Reflexionar

Europe can be defined by two C's : Churches and Castles. I'm not complaining. I love both.

The GW Madrid program went to Segovia today, a town in the mountains about an hour and a half away from Madrid and saw just that, churches and castles. As anyone who knows me is aware, I'm not very religious person. But, being in Spain, one of the most Catholic countries in the world, requires you to open yourself to Jesus (pronounced hey - zus) a little. When you're surrounded by statues of the Saints, sky-high altars, and stained glass windows, religion seems a little less contrived, and a little more real. As far as the castles go, they're just pretty darn cool. Moats and everything! Ferdinand and Isabel, if I could hang out with any historical figures, it may just be you two.

Oh, and frolicking in the rain by the castle in the little pueblo today with GW Madrid. Best time so far here. The group is wonderful, and keep your eyes peeled for Jeremy's umbrella routine :)

Una Vida sin Las Citas

You notice a lot of things about your surroundings when you're not running from meeting to meeting to meeting. Last semester, and probably for the past 5 years, most of my days were planned around meetings. Play practice, Exec meetings, Work meetings... Many even joked last semester as to what meeting I had at 2 am.

In the past month, I've had no meetings. (Well, unless you count my meeting with my intercambio student, but I don't consider grabbing coffee and swapping language skills work necessarily).

It's been an odd change and has certainly taken some adjustments. I've had to consciously stop defining my life by meetings, and instead define my days by interest, by my studies, by my relationships with the people around me. Although incredibly liberating, the change has been suffocating at times. Who would've thought that a lack of a schedule would be so confining?

But maybe this easygoing horario is something that Spain's got right. Although Madrid's metro is just as busy, if not busier, than DC's, everyone seems in a little less of a hurry. All I see on the metro are couples! Holding hands! I've never seen so many people in love in one place. Maybe it's because they're not allowed to get divorced, maybe it's because this is Europe, or just maybe it's because they have less meetings.