Thursday, June 16, 2011

Another Overdue Update

I have my last final tomorrow. My last final in Spain. My academic responsibilities in Santander are coming to an end. I don't know if I should be overjoyed or saddened or a little bit of both. I can't dwell on that now, though. I still have one test remaining: Foundation Engineering.

I read through all the chapters in the book. I went through all of our old homeworks. I looked over all the powerpoint slides. I reviewed my own notes. I feel like I have exhausted what I can do now. All I have left is to watch movies and write my blog.

Yes, long time no see, blogging world. I have been on hiatus, for no reason at all. I guess I should quickly recap my life from where I left off before I write my next blog about my adventures in Norway.

So I left you in Porto. Well, after Porto I visited Erica and Iona in Madrid where they both have been studying for the past semester. Finally, a little CCC love, I missed it, although have not been to any concerts still.

We explored Madrid, ate some long craved for (by Hillary) southern food at a restaurant called Gumbo, clubbed a little, went to a quiz night in an American haven and retired into the sun in Retiro. While I really enjoyed seeing my Cornell friends, I just wanted to be back in Santander. I wanted my own room with my own bed. I had been travelling for 3 weeks now and was just tired. I always seem to need a vacation from my vacations.

Back in Santander I had work to catch up on. More prelims and problem sets than I really wanted, but put my nose to the grind so we could host a Chili Fest of our own later that week for our Italian friends. I have gotten pretty good at corn bread and we have experimented a little with some chilis. We had our good old original beef recipe accompanied by a pork and beer chili and my personal favorite, a white bean chicken chili.

More Italian food and problem sets followed in the weeks to come. I eventually met with Ferrovial, my summer employer. The interview was really just a “What are you looking for?” type of deal, nothing to be too worried about. I will be working on the Historical Archive of Euskadi building in Bilbao for six weeks, although I still haven’t heard anything from them and am supposed to begin next Monday.

I then had finals. I took four tests in the week and a half leading up to my trip to Norway, notably two of them being for Coastal Engineering. Yes, I had my second prelim two days before my final. How are you supposed to know what you are doing incorrectly when you have barely just been tested. Oh well, turns out I passed that class.

What was really great was that before two of my afternoon finals I got to go see prehistoric art in the Cantabrian countryside for several hours in the morning. While my peers were studying, I was in a Land Rover sick to my stomach navigating steep hills and cow pies to see a few rock carvings. This happened two Fridays in a row. Great. Sad thing is, these carvings will be around longer than anything I will ever design. Ugh.

Probably one of the most interesting things I have done between Porto and Norway was that I tried surfing. A few of my Italian friends knew this place we could rent boards and suits for 10 euros for the day over at Somo Beach so the Sunday before I headed off to the fjords I caught the ferry and a few waves. While I wasn’t outstanding, I was pleased that I got up a few times, especially since the Italians gave me a five minute lesson before I entered the water. I was sore and felt like I ate a pound of salt afterwards, but it was amazing to think that I would start the week off hanging ten in the Atlantic and end it at the edge of Trolltunga jutting into the Norwegian fjords. But more on that later.

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