Waseca County Pioneer
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Waseca, MN

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Trip to Rome brings special blessing

For all of you wondering, yes I did end up seeing the pope; it was a story to tell for a lifetime.  Even though it was quite cold, we stayed for an hour and a half so that we could be blessed. So yeah, not to brag, but I’ve been blessed by the pope. 
Anyway, it’s reached a point in the academic semester where finals are approaching, so now I actually have to apply myself to my classes. This whole semester has been pretty easy because the Spanish way of teaching doesn’t really emphasize homework; instead the grades are mainly based on midterms and finals. Sadly, most of my classes have finals that include a presentation and then a separate exam as well. I can work with this, though, since I have a fair amount of free time when I’m not traveling, or being blessed, or visiting castles. 
One distraction has been a super cute, almost “fatally” adorable yellow lab puppy that one of the teachers here brought in because she’s training it to become a service dog. She let us pet it before and after–but not during–her class, since it’s “working” during instruction time. Sadly, she’s not my teacher so I didn’t witness its charming antics; I’m told the puppy rolled around on the floor and napped during class so I am disappointed I wasn’t there to see it.
There is a giant “elephant” in our classes: it’s a little less than four weeks until our stay is over. Before, I was ready to go home and take a long shower, sleep in my own bed, and pet my doggies. Now, I realize how much I am going to miss Madrid: It’s a great city, and I have come to love it. No offense, Minneapolis, but Madrid is a lot better. Minneapolis has a more beautiful skyline, but that’s it’s only advantage over Madrid as far as I’m concerned. I’ve probably said all this before, so I won’t get into it here. 
Even though it’s exhausting, I’m going to miss traveling to all the places with exotic names. This weekend I’m heading to Barcelona for a couple of days to enjoy the warm weather and see the Sagrada Familia. The weekend after, I’m going to go to Bilbao (northern Spain) and San Sebastian, which my host mom says is her favorite city in Spain, so I’m truly excited. 
For now I’m focusing on Barcelona, though: the region is trying to gain independence from Spain. In case some of you don’t know, a majority of Barcelona is Catalan and speaks Catalan (similar to Spanish but NOT the same - good luck trying to tell them it is) and doesn’t actually want to be associated with Spain. Spanish news is very interesting; they include quite a bit of information about the United States. My host mom claims it’s because Spain is pretty small, and doesn’t generate that much news of its own. 
My Determination:” Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. No doubt, no doubt, no doubt.” - Jake Peralta, 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine.'

 

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