I'm back! Our flights got in last night at 5-6pm, Eastern time. I still need to go through all my pictures, I'm obviously really far behind. Updates will continue for a week or longer, I'm sure, so that I can catch up and write about everywhere we went! In summary, we flew to Granada, saw Granada, took a train back and forth to Sevilla, took buses down to Tarifa, went by ferry to Tangier for a day, took more buses to Nerja to go to the beach, took a bus back to Granada, flew to Madrid, and flew from Madrid to Boston. In short, we were traveling WAY TOO MUCH.
More soon!
*Besos*
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
La Feria de la Ascensión
This weekend in Oviedo there was a culture fair - all of the people dressed up in traditional Asturiana dress and made Asturian food and things (I'm sorry, I'm really thinking in Spanish right now after spending all day with Mabel). I went yesterday to see some of it, and I saw the rest of it at least two more times today. I went early with Mary, and then the new host student, Dana, came, so we went again.
Honestly, it was really cool. There was a lot of Artisan stuff and the people were all dressed up in traditional things, even if they weren't part of the fair. It's cool that they have such a strong and specific culture, I feel like it's something that we don't really have in the US...we have Native American things, but I obviously don't identify with that. Anyways, rather than ramble on, I will show you pictures (as per my usual...)
Some pretty cool stuff! Anyways. I can't believe it...tomorrow is my last day in Oviedo for I don't know how long. I bought tickets today to the airport on Tuesday and for Sevilla on Thursday. I get to see my parents in 2 days! Yay! It's super exciting :). ¡Hasta luego!
*Besos*
Honestly, it was really cool. There was a lot of Artisan stuff and the people were all dressed up in traditional things, even if they weren't part of the fair. It's cool that they have such a strong and specific culture, I feel like it's something that we don't really have in the US...we have Native American things, but I obviously don't identify with that. Anyways, rather than ramble on, I will show you pictures (as per my usual...)
Some pretty cool stuff! Anyways. I can't believe it...tomorrow is my last day in Oviedo for I don't know how long. I bought tickets today to the airport on Tuesday and for Sevilla on Thursday. I get to see my parents in 2 days! Yay! It's super exciting :). ¡Hasta luego!
*Besos*
Friday, May 18, 2012
Bittersweet Good-byes
I've already had to say good-bye to some people. Saying good-bye to all the people from Umass who are leaving this weekend hasn't been/won't be too bad because I can see them this summer or next year, but all the other people I've made friends with...
I made a pretty good friend with a girl from England, and our group has sort-of integrated some people from different schools and different countries. It's just incredibly sad. Yes, we can say, "when you come to my part of the world, look me up", but who knows how many people are really going to stay in touch. I want to stay in touch with my Spanish friend, but we're just so busy. I hope we are able to.
Almost everyone went out last night for one last night on the town. I had a pretty good time, but I didn't stay out ALL night like I think some people did. I wanted to actually get some sleep today. There's a fair in Oviedo all weekend, I will definitely be going and taking pictures and stuff. It should be pretty cool.
We had a good-bye lunch on Wednesday with Carrie and everyone. It was pretty good, we always eat so well with her.
On Wednesday everyone was still in denial, but some people get on a plane tomorrow. Tomorrow. Damn. I am so excited to go to Andalucía, but I would love to be in Amherst right now. I miss everyone, and some of my friends aren't going to be home for the summer, they're working in other states. Before they leave they're visiting Amherst and seeing their families...I would give anything to be home to see them before they leave. Also, the closer we get, the harder it is to wait. I can't wait for Andalucía, it will help the time pass so much more quickly. And I get to see my parents!!! Yaaaay! That's going to be so awesome.
Anyways, one more entry coming your way before Andalucía. I might be able to blog on the road, since I'll have all my things with me, but if not, I'll update once I'm back in the states. Ciao ciao!
*Besos*
I made a pretty good friend with a girl from England, and our group has sort-of integrated some people from different schools and different countries. It's just incredibly sad. Yes, we can say, "when you come to my part of the world, look me up", but who knows how many people are really going to stay in touch. I want to stay in touch with my Spanish friend, but we're just so busy. I hope we are able to.
Almost everyone went out last night for one last night on the town. I had a pretty good time, but I didn't stay out ALL night like I think some people did. I wanted to actually get some sleep today. There's a fair in Oviedo all weekend, I will definitely be going and taking pictures and stuff. It should be pretty cool.
We had a good-bye lunch on Wednesday with Carrie and everyone. It was pretty good, we always eat so well with her.
On Wednesday everyone was still in denial, but some people get on a plane tomorrow. Tomorrow. Damn. I am so excited to go to Andalucía, but I would love to be in Amherst right now. I miss everyone, and some of my friends aren't going to be home for the summer, they're working in other states. Before they leave they're visiting Amherst and seeing their families...I would give anything to be home to see them before they leave. Also, the closer we get, the harder it is to wait. I can't wait for Andalucía, it will help the time pass so much more quickly. And I get to see my parents!!! Yaaaay! That's going to be so awesome.
Anyways, one more entry coming your way before Andalucía. I might be able to blog on the road, since I'll have all my things with me, but if not, I'll update once I'm back in the states. Ciao ciao!
*Besos*
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Some Blog Statistics...
I thought people might be interested in who views my blog. I think watching the statistics is fascinating, personally. My own page-views aren't counted - blogger knows not to count this computer.
My viewers mostly come from the US, but I also have had views from Russia, Spain, Germany, the UK, Latvia, Italy, Venezuela, Belgium, Ireland, and Mexico (plus more, but if it was only 1 page view, the count goes away after other countries overtake it).
Firefox wins the browser battle with 34%, followed by Chrome at 27%, and then (unfortunately) by Internet Explorer at 25%. There's a major drop to the next browser, Safari, at 4%. I even had 2 views from Netscape 8. Dear lord.
Windows (yay!) wins at a whopping 82%, followed by Mac at 7%. Android comes next, followed by Linux, both at about 4% (I know whenever my dad has viewed my blog from his desktop computer...). iPhone views come in at less than 1%, but I think that was me, looking at my blog from my iPad before I realized it counted as views.
My first month having my blog I had 4 times the amount of views I had last month. I wrote almost every other day, at least twice a week, and I write a lot less now. I posted 12 times in January, 8 in February, 6 in March, and 3 in April. My excuse is, that at the beginning, I had to talk about everything, and now at the end I only talk about new things I do and see. My viewership has steadily declined every month, as has my writing. I'm hoping to get in a bunch more entries this month, though I probably won't finish writing until June.
Hopefully this wasn't too boring for you! I just thought people might be interested. If not, pardon the interruption from the normal posts!
*Besos*
My viewers mostly come from the US, but I also have had views from Russia, Spain, Germany, the UK, Latvia, Italy, Venezuela, Belgium, Ireland, and Mexico (plus more, but if it was only 1 page view, the count goes away after other countries overtake it).
Firefox wins the browser battle with 34%, followed by Chrome at 27%, and then (unfortunately) by Internet Explorer at 25%. There's a major drop to the next browser, Safari, at 4%. I even had 2 views from Netscape 8. Dear lord.
Windows (yay!) wins at a whopping 82%, followed by Mac at 7%. Android comes next, followed by Linux, both at about 4% (I know whenever my dad has viewed my blog from his desktop computer...). iPhone views come in at less than 1%, but I think that was me, looking at my blog from my iPad before I realized it counted as views.
My first month having my blog I had 4 times the amount of views I had last month. I wrote almost every other day, at least twice a week, and I write a lot less now. I posted 12 times in January, 8 in February, 6 in March, and 3 in April. My excuse is, that at the beginning, I had to talk about everything, and now at the end I only talk about new things I do and see. My viewership has steadily declined every month, as has my writing. I'm hoping to get in a bunch more entries this month, though I probably won't finish writing until June.
Hopefully this wasn't too boring for you! I just thought people might be interested. If not, pardon the interruption from the normal posts!
*Besos*
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Aventuras Naturales
Nature adventures with Mabel! My host mom and I have been doing a lot of walking lately, even though the weather hasn't been stellar. We went for a walk along a river really close to Oviedo last week, the pollen was KILLER (also, my battery died about half way through our walk :( ). And on Sunday, we essentially climbed a mountain. Unfortunately, since the sky was grey, the pictures didn't really turn out so great, but it was still pretty cool. Climbing the mountain was super muddy and there was lots of goat poo everywhere. The path wove around the sides of the mountains, only enough room to go single file or pass someone going the other direction. One step too close to the edge and it was a sheer drop down I don't know how many meters. Oh, and then we went to see some osos (bears)!
And from the hike:
I just wish the sun would come out, ya know? These pictures would have been so much better in sunlight. Sigh.
Y un oso:
I have one more week in Oviedo. This fact has not really set in. Mary and I bought some bus tickets yesterday for getting from Nerja to Granada at the end of our Andalucía trip, and we will probably buy tickets to Sevilla soon. I'm so excited to see my parents! One more week and then we meet up in Granada :). Today is finally sunny :D :D :D Too bad I have two finals tomorrow. It shouldn't be too bad, I took the easiest final of my life yesterday - 20 multiple-choice questions. I just need to study for History.
The sun just went behind the clouds, but hopefully it comes back. I know I'm not going to miss it, though, when it's 90 degrees in Southern Spain next week ;).
*Besos*
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| Scary bridge that moved when we walked across! |
And from the hike:
I just wish the sun would come out, ya know? These pictures would have been so much better in sunlight. Sigh.
Y un oso:
I have one more week in Oviedo. This fact has not really set in. Mary and I bought some bus tickets yesterday for getting from Nerja to Granada at the end of our Andalucía trip, and we will probably buy tickets to Sevilla soon. I'm so excited to see my parents! One more week and then we meet up in Granada :). Today is finally sunny :D :D :D Too bad I have two finals tomorrow. It shouldn't be too bad, I took the easiest final of my life yesterday - 20 multiple-choice questions. I just need to study for History.
The sun just went behind the clouds, but hopefully it comes back. I know I'm not going to miss it, though, when it's 90 degrees in Southern Spain next week ;).
*Besos*
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Un Día en la Vida de Rita
Anyways, enjoy the video. I know the pictures go by kinda fast, but I wanted to show everyone what I see every day!
¡Hasta Luego!
Edit: Man, this video struggles. Hopefully you get the idea, though...
Friday, May 11, 2012
Arriondas y Gijón
I have a bit of catching-up to do! Sorry about that, guys. I've been busy.
Good news first, though: A spot opened up in one of the internships I applied to this summer (to get paid to work in my own lab), so I have a job!!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaay! So exciting :). I was going to work in the lab, anyways. For the first time in 2 years I'm going to get paid to do it :D
Anyways, last weekend the Umassers and I went to Arriondas, a small pueblo in Asturias (spellcheck recognizes pueblo as a word, but not spellcheck, ironically-it's two words, apparently). We did a ropes course in the morning and then went kayaking down the río sella (remember when I went to Ribadesella?). The ropes course was really fun, but I'm scared of heights, so I didn't get to finish. Kayaking was also pretty fun - they gave us wet suits and everything! We actually had decent weather most of the time - no rain and it was pretty warm - until we were about 30 minutes away from finishing our kayak journey. It started to rain pretty hard and we even heard some far-away thunder. If the thunder had gotten closer I would have gotten out of the water, as it was, I was pretty antsy. But we rounded one last corner, and there was our end-point. I was sooooo sore the next day - the kayak route was 13 kilometers! Downstream, but still. Anyways, here are some pictures!!
Yesterday I went to the playa with a ton of people from our program. It was SO hot and humid in Oviedo, we just had to get out. By the time we got to the beach and got settled, we only had about 20 minutes before it got cloudy! It even rained a bit later on. But I did go swimming and it was a really good time. We even saw the lowest rainbow I've ever seen. It went from red to purple, just like it's supposed to. AND it was even starting to go back to red again, but you can't really see that in the pictures. We also saw, what we think were, dolphins when we were heading back to the bus station. There were a bunch of swimming things in the water, and I think they were dolphins. My host mom said dolphins aren't common at all to the mar cantabria.
Today I went on a walk with my host mom through some nearby pueblos. My camera died in the middle of the walk, but it was really cloudy our anyways. The pollen here is killing me right now, my eyes and nose are so unhappy. My host mom keeps wanting to take me places, which is great. She's kinda freaking out a bit about me leaving, which is sweet. We're probably going somewhere tomorrow, too.
I'm leaving Oviedo in like a week and a half! I can't believe it! Even though every week feels like an eternity, when I look back on it, it feels like I arrived in Oviedo 2 weeks ago. I have such mixed feelings about leaving, which is to be expected, I know. I can't wait to see my parents and my boy friend, but I'm going to miss being in Europe a lot. I know I'm going to be bored in the States, but I'm also excited for this summer: getting paid to work in lab, living in Amherst again, hanging out with my friends every day... So yeah, very mixed feelings.
*Besos*
Good news first, though: A spot opened up in one of the internships I applied to this summer (to get paid to work in my own lab), so I have a job!!!!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaay! So exciting :). I was going to work in the lab, anyways. For the first time in 2 years I'm going to get paid to do it :D
Anyways, last weekend the Umassers and I went to Arriondas, a small pueblo in Asturias (spellcheck recognizes pueblo as a word, but not spellcheck, ironically-it's two words, apparently). We did a ropes course in the morning and then went kayaking down the río sella (remember when I went to Ribadesella?). The ropes course was really fun, but I'm scared of heights, so I didn't get to finish. Kayaking was also pretty fun - they gave us wet suits and everything! We actually had decent weather most of the time - no rain and it was pretty warm - until we were about 30 minutes away from finishing our kayak journey. It started to rain pretty hard and we even heard some far-away thunder. If the thunder had gotten closer I would have gotten out of the water, as it was, I was pretty antsy. But we rounded one last corner, and there was our end-point. I was sooooo sore the next day - the kayak route was 13 kilometers! Downstream, but still. Anyways, here are some pictures!!
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| Strugglin' |
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| Zip line! |
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| About to go kayaking! |
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| Rainbow!! |
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| :) |
Today I went on a walk with my host mom through some nearby pueblos. My camera died in the middle of the walk, but it was really cloudy our anyways. The pollen here is killing me right now, my eyes and nose are so unhappy. My host mom keeps wanting to take me places, which is great. She's kinda freaking out a bit about me leaving, which is sweet. We're probably going somewhere tomorrow, too.
I'm leaving Oviedo in like a week and a half! I can't believe it! Even though every week feels like an eternity, when I look back on it, it feels like I arrived in Oviedo 2 weeks ago. I have such mixed feelings about leaving, which is to be expected, I know. I can't wait to see my parents and my boy friend, but I'm going to miss being in Europe a lot. I know I'm going to be bored in the States, but I'm also excited for this summer: getting paid to work in lab, living in Amherst again, hanging out with my friends every day... So yeah, very mixed feelings.
*Besos*
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Luck of the Irish
Last weekend I went to Ireland with Mary and Grace! It was a pretty cool trip, we were in Ireland for 2 full days, plus one evening. Our flights were pretty uneventful, we had no connections, so that was even better. Unfortunately, we had to take a bus to the airport in Santander, and since we paid for the cheapest bus, it took like 3.5 hours each way. That kinda sucked, but we left a lot of wiggle room (since I can't function without wiggle room), so we made our flights fine. We even got stamped in Dublin and Santander! So my passport now has the US (from when we came back from Italy), Madrid, Santander (twice), and Ireland!
Anyways, we got into the airport around 6 or 7pm, I can't remember which because we had to change our clocks back an hour. We took a bus to the hostel, and found it relatively easily from the bus stop. After dropping off our stuff and picking up a ton of pamphlets, we went out to eat dinner. We ended up eating at this pub that was more like a restaurant than a pub - I had a bacon burger (so good) and stout! We went to bed early, since we were exhausted and had a 3-hour walking tour in the morning.
The walking tour started at a restaurant a little bit away from our hostel, and it was a bunch of hostel-stayers, mostly girls our age, on the tour. It was free, which was awesome, and our tour guide was awesome. He was, apparently, trying to be an actor, so he was very animated and spent a good amount of time acting our some historical scenarios on the tour. Apparently the word "kreick" (?), pronounced like "crack" means to have a good time, which he had to explain to us. "The Americans always think I mean the drug. But it's just that we like to drink and have a good time. Not like drugs. Not, 'drugs! drugs all over my face!!!'" Trust me, it was funny, especially with the Irish accent. Anyways, the tour was about 3 hours, though we stopped in a pub for drinks (Mary, Grace, and I didn't have anything - it was 11am!!) for about a half hour.
After the tour, the three of us went souvenir shopping. I spent so much money in Ireland on gifts. I even bought myself one of those Irish rings with the heart in the hands, called Claddagh, and I really liked it. I got pretty attached to it, in the two days I had it. Like the ass I am, I left it in the hostel and didn't realize until we were on the shuttle to the airport. I didn't go back for it, even though we had time...it wasn't worth missing my plane. The thing is though, I never buy myself nice things and I really wanted something to remember my semester by. And there's nothing that's special to Spain that I really want... It's weird. I only had it for two days, but I notice it missing from my finger... I'm just really disappointed in myself. I wanted something nice to remember this semester and my experiences, and now I have nothing for myself from Ireland or Spain. :(
That night we had some difficulties deciding where to eat, since we wanted to go somewhere with live music and the first place we went was having technical difficulties with their sound. We ended up going somewhere were one guy was playing guitar and singing popular songs, like The Beatles and other classics, but that's not what we wanted - we wanted traditional Irish folk music.
Again, we went to bed early so that we could get up early - really early - for our next day: a day trip to Kilkenny and Glendalough, two small towns/villages a couple of hours outside of Dublin. We also went to some caves close to Kilkenny. It was a pretty cool trip. Glendalough is where there are some ruins and one of the only natural forests in Ireland. They also have "mountains" (hills, compared to Asturias). And we drove past a mountain called Sugarloaf, like the apartments near Amherst! Anyways, I'll just show pictures instead of talking about it.
We got back that evening around 6:30pm, so we went to dinner. And this time we found fiddles! It was really good. Reminded me of contra dancing and bluegrass. It was so relaxing to listen to during dinner. I was in a very happy place - and I didn't even have Guinness that night! I was so tired, if I had drank Guinness I would have been asleep at the table. Anyways, we went back to the hostel after dinner, ordered a shuttle for our early flight, went to bed, got up, packed (I left my ring like dumbass), got in the shuttle van (only mildly sketchy), and went to the airport. I looked for more rings in the airport, but they were more expensive, and I'd already spent money and it had been a waste... It's just so sad. It wouldn't be the same to buy one in the states, and I don't know what else I even would want for myself. Sigh. Now I'm just going to settle on something. (Yes, I'm well aware I'm taking this too seriously, but I really really liked that piece of jewelry).
Our flight was uneventful as far as I can remember. We had a bunch of time in Santander before our bus back to Oviedo, so we had lunch and sat around outside. Only kiiiinda counts as having been there... The bus home was also about 3.5 hours, but I tried to sleep, since the last stop was Gijón, so if I missed it, it'd be a €2.20, 20 minute bus ride to Oviedo. This week I've been pretty busy with work (I know, surprised as I am?). Classes are wrapping up in the next two weeks and I had an application due back at UMass on Wednesday. I can't believe I'm almost done here. Honestly, I had thought that in May I would be spending every other afternoon at the beach, but the weather has been horribly dreary and no where near warm enough. Pretty depressing. I have 2 more weeks of class, 2.5 more weeks in Oviedo, and 4 more weeks in Spain. I just don't know what I'm going to do when I get home. Don't get me wrong, I really want to be home, but the US is sooooo different from Europe, it's going to be hard to readjust. Anyways, I guess we'll see!
*Besos*
Anyways, we got into the airport around 6 or 7pm, I can't remember which because we had to change our clocks back an hour. We took a bus to the hostel, and found it relatively easily from the bus stop. After dropping off our stuff and picking up a ton of pamphlets, we went out to eat dinner. We ended up eating at this pub that was more like a restaurant than a pub - I had a bacon burger (so good) and stout! We went to bed early, since we were exhausted and had a 3-hour walking tour in the morning.
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| Burger and Guinness :) |
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| Dublin "Castle" |
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| All that's left of the old castle |
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| Temple University, founded in the 1500's |
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| Fish 'n' Chips! |
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| Temple Bar: The neighborhood with all the Irish Music and Pubs :) |
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| The Spire of Dublin |
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| Crossing a bridge designed by the people who designed the Titanic... |
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| Half-pint? I seriously hope so! |
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| Pictures through the bus had a weird coloring, but the bright yellow flower is what they make canola oil from. It's called Rape Seed. True story. |
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| :) |
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| Entrance to the cave! |
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| One of the only good pics I got in the cave - my flash is broken :( |
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| Kilkenny Castle |
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| Another view of Kilkenny Castle |
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| More sheep than I've ever seen in my whole life live in Ireland. |
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| Heading to the Wicklow mountains where Glendalough is... |
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| Sugarloaf! |
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| Wicklow Gap |
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| Glendalough |
We got back that evening around 6:30pm, so we went to dinner. And this time we found fiddles! It was really good. Reminded me of contra dancing and bluegrass. It was so relaxing to listen to during dinner. I was in a very happy place - and I didn't even have Guinness that night! I was so tired, if I had drank Guinness I would have been asleep at the table. Anyways, we went back to the hostel after dinner, ordered a shuttle for our early flight, went to bed, got up, packed (I left my ring like dumbass), got in the shuttle van (only mildly sketchy), and went to the airport. I looked for more rings in the airport, but they were more expensive, and I'd already spent money and it had been a waste... It's just so sad. It wouldn't be the same to buy one in the states, and I don't know what else I even would want for myself. Sigh. Now I'm just going to settle on something. (Yes, I'm well aware I'm taking this too seriously, but I really really liked that piece of jewelry).
 |
| The Old Storehouse Pub :) Good food, good music, good times. |
Our flight was uneventful as far as I can remember. We had a bunch of time in Santander before our bus back to Oviedo, so we had lunch and sat around outside. Only kiiiinda counts as having been there... The bus home was also about 3.5 hours, but I tried to sleep, since the last stop was Gijón, so if I missed it, it'd be a €2.20, 20 minute bus ride to Oviedo. This week I've been pretty busy with work (I know, surprised as I am?). Classes are wrapping up in the next two weeks and I had an application due back at UMass on Wednesday. I can't believe I'm almost done here. Honestly, I had thought that in May I would be spending every other afternoon at the beach, but the weather has been horribly dreary and no where near warm enough. Pretty depressing. I have 2 more weeks of class, 2.5 more weeks in Oviedo, and 4 more weeks in Spain. I just don't know what I'm going to do when I get home. Don't get me wrong, I really want to be home, but the US is sooooo different from Europe, it's going to be hard to readjust. Anyways, I guess we'll see!
*Besos*
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