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

March Madness

As the semester marches on, I can’t help but feel excited and anxious at the same time. On one hand, with each day that passes, the closer I am to being done with the semester and summer vacation (which probably won’t be much of a vacation anyway—senior thesis research!). On the other, despite how excited I am for classes to be finished, I know that each passing day marks a day closer to this wonderful experience coming to an end. I have yet to book my return flight to the US, especially since I don’t know when I want to go back! I guess it all depends on how the research grants that I have applied for turn out, but it looks like I will be back at the beginning of July. That’s really not that far away. It’s a scary feeling.

[End personal reflection.]

Sorry about that! You all want to hear about what it is I am up to here in Madrid! Despite these feelings, I am continuing to enjoy my life here. Classes are great and I feel as if I am learning a lot. In my comparative syntax class, I feel as if the little grammatical errors that I used to make while writing or speaking have mostly vanished. My political science classes are teaching me new things not just about Spanish life, but also about different lifestyles and political issues in other European countries (the French identity crisis about what it is to be French, for example).

When discussing this identity crisis, I thought it interesting that the professor said, “You all, as Americans, know perfectly well what it means to be American. Your identity is so clearly defined. For the French, however, this is not so.” I am pretty sure the entire class disagreed with him. While nobody denies that we share a common link as “Americans,” what that means is a question entirely up for debate. Is it liberty? Democracy? Freedom of speech? The English language? Multiculturalism? Hamburgers? I wouldn’t doubt that most of the class was offended by the professor’s generalization, but I think he got the hint when everyone’s face seemed to register a look of shock and confusion. I for one can’t say I was surprised that this discussion came up. After all, the class is about globalization and such a topic necessarily requires a conversation about what it means to be American. I’m sure this will continue to develop as the semester progresses.

Outside of classes, the most interesting news to report is that I went to Lisbon, Portugal two weekends ago with a group of Americans (Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, United Statesians), a few Spaniards, and a few Germans. The trip was coordinated by a foreign travel agency. It was a great experience and I got to know a ton of new people in a low pressure situation. I had always wanted to go to Portugal, but I didn’t know how to do it since most of the students on our program had gone already earlier on in the year and I wasn’t able to go. This was a perfect solution. Driving to Lisbon, I thought we would have to stop at the border to be asked for our passports. Nevertheless, I had forgotten since that Portugal (the first EU country other than Spain I’ve been to since I’ve been here) is a member of the Schengen Agreement, which means that there is free movement of persons from one member country to another. It was interesting to witness the EU’s political cooperation at work, as it made an 8-hour bus trip that much less stressful! I think it’s a nifty idea.

When we got to Lisbon, we had a weekend to explore a variety of sites. My favorite was when we went to the westernmost point of the European continent. It was such a site to see!

I also had the privilege of listening to traditional Portuguese music (fado) and eating one of the country’s most famous pastries (pasteis de belem—cream-filled dessert). Both great and (one of them, at least) delicious experiences!

Well, that’s all for now. More soon. Semana Santa is approaching (their Spring Break to celebrate Easter) and my plan is to go to Ireland and the UK with a friend. Before that though, I have midterm exams, papers, readings, and a play to tackle! Until then!

Life Update

Hi, everyone! Sorry it has taken so long to get to this blog post (it’s been about a month), but final exams have just wrapped up here in Madrid and we have just started our second semester this past week. Needless to say, things have been pretty hectic and I’m hoping life will calm down for a bit until the first batch of midterms set for mid-March. Nevertheless, I owe you all an update (and special thanks to those who have been Badger-ing me [pun intended] to update!).

On the academic end, final exams went well but there is such a difference between the educative system here and in the States. While in the US professors value and encourage critical thinking and application of the concepts learned in class, the Spanish professors here seem to focus only on rote memorization. That is to say, while studying for my exams, I had to remove myself from the material that I was studying and tell myself that it was not my opinion that mattered, but instead the professor’s. On the exams then, it was important to refer to the different readings I had done if I wanted to disagree with something stated in class. For instance, on my picaresque novel exam, the professor asked us to write about whether there existed a “feminine” picaresque novel and to justify our answer. To answer the question required that I cite different authors who shared my view (like a paper), but I was not allowed to put in any personal analysis if I did not have an academic that shared my thoughts. That is not to say that the system in the US is any better or the system here is any worse, they’re just two different models. As of now, I’m waiting on the official results from my classes, and I hope to come out ok!

The sad part about ending first semester is that a lot of the friends I have made from different countries in the EU are returning to their home institutions to finish up their academic year there. To say goodbye to one of my friends, we went out to an Indian restaurant and had dinner with a big group of people from France, Italy and the US. It felt very bittersweet to know that I had to say goodbye to some friends, but hopefully I’ll be able to meet just as many new and interesting people during the second semester.

With the end of one semester came the start of another. This past Monday classes restarted at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. I’m still not sure which classes I will end up taking, as I have a variety of options and a lot of professors I would be honored to study with, but a limited amount of time to study with all of them. I’m heavily considering taking a class about Spanish theatre in the Golden Age (c. seventeenth century) because I really enjoyed the professor’s picaresque novel class last semester. She seemed really excited to see me in her class for a second semester—hopefully that’s a good sign! I have two more options to explore tomorrow and Friday in the Spanish Department and one more to see on Monday when the History Department’s classes start.

Aside from classes, teaching English and volunteering have been keeping me busy. I teach English to a 14-year-old Spanish student named Jorge once a week, supplementing what he has learned in class with spoken and written exercises that I prepare for him. He is very bright with a good command of English. He really tries to free himself of his Spanish accent when speaking English, imitating my accent to the best of his abilities. Sometimes I can’t even tell he’s a non-native English speaker. As time goes on, I’m sure he’ll be able to improve even more and be confident enough to speak English while he travels to the US, Canada, and the UK. He has traveled to some of these places before, but told me that he was too embarrassed to even attempt speaking English because of his accent. I tried telling him that that fear is normal, especially if you’re traveling abroad. I then told him to consider what I do every day: speak in Spanish to people whose native language is Spanish. I still get embarrassed when I realize I made a grammatical mistake, but that can’t stop me from speaking Spanish all together. I encourage my friends to correct me when I make a mistake otherwise I’ll never learn! Jorge has gotten a lot better about this lately.

In terms of volunteering, which I have been doing since October, I have had a wide array of experiences, both positive and negative. I work in a women’s center, helping school-age children with their homework for a few hours a week. The center is in a more disadvantaged area of Madrid, so the kids sometimes lack the resources that they need to succeed in school (a supportive home environment, school supplies, etc.), so the other volunteers and I try to provide them with what we can. The kids are great overall. They’re a happy bunch of youngsters that just need a little positive reinforcement to do their work, although sometimes they can get a bit rambunctious. Last Friday, for example, I went in with another friend of mine for one day of unstructured activities with kids. While we assist them on Mondays and Wednesdays with homework, Fridays are days with games and other activities for the kids to relax after a long week at school. This past Friday we helped the kids decorate some masks for the Carnival here (in celebration of the last weekend before Lent). While most of the kids were really excited to get to work on their masks, others were instigating arguments and provoking conflict among some of the other students. Once we were able to resolve the situation by talking to those who were bullying the other students, everything went fine. It’s hard remembering how it was when I was a kid sometimes. I know bullying happens at most schools, but dealing with it in English is one thing; dealing with it in Spanish is another. Nevertheless, a good time was had by all and I’m going back to the center tonight to assist the kids with more homework.

Lastly, I have some new travels to report. Maintaining my promise to myself that I should see as much of Spain as possible while I’m here, I spent one day last weekend in Salamanca, about 2.5 hours away from Madrid. The city is much smaller than Madrid and it is very much a college town, but I was excited to visit it because of its relevance to my picaresque novel class that I had just finished. One of the books we read, el Lazarillo de Tormes is partly based in Salamanca, so it was nice to walk around and see all the sites mentioned in the novel: the Roman Bridge, the Tormes River (where the protagonist was born), etc. I even got a picture with two of the most famous residents of the town—El Ciego (the blind man) and Lazaro (the protagonist), both characters from el Lazarillo de Tormes. It was a truly rewarding trip and I’m glad I finally got to go!

Well, that’s all for now, folks (pardon my Looney Toons reference). More soon (I promise!).

Un año nuevo

I hope everyone’s holiday season has treated them well, filled with a lot of time with family and friends. I know I really enjoyed mine, but since break is wrapping up here in Madrid, I should start getting back to preparing for final exams. Tomorrow, perhaps. What follows is a summary of the (many) holidays I celebrated here in Madrid and what I’ve done during break:

1. Christmas. Obviously, this is a lot of people’s most important holiday, so I hope it went well for those people. As a Muslim, I was a little intimidated about spending Christmas in an (unofficially) Catholic country, especially since all of my roommates went home to celebrate it! After getting used to seeing them most every day, eating our dinners together and exchanging great stories, I felt a little weird being in the apartment alone. I got “by with a little help from my friends,” though! Cooking my favorite Palestinian dish (Maklouba) for the first time since I have arrived in Spain, watching Taken, and just relaxing after a whirlwind of a semester made me one happy camper on Christmas Day.

2. Inter-holidays. Once the Christmas festitivities were over, my brother (Amjad) came to visit me from the States. After waiting for him for two hours in the wrong terminal, I finally found him and we went back to my apartment so he could drop off his luggage before proceeding on a quick walking tour of the city. The next day, we were off to Morocco! We went to Tangier, and I couldn’t have been more thrilled about the trip. Spending time with Amjad, eating food just like mom’s, and relaxing in such a multicultural city are all experiences to be treasured.

3. New Year’s. Amjad and I arrived back to the apartment on New Year’s Eve to find my roommate busily cleaning for that night’s festivities. We were playing host to this year’s gathering, so I immediately started helping her clean the apartment, shop for groceries, and cook. That night, I believe the apartment had reached its maximum capacity of about 15 people. Space was limited, but good company was not, so it wasn’t a big deal. At around 11PM, Eloise (my roommate) and I prepared 12 grapes in small plastic glasses for everyone to take with them to the Puerta del Sol. The tradition here is to eat the 12 grapes as you countdown to the New Year. There are many theories as to why this is, but the most common one is explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Grapes. I’ve never been to Times Square on New Year’s Eve, but I imagine Madrid would give that celebration a run for its money.

4. Inter-holidays #2. On January 2, my friend Megan came to visit me. Also a friend of my brother, we were both excited to have her. Despite her massive jetlag, we had a full day in store for her, including trips to the Reina Sofia Museum, the Puerta del Sol, and a flamenco show. It was a non-stop day, but a great one. The rest of the break, up to 6 January, was spent showing Amjad and Megan various sites in Madrid: the Prado, my university, the different neighborhoods that I frequent, and eating Spanish cuisine (for the most part).

5. Three Kings’ Day. I bet you all wondered why I labeled the period after New Year’s “Inter-holidays #3?” Well, much to my surprise Christmas didn’t truly end on 25 December. Instead, Spain continues celebrating the Christmas season until Three Kings’ Day, which fell on 6 January. The tradition is to buy a roscón de reyes (kings’ ring; circular cake), which is filled with small surprises. The tradition is best explained here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosca_de_reyes. Despite my roommate and I being under the impression that we were heading to a mutual friend’s apartment for the celebration, this friend informed us that we couldn’t have the celebration at her place at the last minute, so we had to play host to another gathering four days after New Year’s! Cleaning was rampant, yet again, but in the end, everything turned out well. We had a great time.

So, now you know everything I have been up to lately. I’m trying to get myself back into the “school” mindset since final exams are coming up soon, but I’m finding it incredibly difficult. I’ll be fine once I get back into my daily routine. I just wish we had had final exams before break!

Enjoy your last two weeks of break, everyone! I’ll try to enjoy my last two days.

Puente, End of Semester, Navidades

Where I last left off, I had just gotten back from a trip to Córdoba in the south of Spain. This post will start off with a different trip that I took at the beginning of December to Jerez de la Frontera and Cádiz, two cities also in the south of Spain.

We were given off the weekend of the 4 December to celebrate “Constitution Day” here in Spain. Essentially, after the fall of Franco´s dictatorship on the 20 November 1975, a new constitution was written in 1978, which to this day, continues to guide Spanish governmental affairs. What better way to commemorate this holiday than to take a trip? It wasn´t just any trip, however, as it was a trip to the area where Spain´s very first constitution in 1812 was written after their independence from the French.

Jerez de la Frontera was our first stop, a city famous for its sherry and horses. The sherry is said to be good (friends of mine attest to it—I was given a non-alcoholic alternative to respect my religious beliefs) and various celebrities (Pasión Vega ) to important political figures (Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill) have traveled to Jerez just to try its famous drink. My favorite part of the trip, however, was a little journey through the city from inside a dark room known as a “cámara oscura.” In it, a lens and a mirror combine to give an impressive visual image of the city and highlighted all the important areas to visit, including the grand cathedral, the Moorish castle, the Tío Pepe Factory. The picture below shows the cathedral, as seen from the cámara oscura:

When we returned to Madrid, it was time to get back into finishing up what was left of the semester before winter break (exams are not until January/February). Even without exams, this time got to be really busy for a lot of students, myself included. In the last week alone, I have written three papers in Spanish for a total of about 45 pages of academic writing. It was exhausting. At least I´m getting practice, I guess! This will be a very helpful learning experience depending on what I do for graduate school.

To help celebrate the approaching festivities, and as a sign of gratitude to our office staff for such a great semester, we threw them a little surprise “thank you” gathering in our WIP office. We had the cake made in a pastelería (pastry shop) by my apartment—chocolate truffle—and, I must say, it was delicious. We also made a collage of various pictures of everyone in the program from throughout the semester, which is now proudly displayed in our office. According to Amy Olson, the student services coordinator for WIP, this was the first time in her memory that a group of students did this for them—go, Badgers!

I wrap up this post wishing you all the happiest of holidays and the safest of travels. ¡Felices fiestas!

Midterms, Thanksgiving, Córdoba

It has been quite a busy last few weeks in Madrid. With class projects, midterms, Thanksgiving, and a program-sponsored trip to Córdoba have been more than enough to make it so. Let´s go in that order; otherwise, the head cold I have right now will prevent me from making any sort of sense.

As I wrote in my last post, I had to read many picaresque novels within a short period of time so that I could successfully write and present my literary commentary to my class full of Spaniards. Although the entire process leading up to the actual presentation was exhausting (i.e., reading so many novels written in medieval Spanish), the presentation itself was not. I decided to present first since I didn´t want to have the added pressure of going after some of the Spaniards—with their fluidity in speaking their native language—in the class. Nevertheless, the professor was so warm and inviting. She actually introduced me to the entire class and told them my entire life history—where I am from, what I am doing in Madrid, and how good she thinks I am at speaking and writing Spanish. Embarrassed, I began my presentation and when it finished, I was quite proud. I was able to do it without letting my nerves get the best of me and the professor told me that I did a great job.

Even though the whole process with writing and presenting my literary commentary had kept me busy for a few weeks, midterms in myreunidas classes (alongside fellow U.S. students) did not help the matter. While many of my classmates suffered through three, four, or five midterms exams in these classes, I (fortunately) only had two since I am taking two classes outside of the program to push myself that much harder to learn Spanish. Despite this, I still had to prepare for the exams, as they are very different here. In the U.S., exams are less about how much you remember of the facts or what the professor told you in lecture and more about applying what you have learned throughout the semester. Here, it is quite the opposite. To be successful, you must learn—by memory—everything the professor has said to you and, depending on the question the professor asks you on the exam, repeat that information in the form of an essay or short answer question. While some classes here do value free expression and personal analysis in an academic setting, most follow a didactic approach to learning. Admittedly, this is different, but I hesitate to call it weird since I do not believe such a label is ever appropriate to describe another culture. Returning to the topic, however, everyone seems to have done well on midterms, with results trickling in every day. I should have mine by next week, I hope.

Once midterms ended, Thanksgiving festivities started! Thanksgiving here is, obviously, not a big event since Spain has a different history than that of the United States. Nevertheless, the Program sponsored a deliciously satisfying dinner the night of Thanksgiving at a Spanish restaurant called Casa Adolfo. Eating anything and everything from fried eggplant as an appetizer to a delicious red-pepper steak as my entrée, I truly enjoyed myself that night. The food, the company, and the atmosphere were so pleasant that it helped a lot of people through what would be a difficult time of culture shock (since so many miss their families). Despite what could have been a very emotional evening for a lot of the program participants, it ended well and helped everyone in the Program—including the administrators—the opportunity to bond and develop a sense of camaraderie that we otherwise would not have had.

That weekend, the Program also sponsored a weekend trip to Córdoba, about 400 kilometres from Madrid. As a Muslim, I was truly excited to go on this trip since I would have the opportunity to see the city´s Great Mosque-Cathedral, especially since we were able to visit it on our religious holiday, Eid el-Adha. Seeing such a rich legacy on such an important holiday was so awe-inspiring. The pictures below do not even do the mezquita (mosque) justice, so I encourage you to visit it if ever given the opportunity!

The next day, we visited Medina Azahara (derived from Arabic for ¨Brilliant City¨), which contains ruins of the caliphate in the area from the tenth century. Although the day left us wet and cold due to off-again, on-again onslaught of rain, I enjoyed seeing such a vital part of Spanish history; knowing that it also makes up a part of my culture made it that much better for me. There was a very well-constructed museum that possessed remnants from the medieval city as well, so we were able to get out of the rainy conditions for a bit.

No matter where I travel, seeing how much pride others take in their culture makes me learn and discover that much more about my own. This whole process of exploring another´s culture really does make it so that you explore more of your own. I hope to continue this process of self-discovery, as cliché as it may sound, as I continue with my year-long stay in Madrid.

Time Flies…?

Let me begin with the reasoning behind the title. It is not meant as a criticism in any way, shape, or form of anyone who has ever said that phrase. Instead, I use the expression to represent how I felt while reading about 1,000 pages of el Guzmán de Alfarache—a picaresque novel and a required reading-- in the last week. The operative word here is “felt” because as I write these words, I have officially tackled that monstrous reading. The whole process seemed to drag on, partly because of its use of medieval Spanish vocabulary, but mostly because of the hundreds of moral digressions the narrator inserted at various points throughout the story. Now that it is finished, I can relax… oh, wait. I have two more books to read. Oh, well, never mind. J

Despite that little rant, everything is going so well in Madrid! In reality, I’m not drowning in schoolwork, but after I finish the required paper and presentation due on 16 November (which is why I need to get those other two books read—and I have not procrastinated either!), things should be pretty mellow until final exams.

One of my biggest apprehensions since arriving in Madrid has been how to go about making new, non-American friends. I figured the process would be easier once classes started, and after an initial hesitance to greet/talk to other students on my part, I can honestly say that I am finding a good mix (literally) of people to hang out with—Spaniards, Colombians, Peruvians, Mexicans, and even some French people. Don’t get me wrong—I really enjoy hanging out with my fellow program participants but it’s nice to start branching out, especially when the program participants would speak English to one another all the time.

On that point, however, I’m happy to report, that the situation has improved dramatically. Last week, we all had an individual meeting with Amy Olson, our student coordinator, who so kindly offered to be our scapegoat/excuse for why all WIP students had to speak Spanish to one another. The way it was, nobody wanted to be that “one person” speaking Spanish all the time while everyone else spoke English. It would have been odd. Nevertheless, now everyone is happy to be practicing Spanish with one another, even if it requires a little bit more effort. I finally feel as if I have achieved a fairly high level of immersion in the Spanish language, which can only be a good thing for me in terms of achieving the level of spoken Spanish I desire.

Other than that, life has been pretty normal lately. I have no real new adventures to share with all of you as of now (other than a couple of trips around Madrid, but we’ll save that for another day!). This week is what one would call a puente (literally “bridge” or three-day weekend). While some people are going out of Spain for those few days, I most unfortunately will not, mostly because of time restrictions on the above-mentioned presentation. Nevertheless, I do promise to bring you more exciting news in my next post, so stay tuned!