One Day More

One day left of school for the year!! Yippee!! I can't wait for it to be over. This has been a very challenging year for many various and differing reasons and I am very glad to see it come to an end.
Now I am preparing for my yearly trek to Madrid for grad school. I leave June 12 and will be back in August. Before that I have a social schedule that is filling up quickly with goodbye dinners and spending time with friends before I leave. We also have a trip to Door County Wisconsin for Colleen's cousin's wedding. And somewhere in there I have to spend some quality time at the library finishing my notes and study materials for the reading list so I can have a shot at passing my comps this summer.
Hopefully I'll have some time between cramming for comps, going to class, and enjoying the Spanish food and sun to keep up with some posting here. If not, shoot me an email to see what's up. Hasta luego.

It's a Boy!

At our last doctor's appointment, we found out that we will be having a boy in September! We have a name all picked out and are in the process of buying a few more clothes in blue (and black and gold, of course!).
Last weekend, we went into the 'burbs with Colleen's parents to do some baby shopping. We managed to spend 4 hours in Babies R Us and ordered a crib and changing table, while registering for other stuff, and walked out of the store with a crib mattress and a changing table pad. Now we have top work on re-arranging everything at our house so we have a place to put things when they arrive. And we want to do this before June 12, when I leave for Spain to finish up my masters degree. We still have our big priorities, though--like seeing Shrek the Third and the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie!

The long wait is over

I have been accepted to the Ph.D. program in Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Madison!!


Now I have a decision to make. Part of me wanted to just say "I'm doing it" and start packing, especially given how my current job has been over the past weeks. But then I started thinking on a more practical and prudent level and have realized it may be best to ask for a deferred acceptance and see if they will let me start next fall, after my life has calmed down a bit and I am more able to move to another state.

But it's good to know I am in, after waiting for a decision from Madison since January.

Spring has sprung

We missed the spring "game" last weekend. In the morning on Saturday, we both supervised the ACT test at Kennedy. We got paid 95 bucks for 4 hours of work, most of the time just sitting in the room while the kids took the test. Not bad. Then we left straight from school to go to our nephew's first birthday party. 3 hours roundtrip to watch a kid try to eat some cake and open some presents. Not exactly worthwhile, but good in the eyes of the family. It's good karma for when our little one has birthdays.
I bought Volver on DVD. I saw the movie last summer in the theater in Madrid. Amazing film. Too bad I haven't been able to watch the DVD, since I have loaned it out to people. No worries, though, I 'll get to watch it eventually.
Prom is coming. I am one of the two teachers in charge of organizing and planning with the senior class officers. This currently means that I have to arrive to work early to sit in the front foyer and sell tickets. So far things are going smoothly, but there are still about two weeks to go until the big day.
I have purchased my plane ticket for this summer. I leave for Madrid on June 12 and get back on August 7, hopefully with my masters degree in hand. My wife is thrilled, as you can imagine. This also means that we are trying to rearrange the apartment and get everything ready for the little one before I leave--in less than two months.

I do...

So the recent respite from blogging is due to the fact that I have been planning our wedding. I have to say that I am pretty proud of my fiancee and I for planning such a major life event in a little more than 8 weeks.
But the day could not have been better. I didn't even expect everything to go as smoothly as it did.
The day started off with major thunderstorms, which I have to admit, made me a little nervous. But about two hours before the ceremony, the skies cleared and the sun poked through the clouds, making for a gorgeous afternoon. The ceremony was at Danforth Chapel in Hubbard Park, which was a perfect size for our group of 68 guests. I always pictured myself having a larger wedding (mostly due to the size of my family), but this was just perfect. Yes, there are many people who I wish could have been there, but we will also have a wedding in the Church sometime in the future, so that will be the big guest list event.
But I digress (as usual). We had the principal harpist from the Cedar Rapids Symphony play at the ceremony, which went perfectly with the size of the chapel and the mood of the ceremony. The reception was in the IMU in the Richey Ballroom (formerly known as the Triangle Ballroom). Again, everything went very well and I think everyone had a good time.
Highlights of the whole weekend for me:
1. hanging out in the hotel before the ceremony with the groomsmen, watching the NCAA tournament. Just chillin' with Austin, Roberto, Donor and Marc was calming and it made me realize why these were the guys I chose to be closest to me during the events.
2. All the wonderful things people shared with us throughout the weekend. Donor had the amazing and surprising ability to say exactly the right thing to me all weekend long, most of which made me tear up.
3. Speaking of tearing up, my father-in-law gave the most wonderful speech at the rehearsal dinner that still gets me choked up whenever I think about it.
4. My best man, despite all of the jokes at his expense all weekend about his lack of organization or reliability, was amazingly thoughtful and dependable throughout everything. His toast was very typical of him and although a bit disjointed, I wouldn't want it any other way. He even got a canopy for the front of the chapel when it looked like the rain just wasn't going to stop.
5. And of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention the feeling I had when Colleen walked into the chapel. Undescribeable.

We spent a few days in Chicago after the wedding, since we were on Spring Break. It was a good time spent doing the downtown stuff. Shedd Aquarium was a madhouse because as it turned out, the Chicago schools were also on Spring Break, so it was packed with strollers and crazy kids going apeshit.
We did the Art Insitute, Second City, and Wicked. Food was outstanding--the Melting Pot (mmm...fondue), Café Ibérico (mmm...tapas) and our friends Courtney and Gus gave us a dinner at the Palm for a wedding present, so we had dinner there before going to Wicked. It was amazing: great wine, excellent lobster.

All in all, an amazing week. So now I am married.

We brought sexy back

My fiancee and I traveled to St. Paul, MN on Saturday to attend the Justin Timberlake concert. In one word: awesome. Great show, and if you get the chance to see it, don't hesitate. Pink opened and she was very entertaining. Upbeat, funky, and she ended the show singing "I'm Coming Out/Get the Party Started" while hanging upside down from a big fabric/rope. It was very Cirque du Soleil-esque.
Then Justin came out. He did some tunes from his last album, Justified. Such as "Rock Your Body", "Like I Love You" and my favorite, "Señorita". And of course, the majority of the songs were from his current album. We like "What Goes Around", not one of the bigger hits, but a good tune. He surprised with his talent, playing guitar and piano during the show. In fact, there were several segments where he just sat at the piano in the middle of the stage (which rotated while he performed). There was an intermission, which featured a 25 minute performance by Timbaland. This part was the low point. It wasn't anything I couldn't have heard in any club. It was alright for a few minutes, but it started to get a little long. Thankfully, Justin returned and closed the concert with a fantastic, rocking, kick-ass version of "Sexy Back". It was sweet.
The encore was tight. JT came back out in just a t-shirt and warm-up pants, rather than the suit he had worn the rest of the show. He sat at the piano and played one of the ballads from Justified. He also was more chatty here, making the concert seem a little more intimate. He gave the usual "I appreciate my fans" speech, but he comes off as such a cool guy, I found it to be pretty believeable.
And then it happened. The girl two rows in front of us, dressed in a black button-down shirt (her cohorts were wearing the skank uniform--tigh jeans, crazy high heels and some slutty almost-shirt) made me almost go into convulsions of laughter. She stood up at the end of the ballad (nobody else in the second balcony was standing at this point), made the punk rock/devil sign with her hands and screamed at the top of her lungs. It was so out of place and random, it was hilarious. It was almost as out-of-place as the music they played to warm up the crowd between Pink and JT--"Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. The same girl in the black button-down sang along to Nine Inch Nails at the top of her lungs before the concert, so come to think of it, her post-encore antics should have been somewhat expected.
Anyway, it was a kick-ass concert and even better because out hotel was connected to the arena by the Skyway system, so we didn't have to fight traffic or walk outside in the bitter cold. And the Xcel Energy Center is a great place to see a concert--much better than its cross-town counterpart, the Target Center.

Here it comes...

The standard, quick blog update. The bulleted list.

• I have realized that I haven't addressed my engagement on here. Part of that is just a privacy thing (mostly a work issue, but God knows who reads this), but now that word has gotten out, I think it is time to tell the cyberworld that I am engaged to be married. So there.
• Christmas was great. Nice to get away form work , spend time with family, yadda yadda yadda. Next weekend I get to enjoy one of my Christmas presents--a trip to St. Paul to the Justin Timberlake concert. Oh yeah--he's bringing sexy back. I want to know where it was all this time. Maybe he'll tell us at the concert.
• Work is interesting (well, at least the ancillary parts of it). Last week a bank robber came into the building to hide out and change clothes. He left without causing any harm and was quickly apprehended afterwards, but my question is, "Why don't we lock the doors during the day so that unsavory characters like this can't get in?" The administration looked at me during the meeting when I asked that, then proceeded as if they hadn't heard it. I guess ignoring the problem can make it go away.
• Winter sucks. My car doors freeze, I have to shovel snow for the first time since I lived with my parents, and it is just too damn cold. There. My annual griping about winter is done and my life can continue.
• Film awards season is upon us. There really isn't a movie that is contending that I am rooting for. Other than The Departed, which I thought was fantastic. But without any individual recognition for Matt, it is hard to really jump on the bandwagon :) If you get the chance to see Volver, the latest Pedro Almodovar film starring Penelope Cruz, do it. I saw it in Spain last summer and it is outstanding! Stupid Clint Eastwood making films in Japanese that will steal the Oscar.

There. I think that does it. Consider yourself updated.

A little quiz about me

The Doogie Quiz Take my quiz! Take This Quiz See Scores Make Own Quiz

The writing on the wall

It only took a sweeping mid-term defeat and an obvious public outcry at the polls, but Donald Rumsfeld has resigned as Secretary of Defense. The names have changed, but will his successor keep up with more of the same in Iraq?
Also, I think the reaction from outside the US is interesting. This being one of my reasons for wanting to get rid of Bush and his cronies, since I see the effects they have on how the US and Americans are seen abroad.
From CNN.com:
Regardless of the effect on world events, global giddiness that Bush was finally handed a political black-eye was almost palpable throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
In an extraordinary joint statement, more than 200 Socialist members of the European Parliament hailed the American election results as "the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world" and gloated that they left the Bush administration "seriously weakened."
In Paris, expatriates and French citizens alike packed the city's main American haunts to watch results, with some standing to cheer or boo as vote tabulations came in.
One Frenchman, teacher Jean-Pierre Charpemtrat, 53, said it was about time U.S. voters figured out what much of the rest of the world already knew.
"Americans are realizing that you can't found the politics of a country on patriotic passion and reflexes," he said. "You can't fool everybody all the time -- and I think that's what Bush and his administration are learning today."

Post-election musings

What a great night! It finally appears that people are seeing the light about the Republicans and their corruption, ill-conceived wars, and scare tactics. The party that has been so quick to judge everybody else on moral values showed that they are not quite as worthy of the moral high-ground as they thought. Hopefully we will also gain control of the Senate as well, given the current state of the vote count in Virgina and Montana. What remains to be seen is if the Democrats can use this new-found majority to really put pressure on Bush and Rumsfeld to change their failed policies, end the domestic spying programs, and find an effective way to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Although today, the Iowa Republican Chairman was quoted in teh DSM Register as saying this election was a "victory for the terrorists". Apparently, he didn't learn his lesson from last night. People are not buying the "a vote for a Democrat is a vote for terror" song-and-dance anymore. Finally. As if anyone is going to let terrorists waltz right in and attack us. The Democrats believe that we can stop terrorists without taking away all rights from citizens and giving the president total, authoritarian power to do as he pleases. Our rights as Americans do not have to be sacrificed in order to keep us safe, no matter what the Republicans say.
On the state level, we kept that crap-weasel Jim Nussle out of office and his former House seat goes to a Democrat also. Yes, despite how hard the GOP tried to paint Bruce Braley as the spawn of Satan who liked to kill puppies and eat them, the Dems won the 1st district seat as well. Another surprise was the 2nd District. I respect Jim Leach and his independence from his party. Hell, he was an anti-war Republican and in any other election, I actually might have considered voting for him. However, the fact is he is an incumbent and a Republican, which meant that voting for him was voting for more of the same, and this was an election that was clearly set on changing the course of things in Washington. His votes for leadership roles in Congress alone could be damaging (Dennis Hastert). So bye-bye Jim-bo, thanks for playing. And really, 30 years is enough in Congress.
Terrace Hill stays with the Democrats, and now the state House and Senate are in Democrat hands as well. Hopefully this will mean good things for education, alternative fuels, and health care in our state.


And in keeping with the theme of kicking sleazy, no-good, worthless people to the curb, Britney Spears filed for divorce from Kevin Federline.

Where does the time go?

This term, I have been the gracious host to a student teacher. She is outstanding and has done an amazing job in my classroom. This has given me much free time during the day to work on things, such as curriculum details and doing lots of work for school that I normally don't have time to do. I have been researching ideas for a new measurement tool that we are implementing at school as well as working on things for my masters degree reading list.
Surprisingly enough, I still can't find time to update this blog as much as I would like (or as much as Jenniffer would like).
Looking forward to the trip to Minneapolis in two weeks and also looking forward to the last home football game next weekend. This season seems to have gone quickly, and mercifully so. Please God, let it end without too much more misery. Here's to next year!

Another Big Ten Football Weekend

After the craziness that was the Ohio State game, it was time for Homecoming in Iowa City. We kicked off the festivities on Thursday night at The Vine. Wings, cheap steins and good times. It was great. Then Friday I took the day off work to hang with the kids in Iowa City. Lunch at Atlas, Java House and then the traditional pre-parade shots at the bar formerly known as Gabe's. And I still wish for bad things to happen to the person who called the Boilermaker drinks. The parade was death, as usual, but still sort of fun. Then beer band, with the obligatory lame stop at Studio 13. 5 saxes, a baritone and a clarinet do not make a good sound together, and I also think they were annoyed with us for delaying the drag show. Anyway, I called it a night because of the early wake-up call and rehearsal on Saturday.
We gathered at the practice field to catch the end of the HMB rehearsal, or as Sarah so accurately described it, "Snakes on a Field". Their lines were so crooked and scary. And the trumpet girl who was wearing the orange hoodie, jeans, and the clunky shoes needs some serious marching help stat. Zillman tailgate ensued and it was awesome, as usual. March to the stadium, pregame and a big blow out of a game followed, along with a kickline performance in front of the HMB, who are not allowed to do kickline anymore for stupid political reasons (Kastens is such a pussy).
Saturday night's party was fun, but much more subdued than past years. I think it was a combination of the strong sunshine during the game and our advancing age.
All in all, it was a great weekend with great friends and I look forward to next year's game already. But first, we have the rest of this season to enjoy. This weekend the Hawks are in Bloomington to face the Hoosiers, then it's up to the Big House with a possible Rose Bowl berth on the line. Chili and lots of snacks and beverages will be on tap at my house for the showdown with the Wolverines, so consider yourself invited. Fist! Clap clap clap clap clap clap....

Go Hawks!

Football season is upon us. One blowout, one game that was a LOT closer than it should have been. But I am not complaining, because anytime you turn the ball over 4 times in a game you should lose without question. So the overtime victory with the amazing defensive stand is good enough for me. However, probably not good enough to beat Iowa State, so step it up boys.

At last...

Hawkeye football has come around (all apologies to Etta James). First tailgate of the year with the new seat buddies. No worries, once I figure out where the old tailgate buddies are hanging on Game Day, I plan to come hang out for a bit during each game day. Meanwhile, this is the first year I have "big boy" tickets. That is to say, the first time I have sat somewhere in Kinnick Stadium that was not with the HMB or in the student section. Nice seats, 35 yard line, row 7, a little too close to the visiting fans section, but pretty good seats nonetheless.
Good game, but I had to leave in the 2nd quarter to go to the wedding of a high school friend of my girlfriend. Nice wedding, good time and I feel like I didn't miss anything too important from the game.
In conclusion, it was a good kickoff to the season, a decent tailgate that served as a practice run for the rest of the season. Looking forward to a great football season and seeing a lot fo old friends around Kinnick. GO HAWKS!

So I got mugged...

Last night in Madrid. Go out with some friends for some tapas and a few drinks. Head home early so I can get a little sleep before going to the airport. So it's about 3:30am and my friends and I walk home, they head off to their houses and the dorm and I have about 6 blocks to walk by myself. I get about 100 meters from my house and these 3 guys come up to me, shove me against the wall and tell me to sit down. I immediately hand over all the money I had, which was about 6 euros in change. Apparently this was less than they were looking for. They start beating me and I yell for help. One of them puts a knife to my throat and tells me to stop screaming. I keep repeating that I have no money. I guess my word isn't good enough for them, as they keep beating me and then start choking me. They finally get my wallet out of my pocket and open it to find, guess what, no money. They give me my wallet back (without even taking my bank card or anything), tell me they're sorry (??), and run off. A taxi driver sees them run off (since this was a pretty busy street in a upper middle class neighborhood of Madrid) and tells me that there is a police car behind him at the intersection. I go over to the cops and tell them what happened, and they ask me if I want to get in the car with them. At this point I just want to go home, so I say no and then go home. Upon arrival at my apartment, I realize that there is no water at that time for whatever reason, so I am unable to wash the blood off my arms and head. I go to bed and get up in the morning and go to the airport.
I have to say that I am lucky. This kind of stuff happens in any big city. The people in my apartment were shocked that this happened around the corner, and didn't believe me at first when I told them. Madrid is relatively safe, and I am lucky to have gotten away with just a few scrapes, bruises and a knot on the head. Hell, I even managed to lose only a few euros because I had spent all the cash I had at the bars. If the same situation had happened to me in New York or Chicago, I doubt that I would be able to say the same thing.

Weekend in the sun

Spent the weekend at my Spanish family's summer house in the mountains outside of Madrid. I went out on the bus Thursday afternoon and came back today. Great weekend. Spent most of it reading by the pool and soaking up some rays. I skipped pool time one morning to write my final paper for my Medieval Lit class (about the role of El Cid, a famous Spanish medieval warrior, in the facist military ideology of Francisco Franco--if you're interested, I can email you a copy...hehe). Then I also worked a bit on my final project for Linguistics class, which is a bitch that I am now halfway finished with. That piece of shit gets finished tomorrow, no matter what.
But really, other than a few hours working on those projects, most of the weekend was in the pool or next to it. It was awesome and I have a nice tan to show for it :)
Coming home in Thursday. Good to be done with classes. Good to be coming home to see the girlfriend. Not good to be leaving Madrid. I always feel a little homesick when I have to leave here. Someday maybe I won't have to leave... someday...

A few more days...

The great thing about my masters program is that I can take classes just during the summer and I don't have to try to balance work and school. The big drawback is that the term is only 6 weeks long and the courses still cover a semester's worth of material. That translates into me reading one novel per class, per week. Multiply by three classes and that equals: hell. I have four days of class left. Tomorrow I have a short quiz on my medieval literature class and a final exam in my one class that is only a 2 credit course, meaning that it finishes earlier than the other courses, not that there is less work, by any means (in fact, I have read more for this class than the others). Then next week, I have to turn in an 8-12 page paper in Medieval Lit, and a huge final project in my linguistics class. People who have started this project already (e.g., nerds) have said that they are about 1/2 finished and are on page 13. Shit. I should get started. This could be a long weekend...

The Spanish-American Wedding

Dinner/joint bachelor-bachelorette party

Wednesday night (the day before the concert) we all met up for dinner at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Yes, the home of Real Madrid, Spain's soccer "powerhouse" (although they haven't won a title in over 3 years) has its own restaurant. And it was actually pretty good food. My two favorite Spanish soccer teams happen to be the bitter rivals of Real Madrid. Atlético de Madrid, the crosstown foe, and FC Barcelona, the two-time defending Spanish Champions as well as reigning European Champions.
So I arrive on time, which in Spain means I was a good half-hour early, along with Raúl, a friend of Sergio, Roberto's brother.
Timeout: Family tree time. Roberto is my friend the groom, who lives in North Liberty, was on the diving team at Iowa and now works in CR. Sergio is his brother who I met at Roberto's graduation from Iowa and now hang out with regularly in Madrid. Jackie is the bride who I used to work with at Sports Camps at Iowa and she now teaches Spanish at a high school in CR (but not the same one as me)
OK, now that you're caught up, on with the dinner. Sergio was in charge of the event, therefore all of his friends started showing up. I knew most of them because I have gone out with them several times in the past few summers that I have spent in Madrid. So I am there catching up with the group and some of Roberto's friends start showing up. Meanwhile, the bride and groom's tardiness is approaching an hour. The Spaniards decide to go in and sit down. Shortly after, Jackie and Roberto show up with the troop of Americans who had come for the wedding. Having arrived with the Spaniards (and knowing more of them than I did of the Amercians), I sat with them. I soon saw that the room was divided in half. One table of Americans and one table of Spaniards, plus me. I was fine with that. We ordered some drinks, watched a bizarre dance/acrobatics show, then finally ate. I was starving at this point. Dinner was nice, not too expensive, then we went out for drinks.
The joint bachelor/bachelorette party was a good idea. No tacky, out of control party atmosphere like in the US, just a good group of people going out and getting shit-faced. Or at least, I think they got shit-faced. Being a Wednesday night, I had to bail early (2am-ish) because I had class the next morning.
Concert Thursday--see previous post. It was awesome.
Friday was the day of the big wedding. I, of course, was early. This time I was actually early because I didn't know how long it would take to get to the church. The church was gorgeous. 19th Century, Neoclassical architecture, decorated with paintings by Francisco Goya, one of Spain's most famous artists. This was the church where I first went to mass in Spain on my high school trip we went here for Easter. Real Basilica de San Francisco el Grande, or if your Spanish is really terrible, the Royal Basilica of Saint Francis the Great.
The wedding was beautiful, with a blend of American and Spanish traditions. For example, Jacke had her sister and one of her friends walk down the aisle (unheard of in Spain--it's just the bride and groom there). One of the readings was in English, but the rest of the mass was in Spanish. They exchanged rings and, as is Spanish custom, exchanged coins as a symbol of sharing the wealth and finances of the family.
Then we all boarded buses and went to the reception at a beautiful banquet facility on the outskirts of Madrid. There was a pond with fountains and swans as we walked into the garden area. The cocktail hour was great, with all kinds of awesome appetizers. We took our seats for dinner, and I was with Jackie's sister and aunt, along with the entire family of the girl Roberto coaches in diving. The girl is a former Kennedy student and her brother goes there now, so I knew them somewhat. At least enough to make conversation, which is better off than I would have been with any of the other Yankees. The dinner was spectacular. Roberto's dad is the owner of a winery and is a wine distributor, so the wine was some of the best Spain has to offer, needless to say it was unbelievably good. Gazpacho, salad with shrimp, crab and lobster, then steak with foie -gras (which I happily scraped to the side) and a potato cake. Not quite as good as the potato cakes at Atlas, but the steak was to die for. Dessert was chocolately and then after dinner liquers and coffee. The Americans (this time I was seated with them), apparently not used to drinking so much wine with dinner, were out of their seats before dessert was served and became a bit unruly. A traditional singing group, La Tuna, came in and went around the room during dinner singing traditional Spanish songs. When they got to the American corner of the room at the end of dinner, that side of the room became a free-for -all. Everybody was up taking pictures, dancing and singing (I have no idea what words they were making up), while the Spaniards just sat and stared, with a "what the hell is going on" look.
Everybody got a free bottle of wine to take home, with Jackie and Roberto's name on the label.
The dance was great, lots of drinking and the Spaniards showed why they were pacing themselves at dinner. Again, the mixture of traditions as Jackie and Roberto showed a video they had made of pictures of them and their friends, etc. Pretty standard at American weddings, but the Spaniards had no idea what this was all about.
The last bus back to the city was going to leave at 5am, a little earlier than expected, but there was a delay because there wasn't enough room for everybody. Somehow, people found rides in cars and those of us on the bus entertained ourselves while we waited for things to get sorted out by singing soccer chants. Anytime Spaniards are in a group with nothing to do, sooner or later, the soccer chants come out. I had a few in me, so of course I joined in. This time it was the Americans' turn to use the "what the hell is going on" look. They surprisingly were still alert, given the late hour, although there was one really trashy seventeen-year old who needed a babysitter or at least someone to keep her from removing her dress in front of everyone on the dance floor.
I declined the post reception party at the Americans' hotel (which later reports show as basically a contest to see which Spaniard could get into drunk girl's room first) and went home. I got back around 7am and crashed. I slept through the better part of Saturday and eventually got a little but of reading done for class, although not nearly what I was assigned.
All in all, it was a great time, and well worth being behind all week-long in my classes.

I told you so

OK, so it wasn´t later that day, but at least I am updating this damned thing.

Classes are kicking my ass. Last week was midterm week, which in a term that is only 6 weeks long, doesn´t give you much time to process the material. Monday I had a short quiz in Medival Lit. and a presentation in Masters Readings. Tuesday I had a paper due in Medieval Lit. Wednesday I had a test in Linguistics and a dinner to go to for my friends´ wedding. Thursday I only had one class--thank God.
Today I have another test in Masters Readings and just bombed a short quiz in my Medival Lit class--in which I have another paper due on Thursday.
I think next week I actually don´t have anything due. However, the following week is finals and I will have two papers and a test to deal with. And who knows if there will be anymore impromptu presentation or short quiz assignments. Why did I sign on for this? I could do the same amount of work over the course of 12-16 weeks and be much more relaxed. Oh well, I will be done in 2.5 weeks, I just have to survive until then. I got my paper back today from Medieval Lit. 9.5 out of 10, so not too bad I guess. I thought it was total crap when I wrote it, but myabe it was less crap than what everybody else turned in.

This weekend was going to be the weekend that I did some catching up on my reading for class. I had my friends´ wedding here on Friday night and then I was going to study Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday. Riiiight. Here´s what really went down:
Thursday
Best. Concert. Ever.
Went to see El Canto del Loco at Las Ventas (the bullring in Madrid). The concert had been sold out since March, but a classmate of mine and I decided to check it out and see if we could score tickets. After walking around the entire ring once, we were just standing around trying to figure out what to do next and a guy came up to us and asked in a very low voice if we needed tickets. I said yes, and he offered us two for 30 Euros each--face value 25. Not a bad deal. I asked if they were real tickets and he got snippy with me. As I pulled out my money he says¨Hurry up before the police come¨ This makes me feel really good about the validity of the tickets. We pay him in a very clandestine fashion, (I felt like I was making a drug deal) and head towards the gate. The tickets seemed real, the paper was all shiny and everything, with the logo of the department store chain that sold the tickets, but the ink was smudged and was kinda coming off on my hands. I was starting to feel very doubtful about our chances of getting in. But there was absolutely no problem. We went in without a second look from the ticket-takers, bought t-shirts and found some seats. We tried the floor at first, but it had rained that day, making the yellow dirt of the bullring floor an absolute mess. So we sat up in the stands and enjoyed the concert. Two encores, both provoked by endless soccer chanting and high-pitched whistles. It was a damn good time.

OK--Since the rest of the weekend deals with wedding festivities, I will post that later. This post is already too damn long.
Hasta luego.

God, I suck at this!

I realize that is has been over a month since I wrote anything here and nobody ever probably reads this anymore. But anyway, her is what I have been up to since June 2.
Moved. Found a great new apartment in Cedar Rapids. Not really where I wanted to live, but it's close to work and super crazy cheap. A week after moving in (with the girlfriend, btw), I headed to O'Hare and got on a plane to Madrid. Eventually. Apparently there was some big storm in Philadelphia, where I was going to connect to my flight to Madrid. So the flight leaving O'Hare wasn't even going to take off until 2 hours after it was scheduled to, thereby making it impossible for me to catch my connecting flight. So I head back to the ticket counter where they find me a seat on a United flight to Heathrow and then a later flight to Madrid. I was originally scheduled to arrive in Madrid at 7:30, but my new ETA was 4:00--exactly 30 minutes before I had to be at a meeting at my university. So I ask, are you sure there are no earlier flights from London to Madrid? No, sir, the noon flight that arrives at 4pm is the earliest. Ok, I guess I'll have to take it. Fast forward to me sitting in Heathrow at 6am, watching the flight screens announce flights to Madrid at 8am, 9:30am and 10:30 am. I sat waiting for my noon flight, in one of my least favorite airports in the world.
So I get to Madrid finally. I go to the ATM to get cash for the cab ride to my university, and am unable to get money. I figure it is a maching thing, since I bought breakfast in London with my card. So I take a cab that accepts cards only to find out that my card doesn't work there either. Shit. I go into the university, they pay the cab fare and I use their phone to call my bank. My financial aid money that I deposited into my account had been taken out by my bank, pending approval of the check, even though they told me they wouldn't do that when I specifically asked them a few days earlier. So I call and explain that they had left me in a foreign country with no money. They quickly fixed the problem and five minutes later I was able to withdraw the euros I needed.
Headed to my new apartment in Madrid, which is nice. It is a little dark, but it couldn't be in a better place. Walking distance to school and two metro stops close-by. Nice. I could go buy a cable to hook television up to my computer, but I decided I would try to live without TV for a few weeks. Now that the World Cup is over, it isn't so bad. Having to go to a bar or having to miss some of the games was tough, but after Spain was eliminated, I lost some interest anyway. But the good news is that I have wireless internet here and it is all included in the low low price of my rent for the 6 weeks I am here. Only 400 euros, which isn't too bad. Now if someone could only convince Spaniards that air-conditioning is a good thing...
So that is the story of my arrival. I have a few good stories from my classes and going out on the town here in Madrid-- rock concerts, weddings, 100 degree heat, and tons and tons of reading and homework. I'll post those later. Maybe even later today. No, really, I will.
But for now it's back to reading medieval Spanish literature...don't be too jealous.