3. Spring Break and up dateing!

My time in Spain is passing by fast and over two months have flown by. I really haven't forgotten any English but have certainly improved my Spanish.

Santiago de Compostela - Life here is relatively inexpensive and low key compared to other parts in Europe. I have come to know the city well and have also befriended a couple locals which have helped getting to know the culture a little better.

In case you forgot, I am in Spain where the terrorist attacks were on Wednesday. I'm not sure how much you know but there were bombs on the trains in Madrid and nearly 200 innocent people died. They haven't made a clear connection as to weather it was Al qaeda, the ETA or both, but it was exactly a half year to the date from 9-11. I live 8 hours from Madrid in Santiago de Compostela. Just a day after the bombings I went to a remembrance mass said by the Arch Bishop at the Cathedral and witnessed a massive demonstration outside the cathedral following mass. People carried flags, candles, banners, and jumped up and down singing various songs and messages. It was very moving and all in the name of peace. In the cathedral plaza there were 15,000 people alone and if I understood the news right another half million out on the streets last night to join in the moment of silence. Right now, Loras has sent us advice as to how we should handle ourselves here such as wearing the right clothing and avoid speaking any English and such as well as consulate contact information should another event occur. Should the situation get truly dangerous, Loras would pull all of us from our program but that looks pretty unlikely and I wouldn't consider the US to be more comforting in some respects anyway. I'm hoping this doesn't happen and I can finish out my classes here. My life hasn’t really changed here, although I canceled a trip to the neighboring town in order to avoid public transportation for a week or so. Also advise from Loras College. Some locals worry that the cathedral here is a possible target as it's the second most important in Spain and has a statue of Santiago killing Muslims in it. Who knows? Give thanks, pray, and live a wonderful life. That's what I'm about.

I am running the Madrid marathon on April 25th so I have been doing my best to train for that. I don't know that I'm in any condition to beat my previous time but am sure I'll manage without problems and hope to rank it amongst my finest memories.

We have two spring breaks here, the first of which I spent in the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa. My friends and I rented ocean front condos for 8 days and went to Carnival in Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife. The celebration here is second largest in the world next to Rio de Janeiro. We spent our time playing beach volleyball, by the pool, in the ocean, and doing the touristy gig. Also went to a volcano, national park, and cove full of tropical marine life and clear waters. Now that I am refreshed, tanned, and recuperated from my trip, I am back in Santiago doing the student agenda once again.

Most people here are very nice and helpful. Spain has been supportive with America's war on terror for the most part and Santiago is a very touristy city making the people accommodative towards most Americans and their beliefs.

Perhaps the most difficult changes for me were the food and schedule changes of this country. Meals are at 8:30 am 3:00pm and 9 - 10pm each day. My host mom has adjusted to my health conscious food preferences and is a great cook. We eat a lot of fresh foods here and our bread is baked daily. Breakfast and supper are relatively small and lunch is the largest and most important meal of the day. My mom here cooks many traditional foods and I've enjoyed basically everything as long as it's not dowsed in olive oils. The nightlife begins around 1am and goes anywhere from 7-9am in the morning however, only some of my friends here have been able to pull that off with a degree of success. The schedules in the United States and South Africa have worked much better for me and I've managed to handle only a few long nights here.

I am also volunteering with disabled people once a week and there is a great need for handicap accessible facilities in Santiago as well as the rest of Spain for that matter. Because the city is well over a thousand years old, the streets and buildings were not designed for cars and wheelchairs when first constructed.

So far I have spent a large portion of my time in Spain but was able to enjoy a great trip to Portugal visiting castles, palaces, and sampling different types of foods and pastries as well. I visited Fatima, Portugal where the Virgin Mary appeared back in 1917 and was able to understand very little spoken Portuguese but a significant portion of written language. I plan to travel Europe and am visiting my housemates from South Africa in their European countries when I finish studying in May. I am very excited to see them again but still have to go to these things called classes until then.

The weather has been cool lately and is somewhat similar to cool spring days in the US. I'm not complaining but I really am more of a warm temperature type of guy and look forward to days full of sun especially having spent a week on the island of Tenerife.

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