TaylersRoad

Last week had a lot of ‘lasts’: last meeting, last dinner, last group trip. Last Tuesday we had our last intercultural meeting with Veronica. We talked about reentry back to the US and what we can expect to feel. I’ve already gone through the reentry process coming back from China, but this will still be different. Last time, I was only home for three weeks, so I didn’t really have enough time to readjust completely. And it was during the holidays, so I was rushing everywhere and seeing all these people. This time, it’s the summer, I’ll be starting work again, and things will (hopefully) be less hectic and crazy. I think it will be harder too though because my study abroad experience will be completely over. I’ll be back to real life, working and going ... read more

We went to a bull fight on Tuesday with the program. I had never seen a bull fight, but I was pretty sure I wouldn’t like it. It’s not like rodeos at home where the bull just bucks for eight seconds. They actually get killed. The seating was very crowded. I barely had room for my butt, and my knees were invading the space of the people in front of me. It was a very uncomfortable position to be perched in for three hours. This bull fight was a benefit for Down’s syndrome, so there were six toreros and six bulls. Usually there are three toreros with six bulls, two for every man. Toreros get paid for their work, but this time they were donating their time, and the bulls were donated as well. We had ... read more

This last week and the week to come are the most eventful I’ve had here in Spain. My friend Lyanne plays the cello, and she joined a community orchestra here. She had a concert on Friday so I went to hear her play with some others from the program. It reminded me a lot of solo and ensemble contest from high school because the first performers were all soloists, with a piano accompaniment. Most of them were under sixteen, but man, could they play! There was a boy and a girl who were like little professionals. After all the solos, the orchestra played, and that was really beautiful. A string ensemble has to be one of my favorite sounds. After the concert me, Colin, and Megan went to a pizzeria for some dinner. I haven’t had ... read more

‘ello everyone. Well I just have to say that I loved London. It was definitely worth spending all that money to go see. We left Thursday morning at six to get to the bus station. We were planning on getting the 8:00 bus since our flight didn’t take off until noon, but the only bus available was at seven. The city buses don’t run that early, so we had to call a taxi to pick us up. At least we got to sleep on the two hour ride to Malaga, although I felt really sick and worried about throwing up the whole time. I never get car sick, so I don’t know what was going on. But we got to the Malaga airport and waited around for a few hours before we took off. We exchanged ... read more

Friday we left for a weekend in Madrid. We met at the bus station at 8:30 Friday morning and started the five hour journey. I'm getting pretty good at sleeping on a bus, now that I've spent more than 35 hours on them this semester. We made a stop in Toledo to have a short tour of the city. We spent a grand total of three hours in the city, and basically the only thing I remember was that our tour guide was the most beautiful man I've ever seen. He was the quintessential Spanish male. All the girls were staring and giggling at him the whole time. Toledo was a very pretty city, and I'll have to come back to see more of it. We had such a tight schedule that we couldn't even stop ... read more