I haven´t forgotten about my faithful readers!

Sorry for the delay in this update, everybody! It has been a wild few weeks of midterms, vacations, paper, volunteering and teaching English... It seems as if life abroad gets more hectic as you approach the end. I now officially have a return date set, June 22, which will most likely be the saddest day of my study abroad experience. Since I have arrived, I have met so many wonderful people from all over the world, and my greatest fear is that once I return to the States, that´s it. I can´t just pick up and go to Europe whenever I want (although I don´t think anyone would mind hosting me!), so keeping in touch is important. I know what you all are thinking--that´s what we have Facebook for! But alas, some of the people I have met here don´t use Facebook, barely check their emails, and have no cell phones. I still haven´t quite figured out why, but this makes it all the more challenging to keep in touch. At least I´ll be able to practice my penmanship! :-D

To update you all on my life since my last post, I´ll divide this one by theme. I´ll start off with my academic life. So far, everything is going well. Midterm exams came and went, and I am exactly where I would like to be in terms of results. By "results," I don´t mean just grades, but also my control of the Spanish language in general. Since I have arrived, I think I have improved drastically in terms of writing and speaking Castillian. I feel more natural, more spontaneous, and a lot less formal as I speak (something that even some of my professors have congratulated me on--they used to tell me that I speak so formally that I sound like I´m far older than I am!). This has only come with practice, and to future WIPPERS, I encourage you to speak in Spanish even with your American friends, no matter how awkward it might be! It will pay off in the long-run.

On another academic note, I will be taking the DELE exam (Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera--Spanish as a Foreign Language Diploma) at the end of May, right before final exams in some of my classes. Coordinated by the Instituto Cervantes, I think this is a great opportunity to put to the test all that I have learned over the past year and even gain an internationally-recognized certification about my skill level in speaking Spanish. I spoke to one of my professors today and she has offered to help me prepare for it! The professors here seem to really enjoy international students and are willing to do all they can to help them to succeed (something that I really appreciate!).

In terms of my Semana Santa (Holy Week/Spring Break), a friend (Maggie) and I spent about 10 days traveling through Ireland (Dublin and Cork) and the UK (Glasgow, Manchester, and London). I had never been to any of these places, so I was quite excited by the opportunity to spend time in the home of Harry Potter. That´s right, I spent a great deal of time looking for references to Harry Potter while on my spring break, and I quite enjoyed it. Maggie and I, after getting our initial shock that everyone drove on the opposite side of the road, explored a variety of sites in Dublin (Trinity College, the Book of Kells, governmental buildings), but the best part of that visit was that I got to see one of my fellow Badgers who traveled all the way from Wisconsin to Dublin just to visit me (or so I like to think)! Later, we hopped on down to Cork to see a city that locals called "real Ireland." We were able to meet up with two locals from the Couchsurfing Project who took us around and showed us amazing views of the city that we would not have been able to see alone, including some of the breathtaking views below of a small town right outside of Cork. We also got to kiss the Blarney Stone (it seems as if its ability to grant the gift of gab hasn’t had an effect on me…I’ve always been quite the chatterbox)!

When we arrived in Glasgow, we met up with another Couchsurfer, Jules, who hosted us for the few days we spent there, and she was perhaps the warmest person I have ever met. She showed us around the city in her free time and introduced us to the most delicious vegetarian-tea hut that had a great deal of Middle Eastern food (a close substitute for the food that I´ve been missing from home!). I even met one of my cousins for the first time in Glasgow, Mahran, who is studying engineering at one of the universities there. It was quite the experience since he has lived in Palestine his entire life and hasn´t ever visited the United States and I hadn´t ever met him on any of my trips to Palestine. Although we didn´t want to leave Glasgow, Maggie and I then proceeded to Manchester where we were spent time mostly eating delicious Moroccan and Indian food. We even made a new Argentinean friend and were able to continue practicing our Spanish with her! She is taking quite the European vacation, so when she stops by Madrid, we will be meeting up with her once again.

Our last stop on the trip was London and I do believe we fell in love with the city, all thanks to our final Couchsurfing host Sara, a Spaniard who has lived there for a few years (and speaks great English). She and her friends showed us the most wonderful time and offered us great insider tips to the different types of markets to check out and what sites to see. They even let us in on a little treasure called a salt beef bagel with mustard (the mustard was made of WASABI!). Although it was quite the sinus-cleanser, it was delicious. They were so great that I even made them a Palestinian maklouba to thank them for their hospitality! Aside from that, Maggie and I did all your typical London-esque visits: Big Ben, Buckingham Palace (which is closed until the Queen heads off to her summer palace), the British National Museum, the British National Library, and best of all, PLATFORM 9 AND 3/4s (which, sorry to say, is really between platforms 8 and 9 and not 9 and 10). It was a great trip and I´m glad I was fortunate enough to visit it.

As I write this post, I have just gotten back from a WIP-sponsored trip to Extremadura, a little-known and little-traveled community southwest of Madrid (about 3 hours away). Spending a weekend there with a full group (70+ people) can be daunting, but it was a great trip to say the least, especially since I was able to bond with some of the newer students that I might not have had the opportunity to get to know so far. We visited Mérida, Cáceres and Trujillo, three cities with a lot of history (with Arab, Roman, and Spanish influences and structures that remain to this day). Trujillo was especially interesting for me since it is the birthplace of Francisco Pizarro, the conquistador who conquered Peru so long ago (which also happens to be where my brother is studying right now!). It is definitely worth a trip if you ever come to Spain (whether or not you are studying here!)--there´s so much to learn.

I´m very sorry for the delay (I say this every time), but I´ll try to write the next post soon! Hoping all is well on your end.

Asad