The last couple weeks

This week has been a busy one here at SUMC! Today is the last day of classes, so we have all been busy finishing up assignments and final papers! I think a lot of people will be celebrating tonight. :) In the next couple weeks, I have 3 finals and one more final paper (12 pages in Spanish) due. Thankfully, I have a lot of time in between finals to study. I guess it is a relief that classes are over, but I actually loved my classes this semester! I wish I could have these same ones next semester! I can´t believe that I go home in exactly two weeks. This semester has gone by so quickly! Usually, I am ready to go home for a break by the time a vacation comes, but not this semester! However, it is starting to feel a little bit like Christmas time here in Madrid. Yesterday, they lit up all the lights and decorations around Sol (the main plaza of the city). It is so pretty! It is also getting colder here, but no real snow. :(

Amsterdam!!

A couple weekends ago, I traveled to Amsterdam, Holland with four of my friends. I absolutely LOVED Amsterdam! It is, by far, one of my favorite cities that I have ever visited. Canals run throughout the city, which makes it a beautiful place to walk around. The houses and building all have a very “European” look. We rented bicycles and rode around the city. Everyone there rides a bike! We rode to the “Iamsterdam” sign, which is recently a very popular tourist destination. One of my favorite things was visiting Anne Frank´s house. It is a museum, and you also see where Anne Frank actually lived. It was a great museum, although it was very sad.

We also strolled through the famous Red Light District, where prostitution is legal, and the women stand in windows and if their red light is illuminated, it means they are available. It was quite the thing to see! There are also a lot of “Coffee shops” that are popular with the tourists and natives. They sell legal cannabis. All the Dutch people also speak flawless English, which was a great relief! I loved the city, the delicious Dutch desserts, and the people (very tall in height). It was a fantastic trip! I would really love to go back to Amsterdam. :)

EMAs in Madrid :)

A couple weekends ago, the European Music Awards were hosted in Madrid. There were a lot of celebrities here for the weekend! My friend and I found out that a MTV party was going to be at the club, Pacha Madrid, on Saturday night. In hopes of seeing celebrities, we went to Pacha that night. Two members of the cast of Jersey Shore, Snooki and PaulyD, were in Madrid to present an award at the EMAs. We had heard that those two would be at Pacha, so we waited inside the club by the door waiting for them to come in. Finally, we saw the two come in and immediately head up to the VIP section. My friend, Andrea, and I really wanted to take a picture with them, so we tried to sneak up to the VIP section. Unfortunately, there was a bouncer that was very strict about letting people who did not have the VIP wristbands into the section. However, when the bouncers switched positions, we asked the new one how we could go upstairs to VIP. Long story short, we ended up bribing him with 40 euros and he let us go right upstairs. The VIP section was actually three floors, and it was so cool! After a lot of searching, we found Snooki, and we took a picture with her!!! We saw PaulyD, but then we lost him in the crowd. It was very exciting! All my friends in the U.S. are jealous that I got to meet the famous Snooki while in the VIP section of Pacha Madrid. :)

Paris!

This past weekend, I went to Paris with two of my friends. I had a great trip! Monday was a day off from school because it was a Spanish holiday, so it was the perfect time to enjoy a 4 day weekend in Paris. We visited all the famous sites (of course!) - The Eiffel Tower, the Arch of Triumph, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Moulin Rouge. My favorite was the Eiffel Tower at night time! It is lit up with millions of light and is gorgeous. Another great aspect of Paris is that the streets are filled with little stands and shops that make crepes. We ate a lot of nutella freshly-made crepes over the four days! They were delicious.

Before this weekend, I had no idea of how big Paris was! Of course I knew it was a huge city, but it is so much larger and more spread out than I had imagined. I liked Paris, but I was definitely ready to come back home to Madrid. Paris was so expensive, and the French people are not nearly as friendly and welcoming as the Spanish. I absolutely love Madrid. I feel much more comfortable in Madrid than I did in Paris. The Madrid streets and metro are cleaner, the people are friendlier, and I speak Spanish. Although Madrid is a large city, it is more manageable. I had a great weekend, and I was so lucky to spend it in Paris. However, by Monday, Madrid is where I wanted to be.

Trip to San Sebastian =)

This past weekend, I went on a school trip to San Sebastian. Each semester, the school organizes three trips, and each student can pick one to go on. They are always very fun, but this one was amazing! It was my favorite school trip so far. Although it was a long bus ride (6 hours), it was well worth it! San Sebastian is in the north of Spain; since it is so close to France, we also visited two French towns on Friday. One was a French beach town that was absolutely gorgeous! It is a very popular vacation spot, and I can definitely understand why! We finished Friday off with a dinner with the whole group, which are always a lot of fun and A LOT of food!

On Saturday, we toured San Sebastian. I can´t even describe how gorgeous it is! There is a beautiful beach that is in the shape of a shell called Playa de la Concha (Shell). The water was SO blue! We went to the top of a mountain that looks over the whole beach and ocean, and even rode little boats around a little man-made river! The rest of the day, we went shopping, explored the old part of the city, and had some great food! It was an amazing weekend.

ZARAGOZA!

This past weekend, my best friend here and I went to Zaragoza. Zaragoza is a spanish city about one hour away from Madrid (on the train). I spent my junior year of high school in Zaragoza, and I lived with a spanish family. I went back for the weekend to visit them and to enjoy the city of Zaragoza. I visited at a perfect time; there was a huge, almost two week festival called "las Fiestas del Pilar." I had a great time catching up with the family, eating their delicious meals, and playing with my little host brother! In the city, there were a lot of street vendors and stands set up for the festival. During the day, my friend and I walked around, and of course bought a few things! At night time, we went to the center of the city to enjoy the festival at night! On Saturday night, there was a huge outdoor concert on the main street. There were SO many people! The whole street was packed with people, all dressed in their typical festival attire of red/black bandanas and overalls with the straps pulled down. Although the weather was much colder than Madrid, we had a fantastic weekend! :)

Well, the semester is already half way done! We have all received our midterm exams back, and I was very happy with my grades! I studied a lot for my tests, so it was refreshing to see my hard work pay off! :) This weekend, I am going on a school trip to San Sebastian, a beautiful city in the north of Spain.

:) Festival

These last couple weeks have been pretty busy. This semester has been going by so quickly! Midterm exams started last week, and I have three more this week. I spent most of this weekend studying, but I did manage to take some time on Sunday to go to a Latin American festival in Madrid. My Latin American studies teacher encouraged us all to go, and he promised that it would be worthwhile. He was correct! :) It was a giant parade with each of the Latin American countries. Each country was represented by people in the traditional, brightly colored clothes dancing through the streets to loud music. It was really fun, and nothing like I have seen before. The majority of the people there were of Latin American decent, and you could tell they were very proud to represent their country in Madrid. Usually Sundays in Madrid are quiet, but for this festival, LOTS of people crowded the street! After the parade, there was a free, outdoor concert of a famous Latin rapping group, Calle 13. I really wanted to stay to watch, but it was late and I had to go home to finish studying! However, my friend stayed and she said it was amazing! There are so many events like this that take place in Madrid, and it really makes me realize how lucky I am to be here! :) This next weekend, my friend and I are going to Zaragoza to visit my host family from my junior year of high school abroad! Midterms will be done, and it will be great to relax and see my spanish family! :)

Madrid :)

This past weekend, I had a great time just enjoying the city of Madrid. After school on Thursday, my friend and I went to one of the shopping malls in Madrid. It is huge! It feels like just like a normal American mall, except the fact that it was PACKED with people on a Thursday around 2:30 p.m. (the Spanish lunch time)! :) Weekends are great in Madrid, you get to walk around the beautiful city during the day, and enjoy the extraordinary nightlife at night! There is a café right outside of my apartment where my friend and I are already considered “regulars.” It is a normal stop for us on the way home from school - to sit at their outside tables and have a tortilla de patata and a granizado de limón (lemon slushy).

Classes have been going really well so far. I really love all my classes this semester! I am taking: Changes in Social Values in Spain from 1975-present, Accounting, Latin American culture, and Business Ethics & Law. So far, these all have been my favorite classes of college! They are all really interesting, and all my professors are great. I am also chairman of the Suffolk Madrid Business Club, and we had our first event this week. We had a student debate, with 5 on each team. The winning team received 50 Euros! It was a great turn out; we had almost 50 people there!:)

Murcia :)

This last weekend, my friend and I went to Murcia. Murcia is located in the south of Spain, and is known for its beautiful beaches. It is about a 5 hour train ride down to Murcia, so it was quite a long trip. However, public transportation is amazing in Spain, and the train was very nice, roomy, and comfortable. My friend knows a spanish girl who lives in Murcia, so we stayed with her in her house this weekend. Her house was about a 15 minute walk to Mar Menor (a beautiful beach)! The weather was very hot so it was a perfect time to go to the beach! :) A lot of other tourists, and Spaniards were enjoying the last few weeks of their summer swimming in the warm, blue water of Mar Menor. We met a lot of Spanish friends, and we had a great time! The best way to practice Spanish is to spend time with Spaniards, so this weekend was a perfect opportunity! :) We arrived in Madrid at around 2 p.m. on Sunday, just enough time to rest up and finish our homework for Monday! This week classes have started to pick up; teachers have assigning more homework. However, from what I´ve seen, everyone seems to be keeping up! :)

¡Hola!

¡Hola! Once again, I am back in Madrid! :) I had a great summer back home in Montana. I was a lifeguard at the city pool, and I taught swim lessons to the little children! I was also very lucky throughout this summer and traveled to California, Florida, and Alaska to visit friends and family. (The picture by the lake is from Alaska). It was a great summer, and I loved seeing all my friends from home. However, by the end of August, I was getting restless to come back to Madrid. All of the returning students mentioned how excited they were to return, and how boring their summers were at home compared to life here in Madrid!

When I landed in the Barajas airport in Madrid, I could hardly wait to get off the plane! I then took a taxi to my new studio apartment, which is in the same building as my best friend here from last year! It was so exciting to move into my new home for the year, and explore the new neighborhood I live in, Salamanca. When I went outside and heard Spanish, saw the metro signs, and smelled tortilla de patata, I realized how much I had missed this city!

The first weekend back, all the new and returning students went on a welcome trip to Salamanca. Salamanca is a city to the northwest of Madrid, and is famous for having one of the oldest universities in the world. My friend and I missed the school bus to Salamanca (we were running a little late), but we went to the bus station in Madrid and found a bus to Salamanca that left that same hour. :) Two hours later, as the bus pulled into the station, my friend and I realized that Salamanca was exactly how we left it a year ago…gorgeous. The cathedral is beautiful, and the Plaza Mayor (at night time especially) is a view I will never forget. The school organizes day activities (such as horseback riding, long Spanish lunches, history of bullfighting, and laser tag) to meet other students and to learn more about Spain. Being a college city, Salamanca also has great nightlife…which ALL the students quickly discovered!:) It is the perfect city to get to know everyone and be introduced to Spain. :)

Santiago de Compostela :)

This past weekend, I went to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia with my Spanish sister, Alicia, to visit her family. We started off with a bit of a rough start...we missed our plane on Friday :( Luckily, we were able to make the next one on Saturday afternoon. I went out to dinner with her and her family on Saturday night. Galicia is especially famous for their seafood because they are on the sea. However, I am a vegetarian so I had some grilled vegetables, home-made french fries, and a delicious Galician crepe for dessert!

I met most of her friends and Alicia showed me the nightlife of Santiago. It was so fun! The next day, we walked around the city. It is the third biggest pilgrimage city in Europe. The famous month long walking trip from southern France to Santiago is referred to as, "el camino de Santiago." There is a gorgeous, huge cathedral in the old part of the city. We walked all around the old streets in the "parte vieja" of the city, taking lots of pictures of course! The new part of Santiago is very modern looking, with a large park in the center. BEAUTIFUL! :)

On our last night, we made tortilla de patata, a famous Spanish dish of egg and potato. Alicia´s friends all came over for dinner, all of them were so nice! Although the tortilla ended up looking misshaped, it was delicious! I had a great time with Alicia in her home city and getting to know her family!

Wrapping up the semester

There are only about 2 and a half weeks in this semester! I honestly cannot believe it went by so fast! This is actually my last week of classes. I am going to Santiago de Compostela, Galicia this weekend. It is a medieval looking town in the northwest of Spain, right above Portugal. The Spanish girl who lived with my family in the United States last year is from Galicia, so we are going to visit her family and city tomorrow! I have been to Galicia once before, but I just went to all the famous tourist spots. It should be nice going around with some of the locals! :)

Next week, I have one paper due and the rest of the week to study for my finals! I am excited to go home for the summer, but I am sure going to miss Madrid. It is just starting to get warm here, I love it. But before we all leave, the school is having a farewell dinner. Last semester, there was also a nice dinner. However, this dinner includes a dance and is a very big, fancy event!

Horseback riding!

This past weekend, Suffolk organized a group to go horseback riding. I enjoy riding horses, and two of my best friends here were going, so I decided to go on the trip as well. We all met at one of the bus stations, and then took a bus for an hour to get to one of the small towns outside of Madrid. It was a great day to go horseback riding- sunny, but not too hot. Everyone else must have thought it was a good day to enjoy the fresh air, because many families were having picnics around the area.

18 of us went on the day trip, so we split into two groups to ride. Some people were expert riders, some intermediate, and then a few who had never ridden a horse before. My horse´s name was Ali, and she was pretty good. She was calm, besides the fact that she did not want to stay in line behind the others. :) It was a great day, and I think all of us had a great time on the activity.

Spring Break- las Islas Canarias

This spring break, I went to the Canary Islands - the island Gran Canaria. They are located to the south west of Spain. My friends and I rented an apartment, at one time there were 11 of us staying there! We went to the pool everyday, and the beach about 4 days. It was absolutely gorgeous! It is a very common vacation destination for Europe, so there were a lot of British, German, and nothern European tourists. It was sure a change from Madrid, but perfect for spring break! The weather was hot enough to wear your bathing suit to the beach, but not too hot to be suffering, it was perfect.

We went parasailing, banana boat riding, spent a day on a "pirate ship," and had an amazing time! While the islands have the beautiful beaches, they also have giant sand dunes. I have never seen so much sand! I am very tempted to go back to the islands for my spring break next year!

Los niños

I do not have any classes on Mondays, so I decided to teach english to children on Monday evenings. Well, it is not teaching, but just playing with the little kids in english! Los niños (the chidren) are ages 5 to 8. I play with two different groups, for an hour each. It is such a fun thing to do! The kids seem to have a great time, and I do too! And let me just warn you... spanish children are the cutest!!! (especially when they are trying to speak in english)! Not only is it fun, but they pay me 20 euros (about $30) an hour! It is great! :)

This week so far has been relatively uneventful. The weather in Madrid has been wonderful the last couple days! Sunny enough to wear just a light sweater! Everyone is starting to get excited about spring break! I leave in less than a week, to the beautiful beaches of the Canary Islands! =)

A Typical Day in Madrid...

On a typical school day, I wake up at 9 am. Actually, most of the times I wake up at 9:30 after pushing "snooze" a couple times on my alarm. :) I get ready for school and head down to breakfast at the dorm. My breakfast usually consists of chocolate cereal, hot chocolate, and some breakfast Spanish cookies. (Sometimes I miss the big American breakfasts! The Spanish ones tend to be lighter and one of the least important meals.) I leave the dorm at around 10:30 to be to school by 11 for my Work Study. It takes about 25 minutes to arrive at school on the metro. Although the metro was a little confusing for the first couple weeks, it now seems like second nature to me.

After Work Study, I have a busy schedule. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, my classes are basically back to back. Although my day is busy, it usually goes by quick. My last class ends at 7:15 pm and after, I take the metro back to the dorm. Dinner is served from 8:30 to 10 pm. Usually, the Americans who live in the dorm are always crowded to eat at 8:30 because we are not used to the late dinner times!

Some nights after dinner, I go to the gym that is about five minutes away with my friend. I have been enjoying the spinning (bike) classes. If I do not go to the gym, I will just spend time with friends - either going to their dorm room or even going to the bar/cafe across the street to have a Coca Cola Lite or un cafe con leche. Of course after I finish having fun, I have to do my homework. The school week always goes by so quickly!

March in Madrid

Usually Thursday afternoons are quiet here at SUMC. People are always packing for weekend trips or even catching up on sleep in preparation for the weekend! ;) Today is even more quiet than usual because today is the last day of Midterms! I have my last test today, for my English class. Most of my friends have already finished all their exams and the celebration has already begun! I am very excited to join them all in the festivities this weekend! :)

The campus has been a bit hectic lately; everyone has been studying for midterms and planning spring break! Spring break is only a few weeks away, I really can´t believe that the semester is going by so quickly! For the break, I am going with five other friends to the Canary Islands. They are Spanish Islands located to the south-west of Spain! I am looking forward to relaxing on the beach! We already booked our flights and apartment for that week! I love studying in Spain because it is so cheap and fast to travel all around Europe. Other people are going to Italy, France, Africa, and any other place you can imagine!

Midterms...already?

This week and next week will be filled with studying here at SUMC. Midterm tests are here! I can´t believe it is already half way through the semester, it has been going by so quickly! I have two midterm tests this week, and two next week. While they are stressful, I know what to expect going into them and feel comfortable. Yesterday, the student council had a bake sale fundraiser. They were selling all kinds of desserts, brownies, cookies, and cake! I had a couple brownies and they were delicious! Sometimes I miss some of the American food, but activities like this here at SUMC help the cravings. :) Also, another lucky aspect about living in such a large, international city, is that you can find essentially whatever you would like. For example, my friend and I always go to this American bakery that is about five minutes from my student dorm. Although all the treats are more expensive than in the United States, they are well worth the price!

Carnaval Love!

This weekend was Carnaval in Madrid. While the most famous Carnaval in Spain is in Cadiz, Madrid still takes part in the fun! It is one big party throughout the city! Dancing, music, and costumes consume Madrid! People went through the streets with giant costumes; it reminded me of Halloween. However, I just wore a simple silver mask. Last year, my family hosted a Spanish girl for a year in the U.S. She is in a Spanish university right outside of Madrid, and next weekend I am going to go to a costume party at her dorm! I am looking forward to it, and then I will have to get a better costume! ;)

It was also Valentine´s day a couple days ago. The SUMC Student Council created a fundraiser for the school. Students or faculty could order flowers to be delivered to the person of their choice on the Thursday before Valentine´s. I believe it was a great success because I saw flowers all around the school! Student Council always comes up with fun activities like that!

On Saturday night, my friend and I went to see the movie, "Valentine´s Day." There are many movie theatres in Madrid that play movies in English. However, we watched it in Spanish so it was called, "Historias de San Valentin." We both really enjoyed it, and it was interesting to hear different voices for the American actors! HAPPY VALENTINE´S DAY!

Granada! =)

This past weekend, I went on a school trip to Granada, a beautiful city in the south of Spain. We took the train as a group, a four hour ride from Madrid. However, most of us slept so it seemed like 5 minutes! We arrived on Friday and spent the afternoon exploring the narrow streets of Granada. Of course, we bought a few souvenirs and had some churros with chocolate (my favorite!). The group visited the famous, grand cathedral that afternoon as well.

On the trips, we always have some meals as a whole group. These are the ones that we all look forward to; they are always so large and delicious! This trip, we had a great dinner at a Moroccan restaurant. The traditional meal consisted of: mint lemonade, soup with a little bit of spice, and couscous. It was definitely a favorite! The school is also great at catering to specific requests. For example, I am a vegetarian so instead of chicken couscous, I had my own plate of vegetable couscous. :)

On Saturday, we all woke up early to visit the Alhambra! It used to be a town within itself, centered around the living grounds of the royalty. It is absolutely beautiful! (Said to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World!) Some of my favorite aspects of the Alhambra were the fountains and small pools of water; they made it so unique and even more gorgeous! (Both of these pictures were taken at the Alhambra) Later that night, we went to a plaza that overlooked the city. A lot of people gathered to watch the sun set, or people sitting on a blanket with their dogs selling jewelry, scarves, or artwork. The sun set over the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada Mountains was spectacular. Bill Clinton has said that it is one of his favorite sites in the world, I would have to agree. =)