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