Hello family and friends.

I realize that I haven't updated in approximately two months.  I also realize that I am going to come home in just a few weeks* to see all of your faces in person and it's a little late to be trying to salvage things now.  But I told you--I told you--this would happen. I said I was going to forget to update in the very first post.  So don't say I didn't warn you.  Anyway.

March was a busy month.  The second weekend the CIDE program took us on a three-day field trip to Segovia and Madrid.  We saw a castle and an aqueduct in Segovia, had churros and chocolate in Madrid, tried to go out at night in Madrid but discovered that it's actually super lame at night.

The Royal Palace in Madrid with assorted teachers and classmates

A large demonstration we had to walk through, protesting...something?

Terrifying human statue; only the one on the right is a real person

The weekend after that my parents and brother came to visit during their spring break.  They brought me peanut butter, which was glorious, and I gave them a halfhearted tour of the city and used up all two of my good restaurant recommendations.  Then I translated everything very poorly into English for them. I didn't take any pictures while they were here because I know what they looked like.

The next weekend I traveled to Málaga, Córdoba and Sevilla in the south of Spain.  We saw a bunch of castles and Moorish architecture, and some gypsies tried to sell us rosemary and then maybe put a curse on our families when we didn't want it.  So, sorry, family. 

The inside of a Moorish palace turned into a cathedral in Córdoba

Giant koi fighting over bread in the Alcázar gardens

The largest Gothic building in the world;  it's okay I guess

Then, the last weekend, I went to Dublin, which was amazing for several reasons: 1. People in Ireland speak English, which was a nice change of pace. 2. Dublin is really pretty, and it didn't even rain while we were there, except for a little bit while we were inside anyway. 3. We stayed at a really swank hostel where they made us pancakes for breakfast and gave us free tea. 4. Leprechauns.

Statue of Justice, not being blind, at Dublin Castle I think

Campanile at Trinity College

Statue about starving people; something about the Potato Famine

April was equally crazy, in that I was not in Bilbao for a single weekend.  The first weekend I went to visit my friend and future roommate Adrienne who is studying in southern France this semester.  I found my way to her from the airport all by myself and we went on a series of exciting and educational field trips all around Provence.  While I was there, I had two different crepes and brioche, so now I'm pretty sure that means that I never have to go back to France again. 

Bakery.  Obviously

Marquis de Sade

City on a mountain

After that we had one week of classes and then our two week spring break started.  I went with two other people on a whirlwind adventure through Europe which merits a separate blog post, I think.  Long story short we saw a lot of ducks and one dead pope.

Ducks

Pope

That pretty much catches us up to the present, so that is where I will leave it.  I have a super extra bonus album of pictures that I may or may not post on Facebook in the near future, so be on the lookout for that.

*The new official date of my return is May 23rd, in case anyone was keeping track.