Family and Semana Santa

¡Hola!

So not much exciting went on this week, besides the Huelga General, on March 29^th.  This was a strike across all of Andalucia against the Labor Reform currently being implemented.  Due to the economic crisis in Spain, many cutbacks have been made in which the people are against.  Last Sunday also marked an election, in which PP, Political Party, won.  Regardless of who won the elections, a strike was planned for Thursday, March 29.  So, we were warned by our program many times to avoid the strikes, and prepare for the worst: minimal services were provided across the region.  Flights were cancelled, businesses didn’t open, and buses didn’t run.  Only minimal services were provided by all.  As I was heading to work Thursday morning, I pulled into Plaza Jeronimo, where my office is located, to find a small group of strikers gathering.  For the next hour at work, I could see, from our fourth floor office, many groups of strikers were passing through the plaza, headed for a meeting point in El Centro.  And finally, the crowd started to move.  Whistles were blowing, horns were honking, and fireworks were going off.  The crowd walked through the plaza below my office (and this wasn’t even everyone striking), but they were there for a while walking and making noise.  I went downstairs with my co-workers and watched, as the restaurant below us locked their doors and the protestors marched on.  I took some pictures…check them out on my Facebook page.

Besides that, not much is going on.  So I wanted to do a general post, which has been on my list for a while now.

My Family

Recently, everything has been good, but before a few weeks ago, things were getting rough.  Lola is a single mother, who works in the mornings and comes home stressed out around 3:00, 3:30.  So, lunch for us isn’t until around 4:00 generally, which is much later than the normal 2:30 or so lunch time here in Spain.  Most days she makes lunch the night before, so if I need to leave early for class, I can reheat a small pot of food for myself.  Another food issue here is my family doesn’t eat a ton of fruit, which is tough for me coming from a healthier lifestyle (which doesn’t include deep-fried hot dogs for dinner…).  Recently, we have been having more fruit, which is great, but not always.  We used to have salads with every meal, but that isn’t as common anymore.  Another issue here has been laundry.  At school, I do laundry at least once a week.  Here, we are guaranteed laundry once a week, but it also takes a few days to hang dry.  Lola was mad at me for asking to do laundry more often because I didn’t have enough clean socks/underwear/undershirts, because she thinks they aren’t dirty.  If it doesn’t smell or if it’s not stained, she says, it’s not dirty.  So, I now re-wear them all twice, because I’m not going to pay an absurd amount of money for new clothes (can’t find any cheap stuff).  I bought a few new pairs of underwear and socks, so those have been fine, but it’s just a frustrating situation in general.  But this is how it works adapting to another culture, that’s all.  It’s been fine since, but travel weeks are tough – for example, on Tuesday I’m going to Amsterdam.  If I want clean clothes before I leave, I need to pace out what I wear because my clothes won’t be dry and ready to pack by the time I need to leave.  So, lots of strategizing what I’m wearing ahead of time, which is just a little more work, that’s all.  I did talk to the housing director here, who is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, and she said she will talk to Lola if I want her to, but I would prefer to do so (but haven’t yet because I think it would be awkward).  If the situation between the clothes and food worsens, I’ll speak up.

Other family issues going on…José Manuel, my brother, had his girlfriend living with us for most of February.  Sandra is awesome and I consider her part of the family, but it puts a lot of stress on Lola, I’ve noticed.  Sandra was having issues with her parents and refused to live at home for some time, so she ate, slept, and lived here, without compensating Lola for food and utilities and what not.  They made an agreement that she would be out on March 1^st, but she wasn’t until about a week after that.  Another thing is that Jose’s computer broke right before I arrived in January, so he doesn’t have one.  He used Sandra’s while she was here, but now that she is gone, I offered to let him use mine when I’m not using it, which is fine by me, but a little nervraking with the amount of private information on my computer for my internship.  So, I made him his own account and leave my computer and charger out in the kitchen for him when I’m not using it, but just tell him I need it when I’m back.

And now, for some background on Semana Santa!  This is Holy Week, the last week of Lent and the week before Easter.  Sevilla’s celebration of the holiday is a weeklong festival, famous around the world for its pasos, or wood or plaster sculptures of individual scenes of the events that happened between Jesus' arrest and his burial, or images of the Virgin Mary showing grief for the torture and killing of her son.  From Sunday to Sunday, processions are held every day.  In each procession, each church has their own paso, band, and group of nazarenos or brothers who follow the float.  From Wikipedia: “These pasos are physically carried on the necks of costaleros (literally "sack men", because of the costal, a sack-like cloth that they wear over their neck, to soften the burden) and can weigh up to five metric tons. The pasos are set up and maintained by cofradías, religious brotherhoods that are common to a specific area of the city, whose precede the paso dressed in Roman military costumes or penitential robes. Those members who wish to do so wear these penitential robes with conical hats, or capirotes, used to conceal the face of the wearer. These Nazarenos carry processional candles, may walk the city streets barefoot, and may carry shackles and chains in their feet as penance. A brass band, marching band, a drum and bugle band may accompany the group, playing funeral marches, religious hymns or "marchas" written for the occasion.”  All of the pasos walk from their churches to La Catedral de Sevilla, the main cathedral and the third largest in the world.  The nazarenos, when approached by kids, offer little candies and the wax from their candles.  Kids have balls of wax that they try to grow as large as possible every year.  Another note on the nazarenos – they dress exactly like the KKK.  Yep.  I went to a session to learn more about the week, and we were asked if we wanted to try on the traditional clothes, and nobody did….but the Spaniards know why it’s weird to us at least.  At our session, we got to try some traditional Semana Santa foods, such as torrijas.  These are little squares of bread which get soaked in milk or wine, they are lightly friend and doused with honey.  Drenched.  Showered.  Smothered.  Use whatever verb you want to.  They are SO SWEET and delicious.

                           

The weather lately has been pretty nasty, between being chilly outside and rainy.  I’m hoping the weather gets better so Semana Santa can go on!  We leave 1am Tuesday morning for Madrid, by bus, then off to Amsterdam.  I’ll blog after Amsterdam.  Happy Semana Santa (aka spring break 1 of 2)!

Here are some pictures from Google...https://www.google.es/search?q=semana+santa+sevilla&hl=es&client=firefox-a&hs=UQe&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnsl&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=egB3T4XyDcWKhQeBxoSWDQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CDIQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=629

Awesome video

A friend of mine in our program made a video of our Morocco trip...check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzHS3FJP1Bo

Marruecos (Morocco)

Sa’alam Alekum! (Hello, in Arabic)

I would have never believed that I would be traveling to Africa anytime soon, but luckily for me, our program takes us on a three day, two night trip to Morocco.  We left bright and early Thursday morning for a two-hour bus ride to Algeciras, where we boarded the ferry to take us to Ceuta (still Spain, but now in Africa).  After the most bumpy hour long boat ride ever, we made it.  From Ceuta, we had about a twenty minute drive to the border, which took some time to get through, but after that, we were finally in Morocco!  Starting from Ceuta, I already noticed a difference in the dress of the people on the streets, which was a transition into Morocco.

            Before we left, we had an orientation on the culture and what we needed to know, because it’s quite different than what we were accustomed to.  “Don’t be surprised if someone offers you money or a camel or something for a girl on our trip,” we were warned.  Along with that, girls aren’t allowed on the streets (alone) at night.  There is very, very little alcohol available.  Bartering (regatear, to haggle) is a necessity, which I was very excited for.  Meals always ended with Moroccan tea, which was so easy to get used to (a sweet tea with spearmint leaves).  And many more other culture changes, some more welcomed than others.  A traditionally very Muslim country, Morocco brought a definite culture change to our trip.  All women were covered so no skin, except the face, was showing (including head coverings).  Men wore the same, but without the head covering even though most wore some form of beanie hat.  So, some people weren’t too comfortable with what they were wearing, but most didn’t have a problem.  The currency there is dirham, and the exchange rate was about 11dh to 1 euro.

            Our first day there, we arrived in Tetuan, where we got a tour of the city, a market (first time I saw chicken’s being killed and feathered), a plaza, the Jewish quarter, and a few other places.  The first stop on our tour was an arts school, for students who flunked/dropped out of school.  We saw the behind the scenes of a lot of their work, which was absolutely breathtaking.  Lunch and our tea break were in the same restaurant, which was very traditionally decorated and included a traditional meal.  Dinner was back at the hotel, and we called it a night (relatively) early.

            Our second day started around 6:30, but really it started at 5:30 (Adi and I roomed together, and forgot to change our clocks due to the time change).  After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to Tanger and first visited a Coca-Cola bottling facility.  This was so cool!  We saw the bottling process for cans, plastics, and glass bottles.  Did you know…that the glass coke bottles that are returned to be reused are cleaned for 40 minutes, before being reused?  The whole bottling process was neat, from having to put on cheap, white lab coats and head coverings, to the free sampling at the end of the tour.  I asked our guide what made Coke different around the world, and the answer was, as predicted, the sugar and the water.  Everywhere in the world, different types of sugar is grown and used, and the water tastes differently, too.  Thus far this semester, Spain’s Coke tastes the best to me.  One of the coolest things we saw was how the plastic bottles get their shape: they start as a little, test tube looking object, and are heated and then molded into the classic plastic bottle shape.  After the factory tour, we went to Hercules’ Cave, where he is said to have lived.  I’m very unsure on the accuracy of it all though…seemed more like a tourist trap to me.  The tour guide didn’t talk anything about the history of the place, so I was and still am very hesitant.  Regardless of the historical accurateness though, it was fun to play around in the cave, followed by climbing down to the beach.  After that, we got to ride some camels!  Even though this was my third time on a camel, it was still a lot of fun.  We were walked in a small loop, maybe two minutes or so, but it was still fun.  Next was lunch, which was the best meal of the trip.  We ate a traditional Moroccan dish, pastilla, which looked like a hamburger in shape, but was stuffed with seasoned chicken and crushed almonds, wrapped in phyllo dough (or something similar), and dressed with honey.  The honey made it amazing….so delicious.  I would pay a decent amount of money, absolutely, to eat that again – definitely going to try to make it back at school.  The meal began with a large salad and bread, then the pastilla with French fries, then fruit and tea and cookies.  So full, yet so worth.  The rest of the afternoon we spent visiting a university in Tanger.  We learned about their university, taught them on American college’s function, and then played a quick basketball game with them.  (I’ve now played basketball in three different countries!  Against the Chinese when in China with band, in Morocco, and the USA, of course.)  The students there spoke four different languages!  Arabic, French (all of their classes were in French), Spanish (common language), and English.  Afterwards, we went to another shopping district and had free time to shop this time, for about an hour and a half.  I picked up a few goodies, but nothing too special.  Some of the Moroccan students joined us there, and then split off when we went back to the hotel for dinner.

            Saturday was our last day, and we started just as early as the day before.  We drove to Chechuan, which was my favorite city we visited.  We stayed in the downtown’s historic district, which included the tiny and tight streets, which were very hilly and steep because we were in the mountains.  The day started off with rain, but it held up after a few hours, luckily.  The whole city is blue…literally.  Five times a year, it is painted blue, from the first floor or so to the ground floor, and it is often on the ground, too.  After our walking tour, we got some more free time to shop around, and I got some good deals, there.  Between the two days, I bought the following: a teapot, Moroccan tea, a nice tea glass set, a traditional Moroccan sweater, spices, and a shot glass, all for less than 40 euros.  The best deal I got was on the sweater, which started at 450dh for one, and I got two for 300dh.  We had lunch after that, and made our way back home from there.  Saturday, back in Bloomington, was qualifications for the Little 500 race this year, so whenever we had WIFI, I followed it online, which was tough to do, but so exciting to keep up with.  Can’t wait to get racing again next year – I miss Little Five so much.

            We got back late at night, a few of us went to dinner, and then I just chilled back in my room for the rest of the night.  We have another time change now for daylight savings time, so we lost an hour of sleep.  Today is really nice – definitely enjoy having a day off before classes after traveling.  I finished a paper today, and chilled at Plaza de España with Adi on this warm, yet cloudy day.  But still able to wear a t-shirt and relax barefoot, which I love!  Tonight, I went for my first run since January.  Already feel the soreness coming on…so let’s see what happens tomorrow morning!  One week of class, and then we have a week off for Semana Santa and I head off to Amsterdam.  Talk to you later!

Two Weeks in One Post...oh boy!

Hola, from a 21-year old Jeremy!

So much is going on out here, and there is so little time to keep up with it, so sorry for the delayed blog post, again.  It’s not looking like things will be slowing down here until IU starts up again in the fall…but that’s the only way to live life – BUSY BUSY BUSY!  Too much to do to sit still all the time.

Where did we leave off?  Madrid!  That weekend was great, actually.  I really enjoy staying in hostels.  We stayed at Way Hostel, which was only a ten minute walk from La Puerta del Sol, one of the main plazas in Madrid, so the location was great.  Staying in a hostel makes you meet new people, and oh, the people you will meet.  A few of the receptionists were from Argentina and other people there were from all over Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America…and more!  I met an Australian girl who has been traveling for three months, by herself, with a 50 euro budget everyday (which needs to cover hostel and food and activities).  Met someone else who just started her travels, another guy who was having troubles at home and wanted to leave so just got up to travel, and many others.  And no one had anything planned – some didn’t even have a return ticket home.  The trick to traveling and hostel hopping, according to them, is to meet people and make plans, but don’t make plans ahead of time.  You don’t want to have to say no to a great opportunity because you already have a flight somewhere, or for some other reason.  How cool is that?  Talk about living in the moment…

We started the weekend off with a walking tour of Madrid, where we saw many sites, such as la Plaza Mayor, la Puerta del Sol, El Palacio, La Catedral de Madrid, some other small churches and pretty gardens, the opera house, and many more locations.  The tour guide wasn’t very good unfortunately, so we split off towards the end for lunch.  Some of us went to the popular Mercado San Miguel, which is known for its fresh tapas, which were (expensive and) deliciosas!  We then walked to El Parque del Retiro, a huge Central-Park-esque park, where we napped and relaxed among the beautiful scenery.  After that, we ended the afternoon with a tour of El Museo de Prado, where we saw a bunch of well-known paintings, including a duplicate of Mona Lisa.  The museum is free after 19,00, so we went then, and is known for its religious pieces of art.  Dinner consisted of us walking around trying to find a restaurant my co-worker, Marga, suggested, with no luck.  We went for kebabs instead, which was quick, cheap, and easy.  That night we were going out hard…to Kapital!  This disco is 7-floors, and was so much fun.  During the day, we met two people studying in France who were visiting Madrid (Emma and Norma), and they joined us for the night out.  We drank (and got yelled at) in the hostel until around one, and then headed over to Kapital.  It was me and nine girls that night – I’m a pimp, soy un chulo.  I got so many comments on how lucky I was from guys, which was fun.  I also got to play fake boyfriend that night to get creepy Spanish guys off my friends, when they asked.  This just consisted of me butting in on conversations or walking up to a guy dancing with a friend of mine and pretending to get mad at him for dancing with my girlfriend…it was a lot of fun until Emma asked me for help and it turned out I already pulled a friend off that guy, which in turn pissed him off and caused him to yell some “nice” words at me….we left around 5ish I think, and got back up around 9ish for the free breakfast at the hostel the next morning.

Saturday, we walked to la Plaza de España to see how it compares to ours in Sevilla (nowhere close to as cool…), where we also found an open-air market.  I bought some baklava, and my first scarf – I figure I’m in Spain, so I should try to look European!  We walked from there back to the Palacio for a little, then to Reina Sofia, another famous museum, known for Picasso, Dali, and many other famous artists.  Afterwards, a few of us went back to El Parque del Retiro to relax, and the others went back for a nap.  That night, we were planning to go to an ice bar, followed by a jazz club, but nothing was playing that night, sadly.  And the ice bar was too expensive for the little amount of time we were planning to spend there, so we passed on that, too.  Our hostel was advertising free tango lessons and drinks at midnight, so we decided to do that instead after dinner.  We arrived around midnight and as dancers trickled in, we waited for them to start teaching us.  Turns it the whole event was misadvertised…I talked to the leader of the event who said the teacher was in Argentina for the weekend, so no one would be teaching, and the drinks and snacks were only for the dancers…so that leaves us on the side, in silence, watching.  Fun, right?  Not really.  I called up a friend in Madrid and we went out with a few others.  We met up around 2 in the morning and went to a bar until 4, which was a lot of fun.  The most personable bartenders I have yet to meet in Spain, which was awesome, and some free hookah made the night great.  We got back and chilled in the lounge until five then went to bed.  We had a 1pm bus back on Sunday, so we went to a flea market in the morning, bought lunch meats and bread for on-the-go sandwiches, and headed to the metro.  Overall, it was a fun weekend…but I still love Sevilla the most.

The following week we had midterms…boooo!  Nobody has any motivation to study….nobody.  Some of us brought work with to start while in Madrid, but nothing more than a few worksheets were completed…on the bus ride back.  The week before, my entire European Corporate Organization class got in an argument with our professor about the class and what expectations should be.  He thinks we should be studying for at least an hour per day, on each of the four themes for the exam.  No…not happening.  Back at IU, yes.  But while we are abroad, no way José.  We are here to learn, yes, but mostly to have fun and see the world.  And all of our teachers know that, except this one, it seemed.  Oh well.  But back to midterms…I had three on Wednesday, and then I was done.  So Sunday through Tuesday night, I camped out at the Universidad de Sevilla 24-hour library, until about two or so every night, studying.  On Monday, one of my teachers showed us the test as a review…literally, the exact same test.  Too easy, right?  Lots of hints hints and winks winks, but I’m always hesitant about those things so I still studied outside of the material he showed.

Adi had two of his close friends, Victor Dominguez and Johnny Schwartz, come and visit during their spring break (Johnny is living with Adi and I next year, along with another friend of ours).  The two of them traveled around during the day and met up with Adi at night.  On Wednesday night though, we all drove over to Lagos, Portugal for the night.  No big deal, right?  Just a casual two-and-a-half hour drive, along with some getting lost, and we finally made it to the Rising Cock Hostel, and what a fun hostel it was, too.  We were there in the off-season, and on a weeknight, so nobody else was there, besides two German girls.  After winding around the tiny streets at least three times, we found the hostel and settled in.  The Rising Cock Hostel has been rated the 3^rd best party hostel in the world (I had no idea where we were staying until I got in the car), and that it definitely was.  Just by the layout and the themed rooms, it definitely seemed like it.  A worker, Maura (from San Francisco and just moved to Lagos after quitting her law-firm job after a year-and-a-half due to boredom and wanted to see the world, which is the general story of most people I meet hostel hopping and working at hostels), took us all out that night to some bars.  And, to my mistake apparently, I told her it was my birthday the coming Friday…and from then on out, everyone was sending drinks my way.  After four shots, and probably 2 liters of beer, I met the garbage can for the first time ever.  I had a great time until someone bought me a straight up liter of beer, and then from there it got sloppy…BUT, I can remember everything at least.  Maura walked me home while the German girls and the boys walked to the beach to chill, and I met the toilet this time.  What a great birthday…in Lagos.  The next morning, I learned why everyone hates hangovers, or una rescata, so much.  Wow.  Holy-fricking-cow.  Advil couldn’t help this boy…however, Mama, the mother of the hostel (they pride themselves of being more like a family than a hostel), made us all fresh crepes in the morning, along with a “magic drink,” called tika tika tika.  It’s quite simple, actually: she boiled water with lemon peel, and that’s it.  The magic is in the next step: after pouring it into a cup, you must say tika tika tika as you squeeze two drops of fresh lemon juice into the cup, and it turns from yellow to white!  Mama swears that it will help fix hangovers and make anyone feel better, at any time!  Unfortunately, no amount of tika tika tika could help me.  We made it to the beach that morning and walked around and relaxed.  As you can see in some of the pictures, there were cliffs that look like they were out of a picture, just amazingly beautiful; so, what did I do?  I climbed them!  I wanted to go to the top of one, but knew that getting down would have been a major issue for me, so I chose not to – plus, I was in jeans and barefoot.  We drove to a different beach from there, met up with the German girls again, and attempted and failed to fly a kite there.  After lunch, we walked around the downtown area there, and headed back.

Lagos in a nutshell (to me) – absolutely beautiful beaches and fun streets to walk around.  But that was really it, to me.  I guess it was because I wasn’t there during busy season, but I was generally disappointed.  Most people spoke English, not Portuguese (however, that didn’t stop me from finding some who did and we had a conversation using English, Portuguese, and Spanish interchangeably, without notice of a transition) and there wasn’t much to see or do.  Definitely a place to go to relax on the beach, but that’s it.  Can’t wait to check out Lisbon in April!

I drove half of the way back, which was fun because the rental car was a brand new 2012 BM, along with wide-open highways.  When we got back, I went home and just plopped down in bed and didn’t leave (besides dinner).  Everyone was giving me a hard time about not going out because midnight marked me being 21 years old.  But because it’s not a big deal here, it wasn’t anything too special to me…birthdays usually aren’t.  So I went to bed by one, and got up the next day, 21 years old now, and did homework.  Fun, right?  Got to love teachers who assign homework during exam week; however, that night I did go out.  A small group of friends and I went out to dinner and then to Buddha, where we only stayed for a few hours.  And, as I feared, we weren’t able to get in: Johnny and Victor didn’t bring any nice shoes with, besides gym shoes and sandals, so the bouncer came up to us saying we can’t get in the main door for the same price.  But it worked out, actually…paid 5 euros instead of 8 euros but didn’t get a drink with it.  And we got to cut the line.  Definitely got lots of looks though…SO, what did we learn here?  ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS wear nice clothes and shoes to disco’s.  It sounds silly, but they do have dress codes, and they do enforce them.

Saturday morning, at a nice and early 9am, our program met to take us to Cordoba for the day.  There, we saw the absolutely beautiful Mezquita, an old synagogue, and the Alcazar of Cordoba, and during our free time, Adi and I met up with our Australian friend who we met at Shabbos in Sevilla, Gabriele, who is teaching in Cordoba.  The Mezquita was amazing – so beautiful!  And it was also such a nice break from all the cathedrals we see.  Don’t get me wrong, they are all beautiful and breath taking in their intricacy, but every single cathedral we see has the same detail, is gothic themed, and is amazing.  So seeing this was a nice change of pace.  Learn more about the Mezquita here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral%E2%80%93Mosque_of_C%C3%B3rdoba.   When we got back to Sevilla, Adi and I went to the Sevilla F.C. vs. Barcelona F.C. soccer game.  My boss offered me two tickets to the game, and I said yes, of course!  It was amazing!  Seeing a European  fútbol game was on my to do list here, and I got to do it, for free.  The only downside was the how the stadium was set up…Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan, the home of Sevilla Fútbol Club, is divided into four different sections, and they are all fenced off, so you can’t cross sections.  And, of course, our tickets were in different sections.  So, we sat next to each other, with the fence in between us, and enjoyed the game from there.  My favorite part was the beginning of the game, when the entire stadium sang Sevilla F.C.’s hymn – el Himno del Centenario del Sevilla F.C. – and everyone held up banners that were on our seats.  The pattern was red and white, divided by the sections, and was so cool to look at.  Between the fans screaming the hymn and the stadium lights reflecting off the red and white posters, it was absolutely amazing.  I hope I get to experience it again before I leave!  A fun part about that game was after the hymn, and sparatically throughout the game, people who fold up their posters into paper airplanes, and attempt to throw them on the field from their seats.  After about two hours there, we left, saddened by a 0 – 2 loss to Barcelona.  Sevilla doesn’t have a very strong soccer team…we used to be strong, but as our players improve, they get sold typically.  Adi and I stopped at McDonalds for a quick dinner after the game, and there was a reason we ate there – our Services Management professor does consulting for McDonalds Spain, and he was telling us how their hamburgers were of amazing quality, so we wanted to give it a shot.  I didn’t think it was much different, sadly.  After our quick dinner and rough planning of our traveling after the program, we went to the beer festival and met up with a bunch of people.  There was an international beer festival with live music in one of the big parks with amazing beers on tap.  I got Paulaner, a German beer that was delicious, and kept the mug as a souvenir.  There were at least two dozen of us there, and we had a great time!  Highlight of the night was three people attempting to steal banners of different beers, and only two were successful attempts.  The first got it and ran away from the security guard, the second went unnoticed, and the third got caught and roughed up a bit.

Sunday was another early morning…06,30.   Had to be at the bus station, which was a 25-minute bike ride away, at 8am for a bus to Matalasgañas, a beach town.  Five other friends and I went for the day to relax and catch some rays.  Besides the cold wind and forgetting to put sunscreen on my back, it was a great day!  I would definitely say though, that since the car ride to Lagos Wednesday night, I have slept more on buses, cars, and on the beach than I have in beds.

Despite the anti-climactic birthday out here, it was great.  Went to Lagos, Portugal, along with Cordoba, Spain; a fútbol game, beer festival, beach, and great friends.  Oh, and not homework (well, about that…).  Can’t wait to get back to Bloomington and go to Kilroy’s, and to Wrigley Field too, to get my first Old Style with family.

This week is chill, as usual, until Thursday morning when we head to Morocco for the weekend with CIEE.  Adios todos!