Madrid, clase, Barcelona...lo normal, pero no durará mucho tiempo.

Hace diez días que I wrote last, and we have only ten more days until the last day of finals.  De nuevo, the time between post has rushed by; we, los estudiantes de la Fundación, all knew the end would be coming, but few of us are ready for it to be over this soon.  So we avoid talking about it.  Instead, we have taken ourselves up with aprovechando the time que nos queda.  Como veis, I am writing in a mix of Español and Inglés.  De verdad, no es para molestaros, sino para poder to express some things that would otherwise be a little more dificult.  You'll just get whatever comes to mind...

Hace dos semanas, fui a Madrid con mi clase de Grandes Maestros de la Pintura Española to go to the Reina Sofia art museum.  After the visit, I stayed the whole weekend in Madrid.  Friday night, I met up with Pepe, a kid from the Fund, su amigo, Drew, de Butler University, and Audra, a Canadian who lives and teaches inglés in Toledo (she graduated college with a major in Film and Communication, or somehting like that, and a minor in Spanish.  After not being able to find a job, she emailed one of her Spanish professors who had connections in Toledo; exactly two weeks later, she was here to start her job).  Después de comer, andamos sin dirección y encontramos un bar hole-in-the-wall en que nos quedamos por todo el noche, hasta las cinco y media de la madrugada.  Nos conocimos con unos amigos nuevos y pasamos el noche hablando en español. 

The next day, Audra left, but Pepe, Drew and I walked and walked all over the city.  Pasamos un rato andando por el Parque del Buen Retiro, comiendo en la Plaza Santa Ana, and walking through Plaza Mayor.  At night, we went to grab abite to eat and made our way to the Real Madrid/Racing de Santander fútbol game where we met up with Julia (from the Fund).  From the crowds in the metro, we could tell it was going to be a crowded game.  The stadium was impressive.  Our seats were about mid-way up the second to top section on a corner.  The stands were very steep which meant that the people in front of us couldn't get in the way, so there didn't seem to be a bad seat in the house.  Nos divertimos mucho el partido; con unos shots on goal that were called back because of offsides, the excitement was kept up even though the score only ended up Madrid, 1-0.  On our way back on the metro, we ran into Kevin and Jens, two more kids from the Fund.  They joined us for the duration of the night.  After quickly going back to the hostal, we left again and the owner of the hostal, a really nice guy with one eye named Carlos, asked us to come to a neighboring bar for unos cañas de cerveza.  After a round we had to go to find another girl and her visiting boyfriend in Plaza del Sol.  We found them, went to a bar off of our hostal's plaza, Santa Ana, and spent much of the night there. 

El día siguiente, Pepe, Drew and I met up with Allie, from Ohio State, to try to go to the Reina Sofia again, but we didnt know that they closed early on Sundays.  Instead we got "famous calamarie" sandwiches from a place close to the museum.  From there, Allie and I left Pepe and Drew, who had to go to the airport to get Drew's lost luggage, and we took the bus back to Toledo.  With two papers due by Monday, or 11:59 pm on Tuesday the latest, I had work to do.  However, I got very little done before a few of us went out, just for a drink, for Pepe's birthday. 


Again, the weekdays go by all but the same.  Besides the fact that I wrote the better part of a paper on Monday, finished by Tuesday morning, and wrote a whole new one by 11 pm Tuesday, the week was quick, but full of activity.  El martes, despues de excribir mi ensayo, salí para O'brian's con unos amigos. No obstante, volvimos temprano, a las tres.  I got up Wednesday in time for breakefast at the Fund, had class, then went to eat with Pepe, Drew, Audra, and Kevin.  (We were really trying to live it up and show Pepe's friend a good time while he was here.)  Wednesday night, I went out with a lot of people, but came back by 12:30 to finish packing and get to sleep.  I couldn't, though, and actually left the Fund by 5:20 am to walk to the bus station to start my journey to Barcelona. 

Siete horas más tarde, llegué al hostal, Urbany.  I walked around, trying to get my bearings in the new terrain until about 4 when I went back to the hostal to take a nap.  Carrie, from Ohio State, was the only other person gettin in on Thurday.  After my nap, we decided to find somewhere to get a Thanksgiving dinner.  Surprisingly, many of the places we passed were closed around 9 pm.  We found a little restaurant, Cal Ramon, where we both got spaghetti and another little place later where we got some cheap gofres.  After a drink in the bar in the hostal, we went to bed.

By 10 am the next morning, Carrie and I had eaten breakfast and we left our hostal toward the beach.  After a long walk there, and un rato skipping stones, we headed back to meet up with the four others who were coming from the Fund.  We all went back to the Sagrada Familia, where they went in, but I decided I would wait for Mom and Dad.  Later, we went to the hostal, got some warmer clothes, and went back out to walk Las Ramblas, a long street full of stores, street performers, etc.  Back at the hostal, we played a few games in the bar, and headed back out to get some doner kebabs and to ultimately find a place to go out.  From the University district, we walked las ramblas again.  We ended up in a little bar just for a drink, and we decided to try to find otro sitio.  We ended up at the Cristobal Colón statue where we met a couple españoles y pasamos un rato hablando, y regresamos al hostal.

The next day was fun, but endless walking, and this is already getting long.  I'll give you the bullet points: Park Guell, some place by the water, Olympic Plaza...all over the city, nonstop walking.  Later, we got dinner and gofres.  As Carrie, Adrienne and I played cards in the hostal lobby, Julia and her boyfriend, who had previously been napping, came down, asking if we were ready to go out for the night...it was 1:30 am.  So, we went out, and gy the time we got off the metro, it was 3 am.  After unsucessful attempts at getting into a couple bars on the beach, we walked along Port Olimpic where there are probably over 20 bars in a row.  The highlights were the Enfermería, an Irish pub, and a different discoteca.  At around 6 am, we were back at the hostal.  I showered and turned in for 4 short hours of sleep before we had to check out. 

I woke up a little late...I know, you don't believe it, but its true.  But, I was up at 10:37 and out of the hostal by 11.  I waked to the apartment where we are going to stay in a couple weeks to pay a deposit.  The couple who owns it lives below with theirr baby and little boy.  They were both very nice and I'm sure will be completely accomodating and helpful in suggesting what to do, where to go, etc.  Afterwards, I met Adriene, the only one who also had a later flight, near the beach, and we did some more walking.  This day was quick, however, and anfter eating lunch, I started toward the airport by 2 pm.  There was a considerable amount of turbulence on the flight, but other than that, the travel was fine.  I made it back to the Fund by 9:15 pm, in time for dinner, and was not able to do much else because I was too tired. 

It has been quite a ride over here and I'm not ready for it to be over.  I have said a few times that I wish I was going home for break and coming back for another semester here.  At the same time, I'm ready to get back into the swing of things at OSU, and of course, the break will be well spent with all of you.  (awwww)

Hasta pronto.