Three more days

Just 3 days left of class and then I'll be going to Santander in northern Spain, London, and Ireland. This may be one of my last posts so I should make corrections and some final comments. First of all, I made Mama Bear sound a lot worse than she is so I'll tell you all the things I will miss about her.

Today, I watched racing with her, probably the most boring sport, but seeing her into it and my ability to use random Spanish words that I thought I'd never use (like neumaticos-tires...in trying to explain hydroplaning) was pretty fun. The other day I ran into her at the grocery store at the exact moment I was leaving the wine/beer isle. I thought it may be an awkward situation, but she told my friends that I had really improved in Spanish...so probably the coolest she's been. This makes me look forward to meet the other mothers at the final dinner. Finally, I've really gotten used to the food and after coming back from Italy, I realized how much I missed the excessive olive oil, baguette in every meal, and strange Spanish concoctions (although I'll never miss the hotdog/egg/rice combo). So overall, it's been an experience living there and I can't expect much else, but to smile at the absurdity of a different environment.

There are some things that Spain should adopt from the U.S. and some things I should bring back with me that they are doing better than us. Spain should have at least 1 convenience store open 24 hours a day, more smiling, more vegetables eaten cold rather than pureeing or frying everything, hockey...okay I guess I thought there would be more, but they got a lot of things right...like super old architecture (the aqueduct, the alcazar, the cathedrals), great food, las faellas, flamenco, view of the mountains, tons of bars, and tapas. The U.S. needs to understand and embrace the concept of TAPAS! We should import more olive oil and their vinegrette (makes really good dressing on salad), more baguette so it's affordable rather than wonderbread (this would help Spain in this never-ending crisis I hear about). Our snacks should consist of wine, olives, and bread (maybe cheese too) and every cook should learn Tortilla Espana (basically like an omlette...but better). I wouldn't mind mixing paella and more fish into my diet either. Alright that should cover food (make your own opinions of meat intake in your diet). Being in Minnesota, everyone owns a scarf, but we don't use them. They are functional and classy, but then again, you'd probably have to class up the rest of the get-up for them to make sense. One other thing: they are very energy efficient. They always turn off lights, in our school there everything has sensors so they turn off when they aren’t used.

Other final comments? I wish we took classes with Spaniards, but with the structure of our semester, it didn't line up with their schedule. It has been fun meeting people here, practicing Spanish and learning so much about the English language (in the process). As does everyone, I highly recommend studying abroad if you can because it’s a nice change of pace from the Minnesota routine and its a chance to travel and experience a place outside of the U.S.

Learning the history of Spain has probably been the most substantial knowledge I could take away from the university. It covers the time period before Christ until the present and intertwines with the history of Europe. Knowing the depth of history Spain has gone through gives me perspective on how young our country is and how lucky we are/where we are going (reminds me of my summer job at MN 150 years...look up the DVD at the library, you may find me eating a turkey leg at the State Fair on the front cover). Well, know I'm just ranting...so if you've made it this far, you must really have nothing to do or actually care what I'm doing so thank you. Have a good one.

David