You say you want a revolution?

Well life has been crazy these past few weeks. In classic Spanish style, I did minimal work all semester so that by the last month before finals I had/have no time to do anything. Not good student behavior. (sorry mom and dad). Everything is getting done, it's just a tid-bit stressful. I still have three finals left, and probably should be working on papers right now, but I'm taking a rest day....

Any way some interesting things have been going down. The San Isidro festival was a few weeks ago and there were free events all over Madrid. I went and saw fires on the river, a show for little kids (which I of course enjoyed too much), and a dancing event. It was really pleasant and fun.

We also had a 'graduation' ceremony for our program. Our 'diplomas' said they had no academic value. haha. It was a really fun event though. We got to socialize with the whole group and say goodbyes and such. It was really nice.

I don't know if you saw in the news, but Spanish elections were last weekend and the Spaniards are very disillusioned with their government so there were huge peaceful protests in the city center. We went and checked it out one day, and it was really cool. It was surprisingly well organized, it had food, water, tents, a medical tent. It was amazing, and the vibes were also amazing. Sadly the elections went on and had outcomes that were not surprising. We'll see if changes are made though.

Los Padres Part 2.

I think it's been about two weeks since the parents left, so probably about time to wrap up that trip. We were left with four more days. Three of travel and an early departure on the fourth day. On Monday we went to Salamanca. It turned out to be a very pleasant trip. Mostly because I could take less of the 'leader' role, since I knew just as much about Salamanca as my parents. It was fun to take a little trip and stay in a hostel though. Salamanca was another Spanish city, in the typical sense. It's mostly a university town, but is has a cathedral to visit, a Roman bridge, etc I really did enjoy the Cathedral (considering I've now seen about A MILLION). This one was good for two reasons. ONE: it had a dried up arm of a saint in it. TWO: they did renovations of the cathedral in the early 90s and they snuck in an astronaut to the facade. It was pretty entertaining to see that anachronism, and very worth the 15 min search we did looking at the wrong door. I have to say though that my favorite part of the trip might have been at night in the hostile sitting with my parents watching Boondock Saints dubbed in Spainish in the lobby with the volume turned down, and flipping through Spanish gossip magazines that were left for guests. It was great.

The last full day in Spain we went to el Escorial to see a giant compound made a very long time ago. I realize that is the worst, most unsatisfying explanation ever, but google it if you want to know more (what a bossy/lazy blogger I am!). I think by that point I was so tired my enthusiasm was just gone. I did enjoy it though. It had a lot of artwork and replicas of painting that are in el Prado, which was exciting that I recognized them. It made me feel cultured. The monastery (the big compound) is in a big park in the mountains. It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed the walk up to the monastery.

On our last night in Madrid we went to the great Alcampo to do some shopping and then went and smoked hooka at a hooka bar with Kristin. Dad didn't like it, but I think mom did. I do have photos, but I got the impression that it was unwanted that they get published to a public space. I will show them to you anytime you want though when you see me next :)