the world is shrinking

My best friend Sam Estenson who's also on exchange to Japan this year through Rotary posted in his blog today a very short, sweet, and simple statement (a rare feat from my darling Samuel) that essentially says that if there's one thing that having all this free time has taught him, it's that he doesn't want all this free time. I love being able to come home and not have to really stress over anything at all. Being able to just lay around and read a book or watch tv with the intention of meeting up with some friends or hanging out with my family is a much appreciated change for this girl with so much to do that it seemed as if it was too much to do.

I don't know how long I could do this for, however. Certainly not every day for the rest of my life. I took this year to slow down and evaluate, I'm finding that the most learning happens when you're not seeking knowledge.

My friend from my hometown of Northfield, Minnesota (her name is Grayce Forsythe) is here in Madrid through a program where she teaches a family's children English in exchange for room and board in the city. She's here until December 20, so we made a date today to meet up in Madrid. As we were sitting there talking, I mentioned that I'm not actually in Madrid, I'm in the town of Majadahonda right outisde of Madrid. She looked at me in amazement, telling me that's where she was living too. It turns out she's right across the street from me. In all of the world, in all of Spain, this is where our paths crossed. We promised each other not to see the other one too much though-- it would be so easy to become dependent on that familiarity. But hold your hats folks, the world is shrinking.

Life here in Spain is, thrillingly, routine at this point. On Friday night, I actually had to choose between what I wanted to do, I got invited several places, which was an utterly exciting concept. I ended up going out with Bea Friday night into Madrid and with my friend Robi into Madrid Saturday night. Sunday was a very relaxed day, I hung out with the family, and Monday was a national holiday-- a double header because of Colombus Day and El Dia de Pilar (basically celebrating the saint Pilar-- it's sort of like a second birthday for anyone named Pilar).

People ask me, "what are the people like in Spain?" or "what is the school like in Spain?" and I'm finding it harder and harder to answer. People are people, school is school, family is family, no matter where you are in the world. It's hard to put into words what distinguishes European life from American life because the lines are sort of blurring-- the only really obvious difference at this point is the language, but that's getting more managable by the hour.

It's the birthday of several of my friends this weekend so there are parties to go to and memories to be made. I had my first Chemistry test today, it didn't go great, but it went alright, I have a history test on Thursday. Walking to school this morning, I was freezing, fall has officially arrived in Spain. The pictures are of a little outing my family took on Sunday, I wasn't feeling all that well so I couldn't go, but the pictures are beautiful regardless.

Hasta Luego, Sami