All Done

So it has almost been a month since I lasted posted anything, and TONS has happened during that time that I´m having trouble remembering everything.

I had forgotten what NICE people were like until I went to Lisbon, Portugal awhile ago. Even though my friend Bridget and I couldnt speak Portuguese, everyone was so sweet and helpful, even if they couldnt speak English. We needed directions to get to a market that was a ways out of town, so thjis little old lady with no teeth tried to give us directions. Her son kept telling her that we didnt speak Portuguese, so she just talked louder and used hand motions. It was so funny and so cute. We still didnt get her directions, but it was a great experience none the less. Lisbon had the first Christmas lights of the year...the whole town was stocked with them. And the weather was GORGEOUS! Blue skies all weekend , even though it was a bit chilly.We walked around the Alfama, Barrio Alto (where all the bars are..which was cool. People went out in sweatchirts and crappy jeans and everyone just hangs out in the sreets. The bars werent big enough to spend any amunt of time in them, so they just give you a plastic cup and away you go), we saw the oceanarium, which was thge 2nd largest in the world, ate amazing portuguese pastries in Belém, and just hung out. It was wonderful.

People were also very nice in Dublin when I was there last weekend. Cat and I decided to go on Sunday night, we bought tickets on Tuesday, and left Thursday. Our hostel was the old recording studio for U2, Van Morrison, the Cranberries, and more people that I dont remember, so it was really cool. Nicely decorated. Terrible dirty bathrooms, but what can ya do_? Can´t win them all. We had stopped to ask for directions and the person was so nice to us...shockingly odd considering we had been living in Spain where people are not nearly so friendly. We stayed right on River Liffey by teh ha'penny bridge, 2 minutes from temple bar, o'connelle street, and 5 minutes from Trinity College and Grafton street. Took a tour of the guinnes factory and had a beer at the top at he Gravity Bar, a big glass room with an outstanding view of Dublin) Got coffee to go (so shocking because it doesnt exist in Spain) and Bewley´s, the home of my first coffee so many years ago. Originally we didnt want to leave Spain on our last long weekend in the country, but we´re just plain TIRED of seeing Cathedrals. Straight up. I dont care anymore. They´re all looking the same. And it worked out well because there were lots of Spaniards at our hostel, so we made friends and got to practice! It all worked out in the end.

And I´m such a lucky girl because I´ve had such wonderful visitors! My family was here for the week, and we Spent some time in Madrid, Bilbao, and Burgos. It was cold, but I hope yáll enjoyed yourself! Good wine, good tapas, good company. That was a very exciting week because the President Dunn, of WMU, came to visit to celebrate the programs 10th year of collaboration with the University of Burgos. So the family got to participate, too, and all the faculty were so happy to meet thm. President Dunn was recruiting Caitlin HARD CORE (go broncos!). We´ll see =). Buuuut anyways. There was a nice brunch with coffee, OJ, and typical Spanish brekfast foods (sugary croissants and bread), during which the Presidents of both univserities spoke and said nothing but nice things. Then we had ameeeting with the Mayor of Burgos, although he seemed completely unenthused with us, in his office. It was intersting to a point, but at the same time, it was obvious he had no idea we were even IN BURGOS, and that he had plenty of other things to do. In the offfice, there was a crucifix on the wall with Jesus wearing a lime green skirt and he had 5 eggs t his feet. I asked Hermana Paula about it later on and she laughed saying ¨Cristo de los Huevos¨but couldnt explain it to me. So i´m still clueless. Maybe I´ll google it... But moving on. Later that night was a ncie little ceremony with all out profs and the presidents and all that good stuff, where they said every nice thingin the world about us, although they really had no idea. Most of our teachers think we´re idiot americans,mso it was funny when the VP of INternation Relations kept saying that we are the ¨best students inthe US.¨ It was sweet of her regardless. Following was a concert that should have bee STRAIGHT out of Monty Python that draggedon and on, but afterwards was a reception with free appatizers and wine. It was wonderful. All teh servers were like ¨come o! drink more! why not? its free!¨so we did. Most of the Michiganders were drunk. We are wondrful representations of American students, let me tell you. Also, my professor, Diego,looks JUST LIKE my brother, Dan. So we asked him to be in a replacement for him in our family pic, which he did, and thought it was quite funny. The next day, the Cheevers cooked Carmen and Elena Thanksgiving dinner (a day early) because we´d be on the road during the real thing, and beacause they had never experieced it! We had turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce from a can, ensalada de Carmen, croissants, corn...tons of good stuff. We educated Carmen on the wonderful dessert that we call Brownies, which she fell in love with. She had never had them before, and of course wanted the recipe. Funny thing was though, is that it was from a box, and i dont know how to make brownies from scratch. By the time I confessed that it was from a box (frowned upon in Spain) she had already googled a recipe. Overall, i couldnt have asked for a better time. My biological family with my Spanish family: Carmen, Elena, and Catherine. I got to practice translating, too! Mom, Caitlin, Cat, and I went to the homeless shelter one day, and all the hermanas just LOVED them Seriously. They still ask how they´re doing. That Friday, we met Kim in Madrid, took a bus tour of the city, and saw an incredible famenco show. Overall it was a vry porductive week.

Then Kim was here! And the snow! We just hung out, walked around Burgos, went t class, and caught up. It was terrible weather, but we trekked through it and had a darn good time.

So that´s basically been my life. I had 2 finals this week, which i did well on. We had out little goodbye ceremony today, got my diploma, and that IT. I´ve spent a lot of time at the homeless shelter befause I´ve gotten pretty close with some of the people. The hermanas made Cat and I lunch today and so ate with them in their little kitchen. 8 nuns and 2 american girls. It was incredile, I couldnt ask for a better experience with them. They´ve taught ups so much and have been such a huge part of my experience here. We hug out with them after eating conejo (rabbit...all i could think of was our bunny rabbit PJ...but it tasted good!), took some fotos, had coffee and chatted. Tomorrow is the last day,and I will probably bawl my eyes out. A ver.ç

Then I´m home Sunday! I cannot believe how fast the semester has gone...like a blink of an eye. But! I´m excted for the xmas season at home, and see all my friends and family. It´s definitely a mixed emotion.

Welp, that´s all for now. And that´s alot. Hope you´ve enjoyed. See you soon!

Love,
Cara