UPDATE! Aren is really alive!

Aren responded to this:

Hello, there . . .

Well, I hope and trust that you are well. Many ask me of your exploits. Alas, I have nothing to report. My nearly constant anticipation for contact from you goes unrequited. My admiration of you is unfailing, yet I will not deny my present disappointment.

May you be richly blessed.

With Love,

Your Father

WITH THIS!

Update: I visited Sevilla (Seville, yes as in The Barber of–) last weekend from Friday night to Sunday morning. It was incredible, í suppose it represents the classical view of Spain with it´s lush trees, river life, traditional Spanish architecture, crazy beautiful bull fight arena, and a long history of the Primavera (springtime) festival. Mozart wrote of the city, what more needs to be said? I tried to dance the Flamenco with no previous experience in a riverside bar that my boy Dan and I went to. It is an intricate dance and beginners don´t look too hot.. but i tried. We were talking to three espanolas who commanded us to dance with them. Good stuff.

Classes are going dandily, we only have a couple days of class left, and we are on a long weekend right now.

We had class on Wednesday and then I left Wednesday night with a group of 9 to Malaga. How beautiful this city is. It´s definitely a beach town and evidently i love Spanish beach towns! Yesterday, the Mediterranean Sea received it´s first visit from me I swam out to a yellow buoy that was pretty far out, and it was the furthest out I have ever been by swim in a large body of salty water. I totally was not prepared for the whole swim, but in the Mediterranean all u gotta do is lean back and breathe and you´ll float. So I chilled and relaxed and used patience, made it back alive, and now I feel like I´ve overcome a little fear of the ocean. Cuz remember I was born with an ocean inside drowning me! (I´m just glad there are no sharks here, I prolly wouldn´t have done it then;). Anyway we proceeded to stay out way too long, and I didn´t apply sunscreen quite enough, so I am a little uncomfortable but it´s not too bad. I got some amazing aloe vera from a pharmacy and have been pumping myself full of water. My back is the only part that is still in pain. It´s all gravy tho.

I am loving loving loving Spain. If i could go home for a while and see everyone i could totally come back for a year or more, which I actually am considering. School got me here and I suppose school can get me back.

I´ve made actual friends in Segovia, and a whole lotta acquaintances. My friends are Alicia, a mother/owner of a bar named 5Letras and her daughter Paula. They are freaking awesome people. Paula speaks English pretty well, so between my Spanish and her English we can get pretty much anything across to each other. They have a farm outside of Segovia, a place in the city where Alicia´s parents live with Paula, and Alicia also works in a hotel just off of the Plaza Mayor where she stays at times. Alicia has offered to put me up for a year if I would want to come back and live, and It´s definitely something I´m considering after school. Also, Paula will be attending a university in Madrid this fall studying International Business, and if I were to advance in my studies I suppose i could go to school in Spain and be taken care of by these very nice ladies for my shortcomings in Spanish and my newness to the country and culture. I´m just throwing all these thoughts around in my head, but I´ve known for a while that I want to study internationally and I´m thinking more and more everyday that Spain is where I´d want to be.

I do miss everyone dearly and I can´t wait to see you. I will be sad the day I have to leave Spain tho! Send everyone my best and feel free to copy and paste this on the boards for me. I will upload more pictures soon.

LOVE, and please don´t be too disappointed, i´ve been traveling a lot the last two weeks and my computer time is super super limited.

Peace,

Aren