The world's favorite season is the spring/All things seems possible in May

Hi there, everyone! Well, it has certainly been an eventful last month here in Madrid. My wonderful parents came to visit in the middle of May and we ate tapas and flamencoed our way through Madrid, and then I had three exams, and then Sylvia and Dalia came all the way across the Atlantic to play in Spain! We went to Toledo for a day to see the cathedral, synagogues, and El Greco's paintings, and spent lots of time with Paloma and Jose Antonio. All in all, it has been an absolutely wonderful last few weeks!

Immediately after Sylvia and Dalia left Spain, I went on an excursion with my program to Segovia for the day. Despite terrible weather, we kayaked in a nature reserve and enjoyed a last meal together before everyone goes their separate ways. The kayaking was wonderful, and the nature reserve was gorgeous. No pictures, though, because of the rain!

The next day, I awoke at the crack of dawn to catch an early flight to Berlin to visit Jordan! He lives in a beautiful apartment right next to the Alexanderplatz in the center of Berlin. We spent our whole first day walking around in the rain and enjoying the cultural festival (a sort of substitute for the now-defunct Love Parade). What an incredible city! Berlin is enormous and beautiful and so much fun to explore. That night, we went to see a wonderful concert of a Schumann symphony and a Mahler cantata. The next day we took a train to Potsdam, just outside of Berlin, to visit the palace, and spent the day walking around the grounds and the adorable town of Potsdam. That night, we went to the opera to see Salome--what an incredible performance! On Tuesday, my last full day in Berlin, we walked to the Reichstag and explored the enormous Tiergarten. On our way home we visited with a walk through the memorial to the Jews of Europe killed in World War II. Unfortunately, it started to pour right as we left the memorial, and we ended up absolutely drenched by the time we reached his apartment! Despite the rain, it was a wonderful visit, and I was so glad to see Jordan thriving in Berlin!

I am back in Madrid and enjoying my last few days in the city. It's so strange to think that the semester is already over--time has really flown these past few months! It has been a challenging, exciting, wonderful experience, and I will be very sad to leave Madrid. However, it is on to even more adventures for the month of June! I will be flying to Edinburgh to meet Jacob next week, and then it's on to the Scottish highlands, the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain for the next three and a half weeks! We will be going to Loch Lomond in Scotland, Amsterdam, Lake Como, Bologna, Milan, Venice, Florence, Barcelona, Granada, Sevilla, Cordoba, and, finally, we will end our travels in Madrid at the end of June (I have one more exam before I can fly home!). I'm so excited for the wonderful things to come, and I will keep updating my blog with news of our travels!

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