GAH!!!!

Ok I'm sorry it has been so long since I've updated, but life got insane after Spring Break! I got home from Barcelona and only had two days of class the next week, but since that week I have barely had time to stop and think much less write about what's going on. Insane...

So, basically, we're getting pretty close to finals time here. Our last day of classes is in about three weeks, and then finals begin. Since finals are basically our only grades the teachers have been working us pretty hard "preparing us" to take our finals. The cool thing about finals in Spain is if you fail them, you have two chances to take them again. The problem with that is, your next chance is a month later, and your second chance another month after that. And I'm going home a week after my last final! So, I've gotta do it right the first time. And, in all fairness, that's how it works in the states, so I should be used to it. But in the states we also have quizzes, tests, homework etc. as some sort of feedback on our progress through the course, which we don't have here.

So we'll see I guess!

I got my RA letter written last week and I sent it to my boss. The letter just basically introduces me to my future residents and tells them about the house that we're gonna be living in next year. Turns out my boss really liked my letter, so she forged my signature on it and sent it out without any revisions or anything! So that's pretty cool.

Life got a little less insane last Friday, when I turned in my second program for programming class. So last weekend my roommate and I took a day trip to Valencia to visit the largest aquarium in all of Europe. It was so amazing! It was like a combination of SeaWorld and an aquarium. The exhibits were divided between the regions of the seas (Mediterranean, Arctic, Pacific, etc.). There were paths and gardens going between exhibits (like sea lions, dolphins, flamingos, etc.) and then next to each exhibit was a stairway that took you down to under the exhibit where the "aquarium" part was. So you got to see the sea lions from above and beneath the water, plus all the fishies etc. that live in the region. There was also a dolphin show, but we just missed the show. So we just took pictures of the dolphins swimming around instead. Speaking of pictures, the pictures I took from that trip are here. My roommate also took some pictures, so when she updates her photos I'll update mine.

This week of school is also short because tomorrow (Thursday) is some sort of holiday. Classes start again on Friday, except the teacher of the only class I have on Friday wants a four-day weekend, so he canceled class for that day! So I get a four-day weekend too! I think that some friends and I are going to try to go to Benidorm on Thursday and visit Terra Mítica, which is a huge theme park there. Should be pretty fun!

Hopefully school stuff won't get too crazy again and I'll be able to keep this updating thing a bit more regular!

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I don't have any brilliant title ideas...

Alright, so it's the weekend again...but this last week went so much better than my first week!

First things first, I went to the other section of the programming class on Wednesday, and it was absolutely perfect! I understood the teacher perfectly, I understood the material he was teaching us, and I think the class is going to be one of my favorites! So, that was exciting.

Also, I found out last week that I got the job I applied for at school next year, as an RA (Resident Assistant) in one of the small houses on the East Side (which is where I have lived for the past two years). So that is also really cool. I'm super excited to be an RA, it's going to be amazing!

I'm slowly getting to know more people here, which is good because it's a little hard to find things to do when you don't know anyone. Walking around by yourself at night is mostly not a good idea... But, I'm meeting a bunch of Erasmus students in all of my classes. And I also found a cool thing through the Sociedad de Relaciones Internacionales on campus. They have "intercambios lingüísticos" (language exchanges) that you can sign up for on their website. Basically they just have a message board of sorts where you can post a little personal advertisement based on what languages you can speak and what languages you want to practice. So I posted a thing saying that I was an American student here for a semester and I spoke English and wanted to practice Spanish, and in the past four days I have gotten more than 20 email responses! It's pretty cool. So I've replied back to some people, and I've already met with two different people yesterday and today, and it's a pretty cool program. Basically, you just get in touch with the other person and meet them somewhere and sit and talk. So today after class I met with a guy named Daniel who is a student at the University who studied abroad in Ireland to learn English, and we talked for like an hour in Spanish. It was really cool because a) I understood him completely, b) we actually had things to talk about (like TV shows we liked, travel, etc.), and c) my ability to carry on a conversation in Spanish was pretty impressive. It wasn't difficult or awkward, and there were only a few times when I had to ask for a word or how to conjugate something. So anyways, that's gonna be a pretty cool thing for me to do. We're gonna meet up again sometime next week and speak in English so that he can practice.

Umm...I think that's about it for now. The weather got a bit colder here these last few days, so I haven't been going out to sit on the beach or in the park. The wind is pretty nasty when it's cold out. But hopefully it will get better in the next few days. I'm still working out a few kinks in my class schedule, but I mostly know what I'm doing, so that's good.

Oh, I got my first phone bill since being here in Spain. It wasn't too horrible, but I'm gonna have to be more careful. My parents also got their first phone bill since I've been in Spain...that one was pretty bad. We realized before I left that it was cheaper for them to call me than for me to call them, so most of our calls have gone on their bill. Well, let's just say that now that I'm settled into a house and school and stuff, Skype is going to be our new way of communicating, cuz the phone thing is pretty expensive! Oh, by the way, if any of you use Skype and wanna chat with me while I'm here, that would be awesome! My Skype name is the same as my email: phoenixrisen41.

So, that's all for now. I'll keep you posted!

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