Now that I have been here for 3 weeks, lets check back and see all that I have done: Gone to Toledo, eaten a crap ton of DELICIOUS Spanish food, started classes, tried some fresh wines, learned a little Spanish (ok, a lot, but it doesn’t feel like a lot), posted a single vlog that took me 4 days to edit, and finished a singular (I have only been assigned one) hw assignment. Doesn’t seem like much, but it is cause I am learning constantly. Every night when I go to bed, my brain is tired from all he thinking I have to do just to maintain a simple conversation. Conjugations, vocabulary, grammer, PRONOUNS!!!! There is a lot to this language, on top of catching up to where the locals are at in terms of engineering knowledge.

alright, rage moment… TENSORS ARE THE STUPIDEST THING EVER!!! Our biomechanics professor didn’t help the situation either, because when he first introduced it to us, he described it in the most round about manner. Mind you, this is just Statics, a class I took last semester, and I left that class confused, even though I have seen this stuff before (just in a slightly different format). However, thank GOD we have two teachers for that class (one for lecture and one for recitation), because the recitation teacher explained it so nicely, and I got it within the first 15 minutes of that class. So from now on, Im just gonna ignore everything in lecture, and have the other professor explain it to me much better.

For bioinstrumentation, the first thing we are doing is going over MOSFET’s, which are a type of transistor. Thankfully, no one in that class remembers how to math with those, so she started from the beginning, and that is what we’re doing now. That class isn’t that bad. Same with Systems and Signals. Biotransport is hard stuff, also dealing with tensors, but he describes it so nicely, I just wish all my professors were like that. I don’t have a problem rn, but we will see later in the semester. I got a little defeated this past week because of all the stuff we are supposed to know already and me not knowing it, but hopefully this next week will be better.

Lets see… Now that we have gotten past the boring (and most important) stuff, lets talk about the fun stuff!! On Friday, I cemented my excursion plan for my semester here! Here is the list:

• Sept. 20-22 – Sevilla
• Sept. 27-29 – Barcelona
• Oct. 5 – Segovia
• Oct. 18-20 – Salamanca
• Oct. 25-27 – Katie Elkins comes to Madrid!!
• Oct. 31- Nov. 4 – Morocco
• Nov. 8-10 – Rome
• Nov. 22-24 – Granada
• Nov. 29- Dec. 2 – Skiing in the Swiss Alps
• Dec. 21 – Return Home (day before my birthday)

This is pretty much a full schedule, and for most of these, I will be making a vlog. Hopefully it doesn’t take me as long as the Toledo one, but we shall see. This was the first time I had ever spent this much on travel, and it feels kind of weird, but I know these experiences will be something I will hold with me dearly for the rest of my life. And that is pretty much my justification for all of these. I get to explore a lot of Spain, but Rome is a place that I have wanted to go to for a while, and I freaking love skiing, and the opportunity to go skiing in the Alps (at a resort that pretty much matches my skill level) is an amazing opportunity I cannot just pass up. When is the next time in the next 20 years, with all the school and work and cost barriers, will I get the chance to do all this again?? My mentality is that money will always come back to me, that God has my back and I should live my life to the fullest rn. So let me spend a lot of money that I worked hard to get, and go FULL SEND!!

Another fun thing I did this weekend, with Panth, was cook lunch for two days for our host mother!

The first night we made fajitas. They were really good, and Panth did most of the work for that, but that is not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about the GNOCCHI THAT WE MADE!!! So first, we started with the veggies that you can see above. We had mushrooms, carrots, onions, green pepper, and a whole bunch of that SEASONINGS!!! After those were cooked, we went to the SAUCE!!

A tomato paste with lemon. After that was finished heating up, we added the veggies and mixed it all around. After that was cooked and ready, we set it aside and started on the main course: the GNOCCHI!!! Two minutes boiling in a pan, and these PESTO (did i mention they were pesto filled?) GNOCCHI were ready to be added to the SAUCE!! While those were cooking, I made some garlic bread with garlic (of course), basil, oregano, butter, and mozzarella cheese.

After all that was done, we set the table, and started to eat our elaborate feast of gnocchi and garlic bread.

It was one of the best meals I have ever had. Lets just say I didn’t need dinner that night…

Lastly, I went to a flea market this past weekend!!!

This place was amazing!! It was about 5-6 city blocks blocked off for this flea market that happens every weekend. And to top it off, everything here is super cheap. All the clothing stands are basically small thrift stores, so everything is discounted. Hand-made art pieces, decor, souvenirs, everything one could ever desire. I got a lot of gifts here for people, and I know I will be going back to get more. Sadly, I can’t bring big stuff home, but I will find a way!!!

Thanks for tuning in this week. Sorry it is late, cause I know if I keep doing this, I will make this a habit, and that is not good. SO make sure to keep me on track. Hasta luego my friends!

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