May 12th - May 17th

The last half of the week seems to be a bit of a blur...Needless to say it was uneventful for the most part. Wednesday I think I hung around the house and attempted to get some homework done to no avail. You know when you reach that point where the end is around the corner yet there is not motivation to get the work done that needs to be done, well that was my Wednesday. The assignments were not due until Thursday so Wednesday was just another day to put things off! I did however get a run in and relax a bit which was good.

Thursday was the day to get down to business. Rested up, as in slept in to my liking, and then met up with Bruno from my Financial Systems class to write a paper for the class. We wrote a paper on the Monetary Policy of the European Union. It was semi-interesting, but a bit tough because it had to be turned in in Spanish. After wrapping up with that term paper it was time to get the final assignment of the semester finished. There is no better motivation than procrastination! OK so I didn't get started until around 11:00 p.m. but the good news is that I got it taken care of and turned in before Friday afternoon when it was due.

Friday was a review day for classes. My Financial Systems class had a re-cooperation session because the professor had a conference in Boston during the semester, and then I had my last Financial Management class. These classes were great because we went over all that we had learned over the course of the semester, and I actually was relatively confident that I actually knew the material! In Financial Management we went over a final exam from a passed semester which was also very helpful. Not only was it good to get the overview, but it gave us all an idea of what the final exam was going to look like. By the time I got home, I was straight exhausted. I was up too early (around 10:30) and then had 4 hours of tough classes. That evening I met up with Marc and Amy for dinner. We went for Chinese here by the house and then I called it a night. Again, i must be loosing my touch, staying in on a Friday...COME ON!

Saturday I got some chores down around the house...well did some laundry and hung it out to dry. I also got a long run in, and then was off to meet up with Vasco (a Portuguese friend that lives down the street) and a few of his friends. We went to the store, grabbed some stuff for dinner and made a nice meal at home. After dinner we laid low at home, enjoying a few cold beverages and then hit Gran Via to go see what this Fiesta de San Isidro is all about. For all of you that just were thinking, San Isidro, hmmm, he hasn't mentioned that before! Well, I was not really sure what it was until recently myself. San Isidro is the Patron Saint of Madrid, and this weekend there were a bunch of festivals and concerts all over the city and people dressed up. We went out to see what it was all about, and got there a bit after it was done! The city workers were all ready cleaning up, but there were still groups of people hanging out on the carpets that lined all of Gran Via where they had not started cleaning up. Although it was late, Saturday was also mellow and relaxing.

Sunday I slept in to my liking, again around 1:30 or so and made myself a wonderful breakfast of Breakfast Burritos. Not much better than that. A little bit later I went with Rita (the Neighbor) to meet up with Catarina, Rosarinho and friends. We all met up at Mercado de San Miguel to enjoy the sun and some tapas for lunch. Afterwards we went to a little plaza in La Latina and hung out for a while. We came home in the late afternoon, and of course Rafael Nadal was playing Roger Federer in the Madrid Open Final (Nadal, the Spaniard, WON), Real Madrid was playing for the La Liga Title (they LOST, heart breakers this year), and then The Celtics were playing the Magic. Needless to say my afternoon plans to study were gone out the window. It is ok, that is what the week is for right!? After all of the sports events, we had a relaxing dinner at Rita and Carlos's house and then I watched a movie and called it a night.

Well, that brings us all the way until Monday, Today. Hopefully it will be a productive week of studying and running. Speaking of which, I am OUT OF HERE! Beautiful day out, finally the sun has come out in Madrid. I don't know what was going on, we even had HAIL, yes you heard me correctly, HAIL, last week. Hopefully spring/summer is here to stay.

Well, I hope everyone is doing wonderfully.

Much Love Always,

Phil