So it begins...

I am in the planning stages of my next summer in Spain. I have spent the past 3 summers in Spain, the first just on vacation. I spent time with friends and my host family as well as touring some old favorite places and showing a couple friends around who had made the trip with me. The past two summers I have been enrolled in grad school at the Madrid campus of St. Louis University. This will be my third of 4 summers in the MA program, at the end of which I will have to take comprehensive exams. Two tests, a 3-4 hour written portion dealing with the 4 page reading list (more on that later), and a 2 hour oral test over the coursework I have completed during my summers in Madrid. This week I have started tackling research for the reading list. I spent 3 hours at the UI Library last night taking notes and reading literary history and criticism books. My plan is to compile a notebook with pertinent information on each of the works from the reading list, then to read as many of the works possible. Sort of my own "Cliff's Notes" for the MA Reading List. Since I have a year and a half until the exams, I am hoping that I can actually read most, if not all, of the titles as well. The note book would then serve as my study guide for comps.
I am excited for this summer not only because I am returning to Madrid and taking some interesting classes (including one on Spanish film director, Luis Buñuel) but also for two other reasons. First, my girlfriend is coming to visit for 10-14 days in July. She is currently taking a Spanish class at Kirkwood to help refresh what she has lost from high school Spanish class. How sweet is that?
Also my friends Jackie and Roberto are getting married this summer in Madrid. Their wedding is going to be awesome. It is in the Basilica de San Francisco el Grande, an enormous Neo-classical style church in the center of Madrid, down the street from the Royal Palace. Among the interior decorations it boasts several paintings by Spanish master Francisco de Goya. Roberto's dad is one of the most well-connected people in Madrid and Jackie estimates that of the 300+ people at their wedding, she and Roberto might actually know 50 of them. I stayed at Roberto's family's flat in Madrid for 2 weeks last summer and they are the nicest people imaginable. The wedding should be great! Spanish wedding are notorious for their crazy all-night celebrations--even the grandparents normally stay at the reception until the wee hours of the morning. I can't wait.
But until then, it's back to the library...