I promise I haven´t forgotten you...

Hey everyone! So this picture is from when I went to Malta but I put it up today because I have an (albeit ridiculously) big smile on my face. That´s how I´m feeling today.

I just received my grade in the class for which I had to write a 10 pager (16 pages by American college standards). 9,3 out of 10 is pretty darn good for Spain and also extremely good compared to the other students in the class. I still put on lawyer mode though and took up for everyone. We had a lot of problems with that professor and the class in general so I felt the need to calmly and respectfully explain it to him. It took a bit to get through, but it worked. He didn´t change anyone´s grades of course, but I think it might help future students - and himself! Ah, all in a day´s work :-D

I followed that little chat - and several mini pep talks to those who were not so fortunate gradewise - with hours upon hours of cramming for my next exam - Literature. You know, I really like to read. And of course I love to write (although starting that sentence with the word ¨and¨is not the best way to express my love). I really enjoy learning the historical, political, social and personal circumstances that have contributed to great works as well, because, let´s face it, I am a geek. What I do not like is HAVING to do this. So I usually save it all until the night before, cram in dates and names and major bullet points then spit it all back out on exam paper. And that, my friends, is exactly what I did today although this was the first time I did it in another language.

So then, with forty-five minutes until my next final (History of the Spanish Language) I began cramming anew. This class is HARD. I love it, possibly my favorite of my entire college career. But it is a constant challenge and, owing to the overload of work and life changing plans I am trying to get into order, I chose not to review the newest section of material we had gone over - ¨new¨as in the last class we had, two days ago. That information happened to make up two of the three essay questions you could chose from. I happened to make a face. However, I´m sure I passed...sure as in 50/50...

Oh well, it´s all good now. I have about five more pages to write for tomorrow and that´s all folks! I´m really looking forward to having some time to just write for me. I have so much inspiration, so much I want to get down and just can´t find the time with all my schoolwork. I´ve actually started trying my hand at a totally new genre of poetry. It´s really exciting and it feels so good to get back to writing in general. I´ll have a lot of time to write this summer in Italy so I hope I realize what a gift that time is and take full advantage of it.

Speaking of Italy, I will be staying there all summer (hopefully with a computer) so I plan on keeping up with the blog and probably doing a lot of catch up too. I´ve been thinking of fun and exciting ways to teach English and have decided that I´m going to do Don Ciccio a favor and teach him Spanish and French at the same time to keep myself in the language loop. The four language flashcard will probably just be for vocabulary as my English grammar is really the only one I know well enough to teach. But it should be fun. And if we really hit it off he could come hang out with me while I teach myself conversational Japanese.

Speaking of French- and Japanese - I have added a new trip to the itinerary. I´ll be visiting a friend of mine, who has studied Japanese and encouraged me to do the same, in Paris for five days. I´m really excited to head back there. We were there for two days I think in high school, but the weather wasn´t that great, we were seventeen, I had no control over the food I was eating (the most important, haha)... Yeah, it´ll be better this time around. I´m also looking to pop outside of Europe one more time before I head down to Italy. I found a good deal to Tunisia...now I just have to convince some male friends to go with me :-D

Okay, what else? I know I have a lot more exciting stuff to write about than just what´s going on in my brain. I´ve been to the beach a few times here. The one we usually go to isn´t one of the beautiful Costa Blanca ones, but it suffices. I have the best tan I´ve ever had in May :-D I´m planning on spending a lot of the next few weeks there, writing and hopefull learning Italian from a very good looking group of friends I´ve made here in Valencia. Funny how that works out, huh?

There is a great roar currently streaming in through the windows of the computer lab. It makes me sad. It´s coming from the stadium, which I can see from here and which is where I wanted to be rigth now. I went this morning to get some last minute tickets and it was already sold out. I´m bummed because I won´t be able to go with my girls as they are all leaving me on Friday. But I will make it to a game before I leave - even if I have to go alone!

Ah! I didn´t realize what time it is! I am currently running on no sleep and a lot of caffeine and I have no sense of timing whatsoever. I think I´m going to go home, pass out, wake up, write papers, go out, and....stop giving you stupid useless details when you definitely have more important things to do than read them!

Okay, next time I promise to write something more travel- or life-in-Valencia-related. For now I´m sending you all my love and a big, relieved smile. Last day of classes at the University of Valencia starts in 12 hours. Ah, bittersweet.

- Me :-D