Learnin' English!

Thursday was my last day of tutoring.  I loved this family so much and tutoring was one of my favorite parts of this semester.  On our last day I went over to their house early to eat lunch with Maria.  Then we walked to their school to pick them up.  It was about a 20 minute walk.  Maria walks to pick them up every day and she says it is the best part of her day.  We brought them fruit and little sandwiches to snack on.  Their school days last from 9:00 to 5:30!  Even for Anna, and she is five.  Anna's school was so cool.  Part of it was all outdoors and they have a class pig named Lucy.  Anna brought me around to introduce me to all of her friends.  She was sure to tell them that she was practicing her English with me and then would demonstrate proudly to her friends what she knew.  I think she has improved so much over the past few months!  Next we walked to Luis and Juan's school, which was completely chaotic.  Maria was trying to introduce me to the teachers, but Anna would get upset every time I had to stop talking with her.  We sang our ABC's all the way home.  

Anna with her favorite book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"

Juan is the silliest.  His favorite part of the class was always playing Simon Says!

 I am so proud of all of them!  Juan earned an A on his last English test, and Luis has been studying very hard for his English exam at the end of May.  If he passes it, then he can say that he is proficient in English.  I think they will all have a great summer in Maryland and I have already promised to Skype them this summer to hear about their adventures in the US!

Sweet, Sweet Summer

Today marks my first day of summer!  Not only that, but I get to spend the first week of my summer in Spain.  It also hit me that today marks the halfway point of my college career.  I really can't believe it.

I am so blessed to have had the chance to see so many places in such a short amount of time.  And I still have one trip left!

Here's what I've been up to this week:

We had to say good-bye to Marlene!  She left on Friday to stay with her mom in Galicia and we were going to be gone before she came back.  I already miss her so much.  We had a great time with her out in Madrid!

On Saturday I had lunch with Juan, Anna, Luis, and their parents.  I feel so welcome in their home.  They are so excited to be living in Maryland this summer and I hope that they enjoy their time in the US just as much as I have enjoyed my time in Spain!  I sadly only have two more classes left with them.

After lunch with the family, Luis took me for a tour around Madrid!  (Juan and Anna weren't old enough to come with.)  He was a great tour guide and such a fun friend (He turns 11 tomorrow!)  He even took me to Starbuck's and got me a special coffee because "All Americans like iced coffee."  Very true, Luis.

On Saturday night Liz, Marvin, and I went to a famous sangria bar called Sesamo's, supposedly the very best in Madrid, and reminisced about all the fun that we have had this semester.

On Monday after my Linguistics final, Liz and I met up with Kenzie, Anna, and Liz W and went to get tapas in Plaza Santa Ana.  After tapas, Liz and I stopped at San Gines to split some churros.  I am so sad that I won't be able to be with all of these wonderful people in just one week!

Many people will be leaving for the US tomorrow, but I will be roaming around Madrid for the next four days before I head to the Canary Islands!  If you want something from Madrid, now is the time to let me know people.

End of the semester: Birthday celebrations, Tapas, Grandma and Ralph come to town!

Last week was filled with a lot of fun!  First, on Tuesday I went to the Prado with my Art History professor and then she took us out for tapas to celebrate the end of the year.  She is by far one of my favorite professors and I will try to keep in contact with her after this semester.  Wednesday was Anna's birthday, so we celebrated accordingly!  First, we had donuts for breakfast.  Such a nice break from toast and...well, toast.  Then for lunch, we went to McDonald's and joyously ate our Big Macs at Retiro Park!  That night we met up with a lot of our friends to celebrate.  It was so much fun!

With the birthday girl at the park!

Thursday night we continued the celebration with more friends.  Friday I watched the Royal Wedding (loved the dress), then on Friday night Alejandra and Marlene decided to continue the birthday celebration with us!

All of Gabby and Ro's girls!

Grandma and Ralph arrived in Madrid on Friday night, and I met up with them in Sol at 12 on Saturday.  They had a little trouble finding our meeting spot, but I had a lot of fun showing them around Madrid and hearing about their adventures.  We went to the Royal Palace and took a tour.  On Sunday I met up with them again at 3:00.  Unfortunately, the bus tour that they were on had a little accident.  So they weren't able to see a lot before I met up with them!  But we had a great afternoon and found a couple different tapas bars that were really delicious.  I hope they had a fun time in Madrid.  It was great for me to have more family visit.

Grandma and Ralph in front of the Royal Palace!

With Grandma in Plaza de Oriente.

Today I woke up to the news that Osama bin Laden has been killed.  I am so thankful to our troops!  Then I finally finished my Later Shakespeare research paper...it is worth 40% of my grade so please wish me luck.  I will have lots of studying to do this week for finals, but I have lots of time to do it.  Tomorrow is my very last day of classes before finals.  It is amazing to me how quickly time is flying by.