Sardinia!

Well my wish for things to slow down hasn't exactly come true, I've come to the conclusion I'm just going to be super busy until school is over. This coming week I have 3 exams, so pray I do well on those! I'm hoping they'll go well and I won't have any serious problems.
This weekend is going to fairly uneventful for me, since I have so many exams this next week and then papers due the next I decided it would be best to stay in and study some. Tomorrow after church though I'll be having lunch with a friend which will be a nice breather.
Classes are still going well, so far I haven't felt overly stressed out. Work continues to be going well as well, I like all of my students. I have been lucky enough to get mostly all adults so they put a lot more effort into their classes. I think my favorite student is Pedro, he is a businessman and basically we get together 4 hours week and just talk in English together, it makes work a little more relaxing!
Last weekend 3 of my friends and I had a chance to get away from Madrid for the weekend, we went to the island of Sardinia! It was so beautiful, and since it wasn't the peak of tourist season we basically had the island to ourselves. We stayed at this adorable Bed and Breakfast and the owner was so helpful in giving us ideas of what to do while we were there. On Saturday we ended up walking to a beautiful beach and playing in the sea. The village we visited also has some amazing Roman ruins we walked through, its so daunting to be walking on stones that have been in place for about 2,000 years!
This last week was light school-wise, the calm before the storm of midterms! Thursday myself and 2 of my American friends went out with some of our Spanish friends. Its so nice to have Spaniards with us because it challenges our Spanish so much more and we go places we never would have found on ourselves.
My internet has been having issues loading my pictures, hopefully I'll be able remedy that fairly soon so you can all see the amazing things I have!

My 21st birthday and trip to London!

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted, the last week and a half have been absolutely insane!
Last weekend rather than relaxing an ended up being on the go pretty much the whole weekend. My friends and I decided Friday to visit El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen on Saturday. The first is a late Renaissance palace and the second the Catholic Cathedral Franco (the previous dictator) built in the side of a small mountain. They are only about an hour outside of Madrid, with a bus running between them so it works out well to see them both in one day. That Sunday I finally had a chance to meet the missionary family my uncle knows here, the Humes. I spent most of the day with them Sunday, it was nice to be with an American family and have a homecooked meal for the first time in weeks!
Tuesday was my 21st birthday, it worked out well because another one of my friends from my program's birthday was Monday so we celebrated together Monday night. The woman she lives with made us a homecooked Spanish dinner, it was delicious! It was nice to have our closest friends from the program all together and celebrating.
This past weekend was also a busy one, one of my best friends from home, Lizzie, was in London for the week. I decided that I couldn't miss the chance to see her when she was so close, so I skipped class on Friday to go spend the weekend with her. She is a theater major, so we went to a show Friday night and then just spent the weekend wandering around London seeing the sights. It was so refreshing to see an old friend.
This week hopefully will be slower than last, I am ready for a breather!

weekend in Toulouse

I can't believe that it is Thursday already! I'm amazed by how quickly time has been going since my classes started. I'm hoping to spend this weekend relaxing and getting some much needed studying done.
I was in Toulouse, France this weekend and it was probably my favorite weekend so far. On top of having me visiting, Heidi and her roommates also had 2 girlfriends from the UK staying for the weekend and we had a great time together. I can't tell you how much I had been craving crepes, I was happy when that ended up being our first meal Saturday night. During high school I had done a project on Toulouse so it was fun to see the things I had spent so much time reading about. We took a boat tour of the city which was beautiful! I also had a chance to wander around the city by myself for awhile.
The only bad thing about the weekend was Monday night when I was on my way home, my plane ended up being about 2 hours late. When sitting in the airport though, I ended up starting a conversation with two Spanish people waiting for the flight as well. We ended up taking while we waited and the whole way home. It was a nice way to transition out of French and back into Spanish!
Other than that though my week has been fairly uneventful. I applied to get my residency card, which will be nice to have! My classes are going well, there are lots of work, but I think it will be worth it.
I hope you all have a great weekend!

classes have started!

I have officially finished my first week of classes and it has been an interesting one. My friends and I have been joking about how we feel like we are back in high school again. All of our classes are in the same building as our program office and the cafeteria we eat at. We never have a reason to go outside! While I'm sure as it starts to get colder I will appreciate staying inside, I'm kind of missing the walking between classes I have at Madison. So far I think that my classes through my program are going to be very similar to the ones I have taken through the university so far. They are designed to make us feel more at home. My class through the university here though is going to be challenging. Yesterday I was handed a 9 page reading list, needless to say its not the one book requirement I am used to having. While I won't have to read all the books on the list, its going to be a chore to just figure out which readings will be the most beneficial to me. My teacher seems to be pretty good though, she speaks without a heavy accent and knows what she is talking about (half the books on the list were ones she has written- maybe its not so different from classes back home!)
My week got interesting though on Tuesday night, I came home to realize the power had gone out and I was the only one there. Luckily my roommate got home soon after and knew who to call, but we were still without power for the rest of the evening. Went I came home from class on Wednesday the power was back on, but since I hadn't know if it would be I hadn't gone to the grocery store to replace my food supply. I threw out most of the food I had, but thought some of it was still going to be okay to eat. That was my big mistake, because I got to spend all day yesterday in bed sick. I think I have learned my lesson!
The week is done now though and I can relax, I am leaving tomorrow to spend my long weekend in France. My Bible study leader from France, is actually on staff in Toulouse so I'll be going to visit her before she comes home to get married! I am so excited and cannot wait to see her!

my piso aka my apartment

What's been going on

I have been in my apartment for a little over a week now, and I am completely loving it. I have my own room which is a change from sharing last year, I'm still getting used to being by myself. I still haven't had the chance to meet all of my roommates, we have drastically different schedules so its been difficult to find a time when we are all around. But from what I know so far about them all I have no complains! Its been so nice to be able to eat what I want, when I want. I'm also blessed enough to have a small grocery store right down the street so it makes it even easier.
We'll be wrapping up our intensive course next Tuesday, which is something I am excited for. While the class has been helpful, I want to get started with my university course work. I just picked my classes today so I'm ready to go! Classes will start on Thursday, which is only a week away.
I also had my first day of work on Monday. I will be tutoring two little boys, 5 and 8, every Monday, one hour each. They are such sweethearts and I can't wait to be able to spend more time with them. Their mom even went out and bought a set of their books for me so that I would be prepared. I also will be starting another class on Mondays with an older girl. This is a new experience for me and so far I'm enjoying it.
I have a feeling things are going to start picking up in these next couple weeks, with working and classes, it will be nice to get into a routine though and settle into life here.

My new job!

As the second week comes to a close, I am amazed by all the things that have been accomplished so quickly. I started to move my things into my apartment today and officially have the keys! Tomorrow will be there first night I actually sleep there, when I finish moving everything in. I cannot wait to be able to cook my own food and eat when I want. Right now we have food in the cafeteria for all our meals and while it is really convenient, its not always the best!
The big excitement for 4 of us this weekend though was the jobs we got tutoring English. It will be nice to have a little extra cash coming in so I can travel more. I haven't heard back about who exactly I will be tutoring, but it will probably end up being 3 hours a week which I think will be a good amount. I'll hopefully be starting that in the next couple of weeks and am excited to see how it goes.