Don't they know we didn't really come to Europe to go to school?

This might be my first boring post, but I will try to make it interesting. Some funny things... and not such funny things have happened since my return from Morocco. The time has been passing so quickly! I can't believe I have been here for over a month. I'm currently sitting in some mexican resturaunt with uncomfortable chairs pretending to drink this horribly sour drink so that I can use the internet. My residencia's internet broke and we wont have working internet for a week, wonderful. School has been pretty dificult lately. I have had 2 exams, I presentation, 1 paper, and next week I have 3 midterms. I am coping, but I think it really stinks. Thank God my grades only go over to Emmanuel as pass or fail because that way I can pay more attention to other things, like Spain- as it should be!

On Valentines day, I went horseback riding with the school. That was amazing! The second picture is from there. We went on a bus to another part of Madrid (country side), got off at the wrong stop, had some issues, finnaly got where we were supposed to be and walked about 45 minutes to the stables. The weather was gorgeous, and the horses were great! We rode for an hour and then went back into the city. Then I went to this Cuban resturaunt... that was an adventure. They took about 2 hours to fully serve us and then only gave us 2 free drinks to compensate for that. It is extremely frustrating not being able to correctly argue a point when in another country. If I had been in America, things would have gone a lot differently. Oh well, I can laugh about it now... then, not so much. Needless to say, I wont be returning to that specific place again.

I hesitate to say that I am sick, AGAIN. I do not know what it is about Spain, but it really hates my immune system. My throat is all that hurts, but it is pretty significant. I went back to the doctor today to find out that they don't have the strep test. That was a shock! He said he has been asking to have them for 2 years, and most of the Spanish doctors haven't even heard of it. Over here, you take some test and it takes 5 days for results. So I think the doctor is just playing the guessing game with my illness and we will see what happens, I guess. It is a tad rediculous if you ask me... and my throat. The weather change also is a factor because it changes from 40's- almost 60's depending on the time of the day and week.

A huge group of my friends went to Granada this weekend in a school trip, but the one I chose is in April and it is to San Sebastion. I am sure they will all have an awesome time and come back with great stories.

I think I should go lay down now, and PLEASE COMMENT on my posts, it makes me happy.

Taluego!

I thank Obama for my safe return to Spain

Well first off, sorry for not writing sooner. I have a good reason! I had strep throat for a good week or so. It wasn't your average annoying strep, it was more like: in a foreign country all alone, collapsing on your heater, can't peacefully walk down the stairs, wish I could make a house call kind of strep. Thankfully, I have a good friend here who got me medicine and made my doctor appointment. If it wasn't for that, I would have never gotten out of bed! After some more of a fever and headache, I was all better in time for Casablanca, Morocco. Morocco was very crazy! It was so obvious that we were NOT from around there from the way we dressed, talked, looked... everything. Not being able to communicate at all was very strange. Obama is a hit over there. Whenever we said we were from the U.S. the locals would say "OBAMA!!". I honestly think if we had gone before he was elected they would not have been very nice to us! The roads had no laws (to them: red means go, street lines mean nothing and you had to make a mad dash across the street). Shopping was awesome, even though I forced myself not to buy anything, my friends got some great deals. The hostel we stayed in was in a good area, even though some taxis couldn't find it on our way home from going out at night (mine!) It was very cheap and they gave us such good service (tea, O.J, breakfast, internet). We went to a mosque that you see above where I am holding an umbrella. It is the Hassan Mosque II (third largest in the world and VERY cool). Overall, Morocco made me appreicate Spain and the way I can communicate with people, and get by easily. It was our "vacation from vacation" and I loved it. I can't imagine going back home after all of this... it will be so easy to do everything from talk to people to order something to getting medicine!... everything is so simple back home! I must admit, I love the challenge here though.

Until next time...