Is that thunder?

37 degrees Celcius. Madrid sun. The smog, the heat. It burns my pale skin, hurts my fair eyes. I'm so tired, from work, from school, from feeling. I dont want to move. Wait, a sound...a rumble...
Is that thunder? Oh to see a dark sky, oh to see rain! What i would give for its wetness and coolness against my skin!
I rush to the window.
No. just construction work.
hope springs.
hope dies.
it's alright.

Pamplona Video

It's finally here...the overrated moment we've all been waiting for.

The Jolly Wedding

Most of you back home that i've spoken to have been asking how the wedding went...and christine finally posted about it. So here you get it straight from the source. Make sure you watch the video at the end. I'm proud of that.

more pictures

More Madrid pics!

Toledo pics...

Here's a few more adventures...seeing the royal palace and the medieval town of toledo.
Lessons learned:
1)It is so hard to take classes in Spain because of:
a)lots of homework
b)lack of sleep
c)so much to see

2)From now on, i'll travel to the southern hemisphere in the summer months.
a)cheaper
b)colder

3)My spanish is improving:
a)reading like a banshee all these darn novels
b)writing 2-3 papers of 3-5 pages each week
c)however, speaking still awkward
1-still processing from english to spanish
2-still figuring out how to speak like a spaniard
3-they look at me funny because the white girl is speaking spanish

4)I really do love Spain
a)madrid...art, restaurants, history, culture, cosmopolitan environment
b)country-serious hiking needs to be done here
c)muslim/jewish influence in history and architecture
d)chocolate and churros

Spain

i know the question you want to ask.
"how is spain?"
Well, it's an interesting place. It's easy to be a bit touristy here...lots of english is spoken, and they don't have a lot of patience for my spanish. They're famous for their food, but i can't find any (affordable) good food (and i'm losing weight!). It's really, really hot. But not too humid. It's expensive- in fact the euro is beating the dollar 2 to 1 right now (yikes! no wonder i'm not eating out!). There's so much to see...on top of taking 4 classes...i feel like i can't see very much. But what i have seen has been pretty amazing. (more pictures here!)
I highly recommend the Reina Sofia museum of modern art. Picasso's Guernica is amazing. I still have yet to go to the Prado, eat churros, and see a flamenco show. But there's 2 weeks left. We'll see if im not too tired to do it all.
Speaking of being tired...yeah, i'm off to bed now.

Ole! Pamplona!

Let me tell you, this is the craziest thing i've ever seen. Over 2 million people are trying to cram along the narrow streets to see some cows and dumb people run by. But it is one of those things you're supposed to see at least once in your life. I've done it...i think next time i'll try to go to some hammer-throwing festival in Norway. Less (drunk) people, i would think.
The video is coming soon, along with more pics from a friend's camera.

Photos!

Pictures of Madrid

Plaza Mayor


Food

You can see them all on Facebook...
Part 1

Part 2

June has only 30 days

I have learned my lesson and learned it well. June does NOT have 31 days. Why do i say this? Because i knew i was leaving for Madrid on July 1. I just thought i had one more day to run around Germany, see Frankfurt, and prepare to leave. Nope. I was wrong. I think it was the clerk at the hotel that tipped me off. He said something about me putting the wrong date on the paperwork. "What? Today is July 1st?" And I realized that it was 1130 in the morning. My flight left 4 hours ago. Oh crap.
Run to the airport....buy another ticket...have to say bye to Mark so suddenly...have to sit alone in the airport for 5 hours...have to wait through delays because of rain...have to take a taxi...have to fight the ladies at the dorm to let me have my room (in spanish, of course)....have to wake up 5 hours later... and have no friends here.... ACK!
But it's okay. It really is. I found friends here who will make my life much more enjoyable. I have classes to keep me (too) busy. I have a whole city to explore....for a month.