BUSY BUSY BUSY

Wow, I've been bad about updating this thing lately. Things have been pretty hectic around here school-wise.

Last weekend I went to Salamanca with a group of IES kids. The whole trip was organized by the school, so it was really nice to not have to do any of the planning... and only about 35 people went so it was a really good sized group. I really liked Salamanca... it was a beautiful, quaint little city that has a great night life and a lot of college kids. We had a good time, but I think I'd definitely get bored there for more than a weekend.

Friday we had to be at the airport at 6:45am, which was wayyyy too early. We flew to Madrid and then drove about 3 hours on a bus to Salamanca. We got to the hotel, ate lunch, and then went on a guided walking tour of the city. We saw some old buildings/palaces/plazas, and a convent... all of which were very pretty. After about a 3 hour tour, we had free time for the rest of the night. We went and had chocolate and churros with a group of kids from the program, walked around for a while, and then grabbed dinner before heading back to the hotel to get ready to go out. We met up with a group of people to go see a TUNA show, which is a group of university musicians singing/playing guitars, accordians, tambourines, castanets, etc. It was really fun! We hit up a couple bars after that and then headed home.

Saturday we had to be at breakfast at 8am... not fun. We had another walking tour of the city just after breakfast, where we saw the cathedral and the university buildings... both really nice. We had free time for the rest of the day after that. Megan and I grabbed coffee and a tapa at a local cafe and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. Our other roommate showed up too, and we all ended up napping for like 5 hours... I guess we were tired? We got up for dinner around 9pm, and then went back to the room to get ready after dinner. We didn't head out until like midnight so it made for a late night, but we had a ton of fun at some local bars and clubs. My favorite part of the night was when we walked up to this one club, Camelot, and the bouncer was refusing everyone without an invitation. We didn't have one, and were kinda sad that we couldn't go in, but all of a sudden the guy points at Megan and I and tells us to go in... it was pretty sweet! Don't know what the deal was, but apparently being American girls is a privelege in foreign countries!

Had to be up at 9 the next day, had breakfast in the hotel, then headed off on a bus to Segovia. We stopped along the way for this one girl to go pee in the bushes... WEIRD! When we got to Segovia, we had a guided walking tour... saw the aqueduct, the cathedral, a few palaces and plazas, etc. We ate a quick lunch, and then had to be back on the bus to head to the airport.

We finally got home to our apartment about 10pm, after waiting nearly 45 minutes for our bags to show up in baggage claim--ridiculous!

All in all it was a fun weekend!

Now I'm really busy with school. This program is out of control with the number of assignments due in each class all at the same time. Yesterday I turned in a 30 page "cultural guidebook" and I still have so much left. This is more of a list for me than for you, but whatever...

Due next week:
-8 page psychology term paper
-10 page Gypsy paper and 20 minute presentation (both in Spanish)
-Spanish presentation
-8 pages worth of journal entries due
-Spanish Exit Exam
-TRIP TO VENICE FOR THE WEEKEND! (not homework, but I'm putting it there to keep myself going)

The week after that:
-psychology presentation of "Cultural Guidebook"
-5 page article for a travel journal about a place in Barcelona

And then my last week here, I have:
-Spanish Exam
-Infant Social Dev. term paper
-Psychology Exam
-Infant Social Dev. Exam
-Gypsy Exam

Then I get to go HOME! School puts a little damper on the last three weeks of my time here, but hopefully I'll be able to get a lot of work done this weekend and make it through...

Hope all is well on the homefront! I'm very sad to be missing Thanksgiving, but what can you do?

LOVE YOU GUYS!