Hasta luego Madrid...

Right now it's 9:11pm and this time tomorrow I will be in California. Major bittersweet obviously. I will definitely enjoy being home and relaxing and seeing everyone I haven't seen in months, but I will definitely miss Madrid. It's just now hitting me that I'm actually leaving...I went to a book fair today that's been in the park the past week or so, and as I was walking home, I had to stop and take a bunch of pictures of my street and everything since I realized it would probably be the last time I would see it. Today has been full of feelings like that - "ohhh my god this is the last time i'll walk down these steps/go through this door/take this metro/sit in this chair.." Today was especially hectic since we had our final, and then I had to pack and do a bunch of last minute things like go to the book fair, get ice cream at this one place, get flowers for my senora...and then I also ended up going on an adventure for a few hours trying to help a friend ship his guitar and laptop home (he's staying in Europe for a few weeks and can't carry them around)....and then they ended up not letting him ship it, so I now have another carry on haha.

Right now I'm just sitting at home waiting for dinner. When I finish this I'll finish packing because after dinner, everyone is going out. The plan is to end the quarter with a bang by being spanish and staying out all night. No need to sleep when we can sleep on the plane right?

I cannot believe how fast this trip went by and I want to come back eventually. Hence the title "Hasta luego Marid" I originally had it as Adios, but I decided to change it....Seeya later instead of goodbye.

Oh wow it's been a while

It's been a few weeks since I last updated! Maybe because the past two weekends I was away from Madrid, and the weekdays fly by so fast and I tend to spend my leisure time vegging out on facebook to let my brain rest. BUT now I shall tell you a little bit about Barcelona and San Sebastian!

Barcelona was two weeks ago - I originally wasn't sure if I really wanted to go, since I had already been there, but I'm glad I went since I don't really remember a whole lot from the first time. I went with two friends, and it was nice since we didn't rush around and try to do everything - it was pretty relaxed and we all got to see and do the things we wanted. Mainly we saw Gaudi things and beach things. I think my favorite parts were getting semi lost looking for Park Guell at night for dinner (we learned a few hours too late that the park closes at 8 or something, so we ended up eating at some random statue that had a bench and was lit up) and being fed grapes while lounging on the beach with the Mediterranean Sea washing up around me. That was mostly just a silly thing we did for pictures haha. Oh and also I got to slap a guy from Colorado! We went out one of the nights we were there, and met this couple from Colorado. The guy kept asking for one of us to slap him to get him going again...so eventually I did it! haha it was interesting. They were nice people though!

San Sebastian was last weekend. I went with three other girls from my program. Also a good weekend, not too rushed or busy so we were able to wander around a little every day and just take in the city...or town is more like it. Highlights of that trip were ice skating and surfing for sure. Both in the same day too! The owner of our hostel said he could give us a surfing lesson for cheaper than the place at the beach, so we did that. 15 euros each to rent the board and wetsuit, and then we gave him a bottle of wine as a thank you for the lesson. The lesson started out a little rocky though haha since we got super confused when his brother (who looks almost exactly like him) came up to us instead of him - hilarity ensued, but it's too hard to write it all out so you 'll just have to imagine haha. But overall, surfing was fun - I didn't stand up, but I kind of knelt once, and we paddled out past the break line so I got to feel all cool just sitting on the board out in the ocean watching the sunset.

I'm almost done with my last full week here! Ah so sad - it feels like we are just getting started being normal in Madrid...oh well. I have checked off a few things on my list of things I wanted to do, but the main thing I still have to figure out is the yoga class in spanish. I should be able to do that next week (8 more days oh my). Now, I must buckle down and do all the work that our teachers left for the end :( 10 page paper for Cine, read some stuff and pick a poem to recite for Literature, start studying for Art.