Nov 17th - Nov 23rd

Almost to 100, days away from home that is! Today the 23rd marks the 97th day gone by since leaving in August. I am glad to report that things are still good. Last week went by and things are about the same. Things are still picking up at school, with the end of the semester approaching the projects and practical assignments are starting to pile up. So far I have stayed ahead of the curve and have been stressed or kept up working too late on anything. This week I have another Marketing presentation, luckily I don't have to stand up and speak in front of the class, but my group met for a couple of hours today to put it together and get it all sorted out before tomorrow's deadline. In my Macro-Econ class I have another practical to do by Wednesday, and a project to start for my Fundamentals of Business class. Not really looking forward to the Fundamentals of Business project because it is with all first year students and they are just getting into the swing of things, but luckily i have too really good group members that are motivated, and one who is a complete bum but I guess I will find a way to deal with him somehow or other.

The weekend was pretty good and mellow. My friends Marc, who I studied at ASU with, and I went to dinner on Thursday night at an Indian restaurant near my house; and then Friday I met up with Marc, Javier (one of the guys we went to Oktoberfest with), Enrique (a friend of Marc and Javier's from High-school who happens to be one of my classmates), and Joaquin (another friend of Marc, and Javier's from High-school) to go out to dinner and then out to a discotecha. Joaquin and Enrique did not end up going to the Disco with us, but we met up with Ismael (another one of the Hooligans from Oktoberfest) and went to a club called, Lemon, because one of Ismael's was celebrating her birthday there. We stayed at the disco till about 7 am, and I was promptly woken up at 11am by some protesting Farmers near my house who had their loudspeakers out in full force; and the news helicopters seemed like they were circling right over my building! Saturday was relatively mellow, read my book around the house cooked some lunch up for me and my roommate and watched a soccer match. I was going to stay in and relax on Saturday night but Marc and Javier said they were gonna hang out and watch a series called How I Met You Mother and wanted to know if I wanted to join, so I ended up going to Marc's house to hang with them. It takes me about an hour to get out to Marc's folks house, I have to change Metro lines, go to the end of the line I change too, and then catch a bus that takes about 35 minutes to make it to Las Rozas. Marc and his parents had invited me to go watch the movie 2012 with them on Sunday, so Saturday night instead of making the late long journey back home I stayed the night and spent the day with Marc and his parents on Sunday. Marc's dad, also Javier, made a great homemade Lasagna and Caesar salad for lunch and then we went to the movies. I was not crazy about the movie but it was fun to go to it with them, and a good way to practice my Spanish because the whole movie was dubbed over into Spanish.

Well, kind of a scatter brained Post, but there ya go, my week in a nut shell unedited!...I hope that this finds everyone doing well, and that everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

Much Love Always,

Phil

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!