End

Well here it is. I am sitting in my apartment at 4:30 in the morning on the day that I am coming home. I just finished packing up all of my belongings and I am watching tv and eating a sandwich. I plan on staying awake until my flight in order to sleep through it. (I have never been very good with sleeping on moving vehicles) I really hope that all of my bags are under weight and everything goes well so that I can go home safely and on time. My flight leaves at 10:45 and flies to DC. From there I arrive in STL just in time for some dinner with the family. (It's Jordan's college graduation. He is graduating a semester early with a double major. He's a champ) My finals week was pretty intense but I made it through just fine. On Thursday we celebrated with a night at the club and then today we had our final program lunch. Our program took us to a very nice hotel and had a great meal for us. It was a wonderful 5 course meal with all kinds of delicious food. All of our professors and our program directors were there so we had the chance to say "bye" to them one last time. A couple of us then walked around the Plaza del Sol for some last-minute gifts and things before we all came back and napped/packed. Tonight was a pretty bittersweet night. We all hung out one last time and had to say our "goodbyes". The "bros" hung out here at our apartment for a while before heading to a bar downtown. Once we got there, we met up with many people from our program. From there, people started breaking off to go home little by little. A couple of us went back to the other girls' apartment to hang out for a while before we eventually decided to turn in for the night. It was actually a little funny because the last person who I said "bye" to was my friend that had been my roommate on the first night in Spain in the hotel. It was kind of funny things worked out like that. I am going to miss all of these people so much. We became very close after these last couple of months and it is going to be hard not being around them all of the time. I hope that I will see them again someday in the future. It is time now though to head back to the good ol' USA and have a very nice break in my own home. There will be lots of family visiting so that will be great. PLUS, I am dying to have some of my mom's home-cooked food. She is like a professional chef. I can't wait. There are many things I am going to miss about Spain but I am so excited to head home and be back in my own country. I can't believe I am going to get to have this experience again but in Milan, Italy. My life is amazing. The next time that I post something, I will be in the United States. I can't wait.

Luke

It's Game Time

This title refers to two things-the first being el clásico, and the second is that it is finals week. It is time to buckle down and crank out all of these papers and a whole lot of studying. I already had one final on Friday. This week's schedule is that I have one final on Monday, two finals on Tuesday and one final on Thursday. My Wednesday is free. I have three papers due this week as well. I have two papers due on Tuesday and one on Thursday. I am trying hard to focus on getting through this week so that way I can come home. I only have 6 days left in Spain and it is hard to try and enjoy them with this cloud of homework residing above all. However, we have definitely tried to find some time to get out and enjoy the last couple of weeks here. We went out a couple of times the past couple of weekends. This Thursday was one of the most fun nights I think that we have had here in a while. A bunch of us went to an apartment and hung out for a while before going out to a club for the night. We were there dancing (and even ended doing karaoke for a while) until the morning. Then we walked for a while in order to get a slice of pizza and rode the morning metro home. It was so awesome. Last night was another great night. El clásico (the soccer game between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the biggest game in all of Spain, if not the world) was last night and so a bunch of us went to a bar downtown in order to watch the game with many other rowdy fans. Half the game we spent in a huge crowd, crunching together every time a waiter had to walk through and the other half we were standing comfortably in a back room. It was quite hilarious because right next to us were these two middle-aged spanish men that were clearly good friends, but on both sides of the game. Everytime anything happened they just jabbed each other with insults and jokes. It was one of the funniest conversations I have ever heard. 95% of the bar were Madrid fans but the other 5% of us went crazy every time Barca scored and it was even better when they ended up winning. Other than that, I just have to focus on getting work done so I can come home and be with all of my family and friends. I am so excited and a little ready too.

Luke

Lisbon

Last week was our final out of the country trip to Lisbon, Portugal. We left with numbers. There were 9 of us from our program going. About half of them were running the half marathon there. The flight didn't leave until 1:30 on Friday so we had the chance to sleep in a little bit. The flight to Portugal was only 55 min also so that was very nice. Our hostel in Portugal was very cool. Everybody that worked that was so nice and chill. They made us drinks every night and we hung out in the lobby each night too. Once we got settled in at our hostel we ate lunch right across the street at this local portuguese restaurant. The food was great and it was also very cheap. I loved that about Portugal. Things were so cheap. I had some vegetable soup, chicken with fries, salad and rice and a lemon mousse that was delicious. Because a lot of people were there to run the half marathon, there was not a whole lot of going around to see things. Those of us who were not running had a lot of fun though. We went out the first night to a couple of different bars and had a good time. (Also that night I had an amazing grilled swordfish) Saturday (the day before the half) people were just hanging out and stuff so we didn't accomplish much. We ate out more and that night we went to a great italian place so the runners could get some pasta in them. (I had a delicious linguini with scallops and capers) The next day (the day of the race) everybody that wasn't running hung out for a bit in the hostel and then went to visit a couple of famous landmarks. The Vasco de Gama bridge and tower. The bridge is the longest in the country and it was something to do. We were all pretty tired so after we ate lunch in that area we came back to the hostel to see how everybody did and hang out before catching our flight home. Everybody ran under 2 hours so they were all pretty excited. The trip was a lot of fun and it was definitely nice to get away from all the work that we have now. Today we have a holiday so everybody is just writing papers, studying for finals and trying to find time to relax. However, one thing did happen and that is that after 2 and a half years, Sam and I broke up. I don't want to say a whole lot about it, just that it was a bit of a surprise to me and that I regret nothing from the past 2 years together. I am very upset, but going to enjoy my last few weeks here in Spain before I go home for Christmas. If you want to know more or how I am doing, just message me on facebook.

Luke

A Break from School

It's that time of the semester..finals week/s. This week was the beginning of the end. With only a few more weeks left before we all return home for Christmas break, we are being bombarded with schoolwork. I had two presentations and a paper due this week so I am running on little sleep right now. In the next two weeks I have about 3-4 other papers due and then, of course, finals. I am not too worried about it all, I will just have to focus over the next two weeks. However, this weekend is a nice break from all of that work. Last night we went to a play in downtown Madrid that was offered through our literature class. It was a play called Persefone and it was by far one of the strangest things I have ever seen in my entire life. It was about the idea of death and mortality but it was a dark comedy. There were people wearing crazy masks and singing and dancing and so many inappropiate things that would not fly in the US. It was insane to say the least. Today, after my first class, I got on a bus to Toledo (about 45 min away) to do some shopping and visit with Sam for a bit. I bought presents for my mom, dad, brother, grandma and grandpa. I did some rapid shopping and finished everything up there pretty quickly. I grabbed some fries with Sam, walked her to class and then headed back home. I hung out in my apartment for a couple of hours, eating and watching some TV. Later, at about 8:15, my roommates and I headed downtown to a new, somewhat up-scale market to meet up with some other friends. The market was very cool. The ground floor was filled with different types of meats, fish, fruit, vegetables and cheeses. The second floor was filled with little places to try different types of food. They were a little pricey but all gourmet as well. We all split a bottle of cider before sampling some of the food. I had a slice of pizza, a duck sausage hotdog and strawberries with cream. Afterwards a couple of us walked around downtown to look at some of the Christmas lights that are starting to go up throughout the city. Then, I found the most amazing thing possible. A crepe place. I had my favorite banana and nutella crepe and all was good. It doesn't really feel like Christmas yet here because of the weather and lack of snow so we have to try and make the best of it. For example, I oought a Spider-Man advent calendar. It's the little things that count. This weekend I am headed off to Portugal with about 8 other friends. It should be a great time. Then, unfortunately, it's back to the heavy workload.

Luke

Granada

So my friends (Jay and Eric) and I decided on Thursday night that we would plan a trip to Granada this weekend. We booked our hostel for Friday and Saturday night and then went out for the evening. We stayed out pretty late on Thursday so Friday morning's busride was very rough. I didn't sleep as much as my friends and those turns up and around the mountains definitely got to me. The ride down was a total of about 5 hours. Granada is a city in the south of Spain, famous for a few things. The main attraction of the city is the Alhambra, which is a giant palace/fortress built up on the side of a mountain. Another famous attribute of the city is that it is THE city for tapas (small plates of food that accompany a drink in Spain). There are tapas in basically every city in Spain, but in Granada they give you large tapas. We arrived on Friday around 5ish to our hostel which was located in the Arab part of town. It was back up a couple streets that were filled with Arab vendors, selling everything from purses, flags, tea, lamps, hookahs and anything else you could associate with the Arab world. Our hostel was called Oasis-Granada and it was very cool. The people that worked there were very nice and me met a couple of people from our room (one of which was this mexican guy who taught us all kinds of things about mexican life/spanish-speaking life). So after we arrived at our hostel, we walked all around the area looking at different tapas bars and sampling differing kinds. At one place near our hostel, with every beer we received a whole sandwich and a plate of fries. At a chinese place, we got two rounds of drinks with tapas of 2 things of noodles, dumplings, spring rolls and chicken wings. We took naps later that evening and just kind of hung out, walking around the city. My friend Eric introduced us to shawarmas (a type of Middle Eastern sandwich wrap filled with meat and veggies). They were so good. Later on Friday night we went to a Middle Eastern place called the "Shawarma King" and the king himself (this crazy Arab dude that was big, had a massive beard and an even bigger personality) was the one that sat us. We ordered some tea and some crepes and they were very good (although he overpriced us like crazy). One of the craziest/funniest things that has ever happened to me happened when we told him we were from America. He went "Oh my God!" and started like joke hitting me and pretending to choke me and like bopped me on the head. Afterwards, we all just looked at each other and laughed so hard. I was attacked by the king. We went to bed pretty late and unfortunately had to wake up early on Saturday morning for the walk up to the Alhambra. We were there for an 8:30 tour and it was absolutely freezing. We didn't realize that the temperature in the morning would drop down to the 40s. We had on light jackets and couldn't feel our toes or hands for a good 4 hours. It was so amazing, though. The palace was huge and the Arabic architecture was some of the most incredible I have ever seen. We also had the tour guide headset things and they were an amazing idea because we got to learn so much about the history of the fortress/structures that made up the Alhambra. We then went back to the hostel for a bit to take a nap and then we went on a walking tour sponsored by our hostel. They set up a tour through the hostel that went up the mountain and around to look at the caves of the gypsies and hippies. Granada is all about living in caves. Many people live in caves that can actually be very nice (obviously not the squaters caves where the gypsies live). Our tour guide said he lived in a cave for a year (until he found a giant centipede in his bed). Needless to say, I wouldn't do it. On Saturday, we probably walked more than 5 miles in total, up and down hills mostly. We were all a little sore in our legs after that. When the tour was over, we went to more tapas bars, where we had some bagel sandwiches with some fried steak in them and another place that had a variety of fried fish as their tapas. We then went back to the hostel and napped before going out for the night. We hung out in the hostel bar for a little bit and then ended up going to a cave bar/club. It was very, very cool. They had built a club into some caves. The dance floor was on the side of a mountain and the walls were all glass so that we could have an awesome view of the Alhambra. We were there until very late/early in the morning and only got a few hours of sleep before we had to catch a bus to the bus station to come back to Madrid. Our bus to Madrid left at 10:00AM and we got back to Madrid about 3:15. Luckily, on this trip I slept for most of it. We were all starving and dead tired when we got back to the city. I just sat around the rest of the day watching tv shows and waiting to start my busy week of work. This weekend though I am traveling. On Thursday, I am going to Toledo to do some shopping and take Sam out to lunch and then on Friday-Sunday 9 of us are going to Portugal. I am not sure if I am running this half-marathon or not yet. I have been sick for a while so I haven't had any good running lately. I still have 3 days to sign up so we will wait and see.

Luke

Thanksgiving in Spain

So I will be attempting to write two blog posts today. One of the posts (this one) is about our Thanksgiving dinner/night in Spain and the other one is about this past weekend in Granada. Last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, our program sponsored a dinner for us at a local restaurant. Funny enough, the restaurant was Tony Roma's. We all got pretty dressed up because it was "Thanksgiving" and made our way downtown. One of the very few American restaurants in Madrid. We each had a plate of appetizers that consisted of a chicken wing, chicken tender, crispy wontons, jalapeno popper and a mozzarella stick (along with honey mustard and ranch). I don't like ranch but I was very excited to have honey mustard again. It was awesome. Then we had the choice between salad or smoked salmon. (I had the salmon and it was delicious) We then had our actual Thanksgiving style course with turkey covered with a kind of bbq sauce that wasn't half bad. For dessert I had a brownie covered with ice cream and chocolate sauce. By the end, we were so full. It definitely wasn't the best Thanksgiving meal I have ever had, because my mom makes the best in the world, but it was enough to tide me over until I get home for Christmas. After the dinner we decided that we would go to a bar and do something a little American to keep up with tradition so we found a bar nearby and ordered a couple buckets of beers. We hung out for a while at the bar, talking a lot about how good the food would be back home and how we are all excited to get back there. It was a fun night.

Luke

Aranjuez-Chinchón

I am getting more sick by the day, unfortunately. It's more annoying than it is bad. I don't feel 100%, that is true, but it still can't keep me down. Yesterday we went on our last program-sponsored day-trip to two places: Aranjuez and Chinchón. There were a lot fewer of us than normal because this was a trip that they planned only a few weeks ago and not as many people signed up. We still had a really good group though. Our first stop was in Aranjuez, a small little town about half an hour away. The real purpose as to why anybody would go there is the royal palace that is there. We went on a tour throughout the palace which was pretty amazing. There was also a museum after the tour that had a lot of artifacts from the kings and queens of Spain throughout the last couple of years. They had a lot of the clothing of all the royals. There was one whole room dedicated to the wedding dresses of the queens and princesses. (The girls liked that part the most) After we left the palace, we got back on the bus for about another 45 min to a town called Chinchón. Chinchón is a very cool little town famous for a couple of things. The Plaza Mayor in the center of town also acts as a bullfighting ring. The church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción has an early painting of Goya. Next to the church is a theatre house of Lope de Vega. The best part is the restaurant where we ate. It is called Meson Cuevas del Vino. It is a very interesting restaurant where they have these massive casks of wine under the restaurant. It was super cool. Lunch was absolutely amazing. We had maybe 20 different tapas that made up our meal. A couple examples were olives, peppers, cheese, chicken, fish, chorizo, bread with ham and tomato and desserts. Everybody, of course, passed out on the bus on the way home. I decided to stay in last night and watch some tv before getting a nice 11 hour sleep. I am still sick though so let's see where it goes from here. This week=more work, a project, Thanksgiving dinner for our program and then our trip down south. I am excited.

Luke

Sick in Spain

So I am a little sick. My throat hurts, my noise is running and I am tired allllll the time. Is that getting me down? Of course not. Do you know me? I am keeping my spirits up because I am living in Madrid, Spain and I have no reason to be upset or down about anything. Even sickness. I woke up this morning about 20 minutes before class (class is a 15 minute walk away) so I am "bumming" it. I threw on wool socks, sweatpants, shirt, sweatshirt and a hat (because my hair was craaaaazy). The thing is, it is so comfortable. I love it. I had time between class to hang out so I came home, made some tea and decided to write a quick blog entry. Class is still going very well. I had a quiz today in my grammer class (dominated it) and I have a few projects due in the next couple of weeks. This weekend I am going on a day trip with our program to a town called Chinchón. We don't know much about it, but they are taking us to a restaurant that looks divine. It is inside a winery and is only costing each of us 10 euro for the whole day. The rest of the weekend we are hanging out in Madrid. I will be sleeping a lot and trying to get as healthy as I can. By the way, random input-something very upsetting happened when we arrived in France. We found out that they don't stamp your visa when you entering another country inside the EU. I wanted to have all those stamps after this year. Oh well. I know where I went. Well, I will keep you informed about this day trip this weekend and will have pictures from that later. I would write more, but it is time for class again. These are some pictures from our trip to the Congress a while ago.

Luke

5 more weeks

Today marks the countdown of 5 weeks left in Spain. 5 weeks? I feel like that is not a whole lot of time. There is still so much I want to do and see. I still love it here just as much as the first day. I definitely miss a lot of things from back home. I especially miss my family and friends. Friends from home and friends from school. I miss my house and my bed. I am so excited for when I get home because we will have more family in our house for Jordan's graduation. I really miss cheap McDonald's. I STILL have not eaten at McDonald's in Europe. I am holding strong. This has been a pretty good week. Classes went well and we had a holiday on Wednesday. It was nice only having class on Mon-Tues and then Thursday. We went out a couple of nights so far this weekend but now I am just trying to find time to relax. I have been watching a lot of The Office and laying around. I have been a little productive though, sending some important emails. I do what I can. I am still in the process of making more travel plans for the next couple of weeks. Thanksgiving weekend some friends and I are touring the south of Spain and the first week in December some of us are going to Portugal. Besides those two trips, I am not sure where else I am going or when. The problem is that everything is so darn expensive. It's ok, I am not out of money yet! Well I am going to get some kebab and watch a movie. Living the dream. I also put up a picture of some of us on Halloween (we all went with togas because we are lazy) and then a picture of Sam, Gabby and I outside the Louvre.

Luke

Bienvenu à Paris

Finally, some real world traveling. I spent this past weekend in wonderful Paris, France. I went with Sam and some of her friends from the program. We left early on Friday morning (so early that we had to stay the night in the airport). Trying to sleep in the airport is one of the worst things in the world. It was cold, then hot and 100% uncomfortable. Our flight left at 635 and we landed in France at 830ish. We were in some random airport that we had to take an hour and 40 minute bus ride until we were in the actual city. We all slept either in the airport, on the plane or on the bus. Once we arrived at the city, we went to our hostel to drop off our bags. We couldn't check in yet but they had places for us to store our belongings. Our hostel was located right up the street from Moulin Rouge. (We didn't go to it) We first went to Notre Dame (with the Notre Dame kids. Kind of funny.) We walked all around the cathedral and took lots of pictures. It is about to celebrate its 850th birthday. Crazy! We ate some lunch afterwards and then walked around for a bit before checking in at our hostel. While the rest of our group took a nap, Sam, her friend Dallas and I went to go meet up with some other people from their program to go look through a park and a famous cemetary. Afterwards we went on a night cruise through the city which was very cool. We got to see so much of the area around the Eiffel Tower. We went back to our rooms that night and slept so hard. We were all exhausted. We were up early on Saturday and took the train to Versailles. Versailles is amazing. It is a huge palace with so much to see. The best part was that everything was free. We got free access to the palace, the gardens, the Trianon and Marie Antoinette's hamlet. We spent the whole day there. We didn't get back to Paris until maybe 7:30. We ate dinner at a little Italian place and then went to the other girls' apartment (that they rented) and we all watched Beauty and the Beast. It seemed like an appropriate movie to watch while we were in France. It was a very fun and relaxing night. On Sunday, we went back to the Eiffel Tower (that way we could take pictures during the day). Afterwards we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, took a few pictures and then Sam and I hopped on the metro to the Louvre. We met up with one of our friends who was visiting Europe for a few weeks. We were so excited to meet her in Paris. We all then met up and went to check out the Louvre for a bit. We went to see the Mona Lisa (kind of a let-down but necessary I guess). Shortly after the Louvre, we said our goodbyes to our friend and then started the journey to the airport. We had to go to the hostel to get our bags, take a couple of metros and then jog to the bus. We made it in time and everything went well. Our flight left at 10:20 and I eventually arrived at my apartment by 1:30-2. My overall impression of Paris was as follows..I loved it. It was absolutely amazing in my eyes. I am not a huge fan of the language; I think Spanish and Italian sounds a lot better. The weather might have had a very big impact as to why I loved it. There was an actual fall season. The weather was around the 50's and the leaves were falling and filling the streets. We were very lucky because it was supposed to rain all weekend and it didn't rain one time. My favorite part was the food. I made sure I did all the essentials. I had french onion soup (there known as onion soup), french bread (they gave us bread at every meal),croque monsieur, escargot and, of course, crepes! Crepes are possibly the best thing that France has ever done. The best crepe-with Nutella and banana. I ate so many. They still haunt my dreams. The people weren't mean at all either. We only had encounters with friendly people. I would love to return to this country one day. Now it's back to school. I am not sure if I am traveling this weekend but if anything else exciting comes up in the next couple of days, I will let you all know.

Luke

Break is over

Well I will start out with the very upsetting news..Friday morning Sam and I were supposed to leave for London. It was a very early flight and we ended up missing our flight. The alarm didn't go off on my phone and by the time I woke up, it was too late. What made it even worse was that there were no other flights for the rest of the weekend. My roommate also missed his flight and ended up paying $400 for another one. There was no chance that I was going to do that. It was very unfortunate and we were both very very upset about missing the trip. We did our best to salvage the weekend and turned it into a relaxation fest. We spent most of the break laying around watching tv shows and eating out for a couple of meals. It was very nice. Also, it turns out that her friends are going to London later and my friends are going to London later too so we should be able to go after all.

Midterms went well. I studied a lot harder than I thought I would but I am sure that it is going to pay off. Hopefully we will get our tests back this week and we can see how we all did. This break was very nice. We had no class from Friday until Wednesday. They cancelled class on Monday because there was a national holiday on Tuesday and it would mess up our break if we had Monday class. Last night was Halloween and the whole day leading up to it did not feel like the holiday at all. Spain doesn't really worry too much about Halloween, yet they do like to dress up and go to the clubs for big Halloween parties. That is what we did too. We only thought to dress up at the last minute so we ended up wearing togas made from sheets. It was a great idea. Everybody loved it. We had a lot of fun and stayed out until 4. Today I am relaxing and working on homework. This weekend I am going to Paris and I am not making the mistake of missing an alarm. I believe that we are sleeping in the airport..We will see. I can't wait to travel outside of the country, especially because I missed this last opportunity. We will see how everything works out.

Luke

Rainy Days

Not much to update on. I woke up to the Monday of midterm week to the first rainy day we have had so far in this lovely country. The mornings here are also quite cold. Everyday we walk to our 9 AM class and it is in the 40's. I didn't have a midterm on Monday, but the night was spent studying for the test today. I had a midterm today in my Legal and Political Structure of Spain class. It went very well. There were three questions and we had to write essay answers. I wrote a LOT. The professors here don't tell you how much you need to write. They just say "answer the questions in a couple of lines". Tonight we are having another study session for History tomorrow. Unfortunately for me, I have a group project due Thursday. However, my reward for getting through the week is 4 days in foggy London town. I am so excited. I don't really have any exciting pictures because not much is going on right now. There will be much more in the future. Time to go to the Prado. Today we look at Las Meninas. YES! About time. If you don't know it, look it up.

Luke

Study Time

This week started off just like any other. The 49ers dominated the Lions, ending their winning streak and further projecting them in the power ranking to #4. Besides that amazingly exciting Sunday, the rest of the weekdays were spent going to class and hanging out with everybody. The next week and a half are all about midterms. I had one midterm on Thursday and then I have three more next week. (1-Monday, 1-Tuesday, 1-Wednesday) I don't have a midterm for my lit class, instead we have a group project. My Thursday midterm went well. On Wednesday night, we had maybe 8 people over in the apartment hanging out, studying, watching soccer and it was a lot of fun. Also, I received my only grade so far the other day: A. I was quite happy. (It was on a lit paper) The temperature has dropped maybe 20 degrees in a week and it is a very drastic change. The morning walk to class is usually around 45 degrees or so and by the middle of the day it heats up to around 70. I had to go buy a light sweatshirt to wear to class because its not cold enough for a big jacket just yet. Yesterday we went on a day trip to Toledo (where Sam lives) with our program. The night before we went out pretty late so everybody was passed out on the bus there and back. When we first got there, we had about a half hour of free-time in order to eat and look around a bit. I met up with Sam for a little bit before she had to go pack for Madrid (she was going on a class field trip and staying with her parent for a couple of nights. Sam's parent are visiting for a week so last night I went out to dinner with them and it was very nice. The rest of the weekend I am just going to relax and get a lot of studying in. Next week is a big week with the midterms and then its time for vacation! Next Friday I head to London for 4 days. I am so excited. I will let you all know how the midterms go.

Luke

Bullfight and the Best Concert Ever

This week has been insanely epic. (mostly because of last night) There was a holiday in Madrid on Wednesday, so we only had a 3 day week. However, because it was on Wednesday, having class Monday-Tuesday and then Thursday was a little annoying. We had some people over on Tuesday and we hung out, made some mojitos and had a pretty good time. Wednesday my friends and I decided that we would go to a bullfight. We haven't been to one yet and we thought it would be time to experience this brutal side of the culture. That's the keyword: BRUTAL. It was very interesting to see how the whole process is done but in the end it was pretty hard to watch. The only fun part was chanting "OLE" with the crowd. Still, it is something that you need to see if you are in Spain. (They also might not be around much longer anyway) The stadium was amazing and although we sat up near the top, it was actually pretty close. We got to see everything from a good view (not sure how great that was though). Thursday went well with class and now for the part we have all been waiting for..Thursday night.

So, earlier this week somebody posted on our IES facebook that Michael Franti and Spearhead were going to be at the Sala Heinekein (a very nice club) on Thursday night. I, immediately, looked into it and bought my ticket. I told my friends about it and they had no idea who he was. I was disgusted, seeing how they were all from California. I convinced my roommate, Jay, to go with me (he thanked me very much afterward) and so that's just what we did. Basically, my whole family likes Michael Franti (especially my brother and my Aunt Pam). We got to the concert about 20 minutes before the set started and met up with two other people from our program. The place was surprisingly not crowded so we ended up standing right in front of the stage. Throughout the entire concert, we were close enough to touch the man. That's just to start how jealous you are all going to be. So, he rocked the entire night without stopping (the man is an animal). He was jumping all over the place, playing all of his good songs, making the crowd go crazy (we were all jumping up and down and singing along) and doing everything barefoot! Because we were in the front row, there were some perks. We got multiple high-fives and fist bumps from Franti and the rest of Spearhead (again, only tapping into how lucky I was). He jumped down into the crowd a couple of times. The first time, he was standing right next to us playing and singing and guess what? Michael Franti put his arm around me while playing his guitar and was singing to me. I couldn't believe it. But, guess what else? Later on in the night, I am standing in the front row and he pulls this girl on stage from the left side of the crowd (we were on the right) and then he comes over our way and I am jumping up and holding my arm up and what does he do? MICHAEL FRANTI GRABS MY HAND AND PULLS ME ON STAGE. HE GIVES ME HIS GUITAR AND HAS ME "PLAY BACK-UP" WHILE HE SINGS. It was the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life. After a minute or two he went to the other side of the crowd to start his next song but I got to keep playing with Spearhead for like 5 minutes, pretending to jam out with his band members. Holy freaking sh**. (Obviously, the unplugged the guitars so that we didn't actually end up playing horrible notes. We just got to look like we were jamming out.) So that was awesome and the set kept going for a while. Later on in the night he drops one of the picks he was using and I HAVE IT. Also, after the concert ended, he jumped into the crowd and is right next to us. Next thing I know, I am hugging Michael Franti (he was dripping/drenched with sweat) and then tells me "hey you did a great job playing up there". What an amazing ending to one of the most amazing nights. You want proof? Look at those pictures. That's all that matters. Best concert of my life.

Luke

Already a Month?

As of yesterday, I have been in this wonderful country for a month. I can't believe that it has already been a month. I am scared that time is just going to keep flying by and then it will all be over. (Thank goodness I have another semester in Italy!) This week was pretty uneventful. Classes were fine. I learned some new things and did very little homework. Our program just started offering free yoga every Wednesday at 8 in the morning so that is nice. It was very interesting doing yoga in Spanish. Only 5 people showed up but it was cool. I like yoga. Also, anything that is free here, we jump all over it. It doesn't matter what it would be. Last night was a lot of fun. We had a lot of people over to the apartment for a couple of hours before we went out. We headed to a club downtown called Gabana (our program had a party for us there earlier this month).With some fine persuasion, we ended up getting everybody into this club for free and we danced until maybe 3 in the morning. I spent 0 euro last night and had a great time. That is how you are supposed to do it. This weekend about 90% of my friends here are going to Barcelona for a huge concert/party/14 hour rave called Sensation. I, however, am not going. It took me a lot of thought but I decided that it would be too expensive of a trip so I am hanging out at home this weekend. I am going to go buy some clothes maybe, catch up on sleep, watch my 49ers (1st in division), run and go to the gym, watch a couple of movies maybe, skype my family (Jordan will be home on Sunday) and save quite a bit of money. Other than that, I have been relaxing all day long and I am preparing myself for a good night full of rest.

Luke

(I put up some random pictures. One of us guys at the beach in Valencia and the other is Sam and I in Toledo)

Valencia

This last weekend we went on a FREE, two-day trip to Valenica. Valencia is a city on the east coast of Spain. We left early on Thursday morning (7:15 bus) and embarked on a 4 hour bus ride. We stopped at around halfway in order to eat breakfast in this town in the middle of nowhere. We ate in a castle. Yes, a castle. There was a great spread filled with bread, croissants, fruit and chorizo. It was so good. It was a great way to really start the morning. From there we made our way to Valencia and once we arrived, we went to our rooms for a bit, at the hotel, (it was a very nice hotel) and were granted a few hours of free time. What to do, what to do?..BEACH. We couldn't get on that bus fast enough. As soon as we got there, we ran right into the Mediterranean. It was warm and salty with great waves. We hung out in the water and on the beach for a while. Later, we went on a walking tour of the city (super cool) and saw many important/interesting landmarks and buildings of extreme architecture. I took so many pictures this weekend. After the tour, I was so tired from the night before that I just ended up in the very comfortable hotel bed watching a movie in Spanish. The next day (very well-rested), I ate breakfast in the hotel with my friends (another great spread). We then checked out of the hotel and boarded a bus headed to an aquarium. It was so cool. One of the best aquariums I have been to. They had all kinds of fish, penguins, dolphins, beluga whales, sharks, seals and sea lions. We jhung out there for a while and then went to a nearby science center in order to watch an IMAX movie about the hubble telescope. It was amazing. Afterwards we were all having deep conversations about space, life out there and life itself. It was great. We headed back home for another 4 hours on the bus. (Everybody was knocked out for the first half of it) Once home, I skyped my mom and dad, watched some of the shows that I missed while I was in Valencia, ate some food and went to bed. Today was very relaxing. I woke up around 10 (with a nice 10 hours of sleep) and went for a 4.5 mile run. After I showered, my roommate and I went shopping for a bit. I bought 3 new shirts for a good price so I was excited for that. I ate a hamburger, changed and then went to the pool for a couple of hours with some people from the program. (I love it here) I am currently watching the 49ers game on a website that my friend gave me. I am so glad to be able to watch the game (since my direct tv doesn't work here in Spain) I also am loving the image of my mom yelling at the tv back home. It comforts me whenever something bad happens during the game to know she is just as upset. Tonight I don't think I am doing much but continuing to watch this game, eating, skyping and doing whatever homework I have to do. Other than that, the theme of today is: Relaxation.

Luke

GOLLLLLLLLLL

I am sitting on my couch, looking out my window to the first overcast day I have seen since I have been here. It is pretty funy because just this morning I was saying how it hasn't rained in almost 4 weeks. Hopefully it won't actually rain. Last night was my first experience with going to a professional soccer game. It was AMAZING. Real Madrid played Ajax and trounced them in a 3-0 victory. We sat up near the top row (maybe 6 rows down), behind the goal and they were amazing seats for the price of the tickets. We could see everything that happened on the field. We were behind Ajax's goal for the first half and it was great because Real scored twice during the first half. Of course, Ronaldo scored the first goal of the night. The whole crowd was so much more animated than any sporting event in the US I am sure. People were yelling and chanting and hugging each other and going insane. (We were amongst 85,000 other fans) We stayed the entire time, leaving in the 91st minute. We just beat the rush of everybody leaving the stadium, walked up the street with the crowd and rode a very crowded metro back to our part of town. Although it was a little pricey, I might have to go to another game because it was one of the coolest things that I have done/been to.

In other news, I have already booked 2 big trips for the semester. For fall break, I am going to London with Sam for 4 days and then for the weekend that I come back from London, I am going to France with Sam and some people from her program. Another trip that I am planning (haven't bought tickets yet) is that a couple friends from my program and I are going to Portugal for a weekend to hang out and run a half marathon. I might need to start training for that..oh well. I will be fine.

Also, for clarification purposes, it might seem like all we do here is go out drinking and partying. Not true. We do go out many many nights, however, here is the thing. Drinking is not what I am here to do. It wastes way to much money where I could be traveling or eating. We look for free places to go and don't waste money on drinks. Just thought I would let everybody know. This weekend I am going to Valencia for 2 days with my program. It is going to be very exciting and we can hopefully have some beach time. Finally!

Luke

Toledo

This was a very busy, yet very fun, weekend. There were a lot of people visiting here. (Sam's roomate Meghan, their friend Ben who also goes to Notre Dame and his girlfriend Becca who is studying in Toledo with Sam. Ben and Meghan are studying in London) Everybody arrived on Thursday night and we spent Friday showing them a little around Madrid. We had a lot of fun and then on Saturday we left for Toledo. To sum up Toledo in 0ne word-Beautiful. The city is only 45 minutes away and the bus ticket was only 5 euro. The main part of the city is surrounded by a massive wall with a huge gate opening. The streets are all cobblestone, narrow and busy. The city is known for many things: art, blades, El Greco, Don Quijote/Cervantes and architecture for sure. I spent most of Saturday walking around the city with Sam. She showed me all of the places that she knows, where she goes to school and where she lives. I took a lot of pictures. Toledo is a very interesting city in that it has traces of history from Catholic, Jewish and Arabic pasts. Compared to Madrid, there were many smaller shops with very interesting things in them. Mom, there were Lladros everywhere. You would go crazy. Spending the day in the city where Sam lives was very cool. She definitely loves it there. As we were sitting in one of the plazas, some older lady came up just to tell Sam she was very pretty. I would love it there too. The atmosphere of the city is a lot different too. Things there are a lot slower and more relaxed. It doesn't have all the "hustle and bustle" of Madrid, but that is definitely not a bad thing. People were hanging out in the plaza listening to music, children were running around playing and everybody around was just plain enjoying life. I definitely was. We ate dinner at a little place on the corner and then afterwards had some gelato across the street. I felt like being brave so I ordered something off the menu that I had very little of an idea as to what it was. It turned out to be a great choice. It was a couple of fried eggs, french fries and some type of tomato-y sauce that, when mixed together, was an amazing brinner (breakfast-dinner). We hung out talking on the corner until we saw a huge procession for a festival for the Virgen. There were people carrying a giant float and a band. We went to a little bar for a bit and by that time everybdy was exhausted. The hostel that Ben, Meghan and I stayed in was very nice. It was my first experience with a hostel and it was a great one. It was basically adorable. Yeah I said it: adorable. I had a great night's sleep (8 hours). In the morning Sam, Meghan and I went purse shopping (yay for me) and walked around some more. Actual "yay" for me, I went and bought a knife. Toledo is very famous for their blades so I had to buy a little knife as a souvenir. We ate some breakfast and said our "goodbyes". Meghan, Ben and I took the bus back to Madrid and they left for the airport. It was a very successful trip. Everybody had a lot of fun.