la semana pasada

The past few weeks have been a little crazy. I have been stressed about so many things and the only thing I have wanted to do is relax... and I can barely do that.

Last week I had my midterm in my Witch Hunt in Europe class taught by Professor Hiltpold. Although I am really enjoying the discussions we have in that class, there was a lot of information to know and it was hard to go back through my notes and figure out everything that he told us would be on the test. Luckily, he tells us exactly what we will be tested on, and sure enough, that stuff was the only stuff on the test. There were five short response questions and one essay to write. We will get that test back this afternoon... I am not sure how I did.

On top of that, I really missed home. I missed my family, especially my little sister (love you Liana!!), and I have been having the worst cravings for food from home. It's not that I don't enjoy the food here, it's just very different from home. They put seasoning on their food, but most of it is not spicy. I miss my spicy Mexican food and kung pao chicken from Panda Express. I have a mental list of all the food that I miss from home and I will make it a point to eat all of it by the time I head back to SLO at the end of December or the beginning of January. On that list are my dad's hamburgers, Cindy and Daddy's spaghetti, Cindy's tacos, Mommy's lemon chicken, Jeffy's "slab o' meat," Mommy's Fajitas, El Balazo, pita pit, salad, chips and salsa, guacamole, turkey bacon, THANKSGIVING FOOD!, and just the normal things that I get to snack on when I get hungry in the middle of the day. The eating schedule here is very different from at home, and although I like it a lot, I am still not used to it. I do enjoy the food that my mamá cooks for me, and when I come back home I will probably like fish a lot more than I did when I first got here.

Anyway, so my stress level was out of control last week. If I had been in SLO, that would have been one of those weekends when I would have driven home and seen my family or just chilled on the couch or in bed, watching TV and movies and stuff and just relaxing. But, since I'm in Spain, I can't really do that. There is no real way for me to find time to do any of that. All the TV stations (besides CNN) are in Spanish, not to mention that there is so much to see of Spain and so much of Valladolid that I still haven't done, that I feel bad sitting at home doing nothing. Every once and a while (generally Friday afternoons) I watch an online TV show or two, but not too often. We aren't really supposed to have friends over to our houses, so even with them we have to go to a café (where you are expected to order something) or to a park (but it is freezing outside so it's hard to be comfortable while we are just sitting).

I've had midterms, homework overload, papers, travels, family, and so much more to keep up with that I haven't really known what to do with myself. I just finished taking my Spanish grammar midterm, so my stress level is a little lower right now. This weekend we are heading to Salamanca for a day trip and I'm super excited because my mom and Jeff are going to meet me in Salamanca and they are going to tour around with the Cal Poly group. I am really excited to see them, especially after the past week I've had.

I wanted to take this time to say I'm sorry to all the girls who I traveled with this past weekend. I know that I was not in the greatest mood and therefore not too fun to be around. I did have fun with you girls, though, and I hope that you guys don't hate me for being a little bit off. As I said before, I was really stressed and just needed to relax... but any time we go on a weekend trip, relaxation is kinda not an option. I'm sorry if I took my stress out on you girls. I love you all.

I also just want to say that I absolutely love my family. I am glad that I got to talk to my mom, dad, and Liana a lot this past week. I am glad that Grandpa Russ is doing well (at least from the last e-mail I received he is doing well). I am glad that I have gotten e-mails and video messages from Caitlin and Kelley. I miss my grandparents, my aunts, uncles, cousins, dogs, sisters, parents, friends, and everybody else so much. I am having the time of my life here, but I also can't wait to see you all when I come back to the States. I can't wait to share my adventures with you guys and show you pictures and tell stories and have you meet all the amazing friends I've made here.

I love you all so much and I'm glad that everything at home is finally going as it should be.

xoxo