The Weekend and First Day of Class

So today marks the first full week of classes, and I managed to start everything off by going to the wrong class. I sat with someone at breakfast who had lunch at the same time and just decided to walk to class with them. I sat down in the room and didnt talk to anyone. The professor was ten minutes late and didnt even mention the title of the class for another ten. Suddenly, 20 minutes into class she mentioned "Linguistics". My class is Phonetics. I decided to stay in class and just pretend that I was there until the end. Since classes are twice a day, I went early to our later one to explain to the Professor. When I told her, she just burst out laughing and didnt seem to care at all. Plus, class got done in a half hour so I went to the gym to play basketball. We have a decent size gym that we played an intense game of soccer on this weekend. I scored many goals but was very sore. Then I went out Saturday and had a great time at this place that was just giving out free food and drinks. I have class till 9 later, but the U.S. plays at 8 30 so I will miss the first half. Hopefully I can finish quick and go to O Brienś to watch the second half.

Toledo

So I have arrived and have been in Toledo Spain for several days now. This town is absolutely amazing. Its extremely old and all the streets are cobble stone and all the buildings are made out of stone. Its surrounded by a wall and has a fortress or alcazar at the top of it. I live in a building that used to be a convent, which is a little weird, however the rooms are very nice and overall the building is nice as well. I have 2 room mates who are from Ohio State and a neighboring room that is clustered to ours. One of them is from Ohio State and the other two are from Notre Dame. Overall most of the kids are from the U of M, Ohio State, or Notre Dame with many people from random places. Since we dont have classes on Fridays, people plan very ambitious trips. This weekend most people didnt plan any, however after this weekend, some people are going as far as Italy or France as well as places all over Spain. I have planned a weekend in Granda and a day trip to Segovia, but so far Iḿ lacking other options. We have a tenative tripped planned to Seville but no concrete plans. Next weekend we go to Madrid on Friday as a group so I might take a train to Salamanca and stay the night with whoever would come with me. Needless to say, Im very busy and dropping money left and right. Im going to play soccer. Bye!

Flying Away

Just spent my last night in my bed, packed all my things up, and am about to go to the airport to fly out. First we fly to Philidelphia and then to Madrid and take a bus to Toledo. I'm super excited and anxious. This should be one hell of an adventure.

World Cup Fever

So today was the first U.S. game in the 2010 World Cup against England. I used to play a lot of soccer and so I enjoy watching games. My dad and I decided to try to go to a Brittish pub in downtown Minneapolis to watch the game. We arrived about an hour and a half early in order to get good seats and the line was out the door. We decided to go to another pub nearby to watch the game. The game turned out to be insane. There were probably about 500 people in this place all screaming and yelling at the game. It completely blew my mind. I had a great time and the U.S. managed to tie 1 to 1. Spain's first game in the World Cup is the day after I arrive and I can only imagine how crazy it will be there.

New Leaf

So, its been awhile since I've last blog but I feel that in the coming weeks I will have much to think about and so I have decided to start it back up. Today is Friday and on Monday afternoon I fly to Spain for a significant portion of my summer. The program is through the University of Minnesota and I will live in an international dorm in Toledo Spain, just south of Madrid. The town is super historic with walls and a castle and is pretty small, only about 50 thousand in the area. I don't know a single person going and I haven't spoken a word of Spanish in a month so we will see how this goes. I've started to become super excited as other students have started emailing and we have started getting lots of information about the program. I expect it to be an experience of a lifetime and I intend to take lots of pictures. Stay tuned....

Sleeping

So this week I remembered why I try so hard to keep a consistent sleep schedule. Due to several tests and projects, I've spent a couple of late nights (like up to 4) studying. Now, it's Thursday, I literally was falling asleep during lab, but now when I have 4 hours off before practice, I am unable to fall asleep. Practice should be as miserable as it was yesterday.....

Quick Update

So......haven't done this for awhile. Anyway now I am back at school about to begin my second semester and I'm cautiously excited. I have a lot on my plate......harder classes, tennis, Lambda Chi, but also many exciting things to come. Winter break was solid. I saw everyone I wanted to and had some good times. My mom also spoiled me, and I made some money. Good to go.

Back to School

It's good to be back. One week of classes are done and orientation week is over and so far, I'm loving it. Sure, there haven't been any "unforgetable nights" yet but it's just great to be back hanging out with my friends. I had a ton of fun during orientation week although it was pretty much a 24/7 job. I've met a ton of cool freshmen that I can't wait to get to know better as well. Sure, I'm ready for the year to pick up and for tennis to start but overall, I'm a happy JR.

Reflecting on Summer

So in about 60 hours or so I will be packing up all my belongings and embarking and the half-day journey back to Coe College. When the year ended, I reflected upon it and when the school year ended, I also reflected upon it (though I don't know if I did online). It's only fitting that I reflect upon my summer as well. This summer definitely fits my whole "life goes in waves" theme. When I first came home, the first few days were a whirlwind of social activities and reconnecting with friends before life settled down. Then I started to get into a bit of a rut until work started. For the whole summer, the pace seemed to go up and down. I feel to some extend I wasted this summer. Although I did make a solid amount of money, it was very alarming today when I paid my parents my portion of the semester and for this years fraternity dues to realize that I only netted about 125 dollars total this summer. Thankfully I have some work at school which will easily get me through the year. In some ways, I didn't reconnect the way I wanted to. There were some people I was around a lot in high school and I was hoping that I would not only reconnect but deepen our relationships. For the most part, this did not happen. The people I was casually friends with were definitely invisible. However, there were a few people this summer I got to spend a good amount of time with that I'm more thankful for than I think they know. It was very reassuring to me that I could come home and not only reconnect quickly but get to know people on a deeper level of trust than I did previously. Hopefully I will be able to stay in touch frequently with them while away at school. One of my biggest fears all year of college was actually leaving college fearing that I had little to go back to. This summer helps sooth my mind realizing that when the day comes in the distant future and I leave college, I can still stay close with the people that really matter to me. Goodbye summer 2009......hello Coe

Next week.......

I will be back at school. Exactly one week from today I will be driving to Cedar Rapids. Summer was fun, seeing all my friends again and getting closer to some but I'm excited to go back to a fast pace, sleep only when you drop, environment for awhile. By October fall break, I'm sure i'll be exhausted but right now I'm excited.