, in the situation I am in, so far from home and for so long. I was missing a lot of my friends from RipCo and dwelled on the fact the I was cut so out of the loop. After about 5 or 6 days of feeling minorly crappy, however, I snapped out of my funk and got back to having an amazing time here. The funny thing is, never during this period did I get the sensation of hating Spain or feeling as if I couldn't comunicate. Instead, it was frustration with other students or with my program.

Now, I know 5 or 6 days probably doesn't seem long to people reading this back home, but when you are in a study abroad program, and live and breathe and eat and sleep entirely within the program and the program is all you have, the ups are amazing and the downs are terrible. One day can feel like a week sometimes, and other times a week can flash by in a second. It's a strange sensation to have time fluctuate like this, but after a while it becomes like second nature. The days I was not doing so well felt like they lasted forever, but now that I am better everything is continuing to go by so quickly. In this way one learns to cherish the time here.

After my little funk, two weekends ago I went to Madrid on my own (the AVE high speed train only takes 25 minutes to get to Madrid from Toledo and leaves often so it is super easy to get there). I spent the entire day walking the streets, going to stores, sitting in parks and watching people go by, and just having a nice day to myself, with no other Fundación students. It was a nice and well-deserved break and I think was one of the major things that helped me get over my frustrations and homesickness. I have fallen in love with Madrid. It is such a wonderful and beautiful city with so much culture. I love the Gran Vía, which is one of the busiest and most important streets. It is basically the "down town" of the historic section and everything is close to it. Strangely, one of my favorite things to do in Madrid is ride the Metro and watch people, a veces trying to understand bits and pieces of conversation to improve my listening abilities (hey, we were told in MaxSA that eavesdropping is not bad if for educational purposes!).

The week since then has been fairly good. Lots of homework, but nothing I can't handle. I feel fairly well prepared when it comes to writing and speaking, especially after having Voces Españolas I y II with Prof. Reed (those two classes really helped my with speaking and writing literary ideas) as well as Composition with Prof. Guevara-Geer (this class helped me be able to write papers and cohesively put ideas together in a paper in Spanish). Now, when I am handed an assigment for a three page paper or 5 minute presentation, I am confident in my abilities to achieve the minimums and even excede them. Our department at Ripon is fantastic, and I really can see this after removing myself from Ripon and putting myself in a situation like this.

This last weekened was fantastic! We had our long excursion with the Fundación to Ávila and Salamanca in Castilla y Leon. Avila was beautiful, but we only spent Friday morning there. We saw the cathedral and walked on the walls of the city, which are amazingly preserved. From the walls we also got to see the monastery of Santa Teresa (misticismo!), and I also got to buy Yemas, which are egg yolk mixed with sugar until they are spongey. We then made our way to Salamanca (on an absolutely gorgeous mountain road). Friday night, all of the Fund kids went out to a few discotecas and had a pretty good time. I was also lucky because I got two really cool guys as my hotel roommates.

Saturday we went to the Cathedrals (the new one is built into the old one), the University (very famous and very beautiful), the House of Shells (which is now the public library, where we learned it is common to put libraries in old historic sites as it ensures their upkeep), and two convents (one for men, one for women). Everything was amazing. We had a free night and most of us walked around the city and went shopping.

Sunday we got some more free time, as well as we had to fend for ourselves for lunch. Ram (a friend from Notre Dame and one of my hotel roommates) and I found this really cool restaurant that had the most amazing fresh orange juice and fantastic pasta, and for Spain standards was very cheap. We then made our way back to Toledo. It was a fun weekend, but boy, was I tired afterward.

So there you go, my last two weeks all in one entry! It's Tuesday now, so I am at work at the library, work with the same guy I referenced in the last entry. He turned on really loud annoying music a little bit ago, but the other girl working turned it down and barked at him (I love her). However, she has now left me alone with him and he turned it right back up. I guess this is another lesson, that everywhere you will find coworkers you don't like. He also has left me alone right now, and the phone is ringing and I don't know how to answer it, and I have a line of people needing cards, which I don't know how to process yet. C'est la vie. Until next time!

UPDATE: My coworker finally came back from the bathroom after about 7 or 8 minutes, which he went to knowing we had a line for cards needed. Strangely, he reeks of tobacco from the bathroom...hmmm....strange...