Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Normally, I would be sitting at home watching football with my dad, staring at the snow outside, and anxiously awaiting dinner on this day. However, for the second year in a row, I have been fortunate enough to spend Thanksgiving overseas. It was exactly this time last year when I boarded a plane for Dharamsala, India, and I hope everyone on that flight this year has an amazing time! I can´t wait to hear about all your adventures!

With that said, I´ve quickly come to realize it has now been over a month since I have updated my blog... not good. I could try to blame it on me getting caught up in the Spanish lifestyle once again, but in all honesty, I have just been procrasting. Next week, I plan on filling you all in with details about our adventures, but I quickly wanted to let you know what we have been up to.

When I last wrote, we had just gotten back from San Sebastian, Spain, our first weekend trip after being in Madrid for two weeks. We have now been here for almost two months and over the past few weeks have had the opportunity to travel to Granada, El Escorial, and Sevilla in Spain, and just this past weekend to Lisbon, Portugal. In between, my mom and sister came to visit me for an absolutely amazing week- I brought them Spanish culture, and they brought a wonderful and refreshing taste of home after two months of being away. Their visit was just one week before Diwali (India´s new year a.ka. Festival of Lights). As this was the first year I have ever been away from home on this special holiday, it was so great to have them come here and experience such a unique blending of cultures. This upcoming weekend, we are off to Brussels (brrr!!!), followed by Barcelona the week after that, and then hopefully an amazing month of December exploring Spain and Madrid more.

And then of course, there´s school... The past couple of weeks have been relatively busy with school with midterms (also futher encouraging my procrastination when it came to blogging), and in just three weeks it will be finals again. I have truly been enjoying my Spanish art class above all. I can officially say I have presented about ´Las Meninas´in the Prado museum and explained the details behind Spanish art to my family in Madrid and roommate and close friend in Sevilla. My other classes have also allowed me to learn more about Madrid and Spain, but above that, truly understand the life of an international student meeting people from all over the world. It will be interesting to return to DU and be a ´regular student´again, observing international students and their struggles/successes having just been in their position. It´s situations like this that I am so fortunate to have as they have certainly changed my outlook on life.

It´s so hard to believe that after almost three months, my time here is quickly coming to an end with only four weeks left. However, with Halloween, Diwali, and now Thanksgiving passing, and Christmas decorations going up, I have certainly been thinking a lot about home- hence, me finally updating my blog! :o) After Brussels, I truly plan on updating my blog with more details about all of our adventures. However, I hope this quick entry finds you all happy and well!

Besos,

Monica