Plans for October

The pace in Spain has been hard to get used to. The moments range from gone-in-the-blink-of-an-eye to lingering-and-staggering-last-forever kind of moments. I've been here more than three weeks, and it feels like three months, but at the same time I feel like I could never have enough time here and it's constantly slipping through my grasp. Am I making any sense? Time is a funny thing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is better explained by some of the advice I got before I left: "The first three weeks will feel like three months, the last three months will feel like three weeks." This means that most of my lingering-and-staggering-last-forever kind of moments are behind me, and from here on out it's a water slide back to Colorado. No matter how hard I try to slow things down, it'll only keep going faster. So in an attempt to prepare for this, my friends here and I have been planning.

The month of October will be a busy one, that's for sure. Next weekend (Sept30-Oct2) we don't have specific plans, but Jenn, Parker, and I will have our bonos by then, which are a one-time payment pass that allows us to use the buses, trains, and metros in Alcalá and Madrid unlimitedly. So the chances of going to Madrid every day that weekend are pretty likely.

The next weekend (Oct7-9) I'll be working like crazy to get all my homework done for the week before my boyfriend, Jared, comes to visit on the 10th. (So excited!!!) But in addition to the studying (and counting the seconds until he gets here), we bought some cheap tickets to a bull fight for the 9th. I'm having mixed feelings about bull fights, to say the least, but it's a big part of the culture, and I know I'll be asked if I went a million times once I get back. I figure if it gets to be too much to handle, I can always just leave.

Classes are canceled for the 10th of October, so I'll be heading down to the airport to fetch Jared. Once he gets here, we'll check out Festival Cervantes (which has been described to me as a sort of Spanish renaissance festival) and I'll show him around. Three days later, he and I fly out to Marrakech, Morocco, which is sure to be an adventure every second of the way. When we get back, Jared goes to stay in Madrid, I'll have to resume school, and we'll try to find a way to make our two schedules line up as often as possible.

The weekend after Jared leaves (Oct28-30) I've planned a trip to Barcelona with Jenn and Parker and one of the girls who came here from CSU with me. We'll fly out late that night after classes, stay in a hostel for the weekend, do some sightseeing, and be back in Alcalá for Halloween. Not that they celebrate it here, but I plan on creating a celebration of my own.

Somewhere in there I'll do homework. I swear.

(p.s. I've gone back through and added some photos to a couple old posts. So check those out, or see all of the album on my facebook page!)