It's unlikely that anyone still reads this, but just in case...

I'll update you all.  Apologies for the extreme delay in writing.  It's been over a month since I last posted, and SO MUCH has changed!  I've been having such a great time in Madrid and elsewhere - last weekend I traveled to Amsterdam and several weeks ago I spent a weekend in Sevilla.  

Sevilla was beautiful (see for yourself in the picture).  A river divides the city in two, and my friend Deirdre and I stayed on the quiet side.  It was just a short walk from our hostel across the river to central Sevilla, where we visited an enormous cathedral (the third largest in Europe, I believe) and an old palace where los Reyes Catolicos dispatched Columbus.  We also saw Columbus' tomb, which was pretty amazing, and spent most of the rest of our time wandering through the narrow streets, sipping cups of coffee, and enjoying the warm weather.  It felt like such a vacation.  Sevilla is the 4th largest city in Spain with about 600,000 residents, but it felt like a tiny little town compared to Madrid.  

Around the same time that I went to Sevilla, my computer broke.  It had been acting up for a short while and then one day refused to start.  My brother kindly sent me his laptop to use for a few weeks before I replaced my Dell with a brand new Apple, from which I am writing now, and that I LOVE.  That one computerless week was quite the struggle, but now I'm back in action.  

The week after my trip, my parents came to visit.  It was so great to see them, and though we didn't do too much, I think they enjoyed their trip, too.  We took a bus tour of Madrid, visited El Museo del Prado and the Thyssen museum as well, took a walk through El Parque del Retiro, and ate some delicious tapas.  I was sad to see them go after their relatively short stay, but was back to my normal upbeat self in no time.  It was a true test and, well, I aced it.  I had overcome my homesickness!

After a week of midterms, which were nothing to worry about, my brothers visited.  They reserved a suite in the Melia Santa Ana which was absolutely beautiful.  I slept on the pull-out couch bed every night, so we spent as much time together as possible.  One of the first nights of their stay, we had some of my friends over to the hotel for some drinks before we went out in the city.  It was a very memorable night all around -- everyone had a lot of fun!  The next day, Matt, Phil and I took a long, leisurely walk through Retiro.  It was a gorgeous day, perfect for a stroll.  Another night, we saw a flamenco show at a place called "Casa Patas".

The performers were absolutely amazing.  I can't believe the passion that they all put into each performance.  We left the show in awe, and called it a night.  On Sunday night, Matt and P

hil's last night in Madrid, we sat first row at the Real Madrid vs. Atletico soccer game.  The Madrid rivalry made the game a great show, and it was really exciting to sit so close to all of the action.  I never realized how dramatic soccer players can be, however, until Phil pointed it ou

t.  I think I could take those slight injuries much better than they do.  Still, all of that acting made it fun(ny) and a great time.

Matt and Phil left on Monday morning, so it was back to my apartment for the week!  After so much time eating out (mmmm DELICIOUS FOOD!) it was a pain to have to cook for myself again, but nice to be back in my own bed and with my roommates.  

And last weekend was Amsterdam.  I went with my friend Monica, who goes to Kenyon with an old friend, Ninah, who is Dutch and is studying in Amsterdam for the semester.  The three of us, along with two others from my program and another of their friends from Kenyon, had such a great weekend.  Amsterdam 

is a wonderful city!  The canals and skinny little houses and bicycles made it feel small and quaint.  The weather wasn't so wonderful -- it was COLD and it rained all day on S

aturday -- but we still had a good time wandering around the city.  We visited the Van Gogh museum and the Rijks museum, spent a lot of time hanging around, catching up in Ninah's dorm, and wandered all around the city to a few different markets and shops.  It was so nice to see my ol

d friend, and, again, great to get out of Madrid.  One of the best parts was the food!  Madrid has very little international food but Amsterdam is full of it.  We ate Chinese one night and had pancakes for lunch a different day.  That's right: pancakes for lunch.  I had the tastiest pancake filled with chili and cheese.  It sounds disgusting but I think it was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten.  Halloween came

 and went while we were there, which made me a bit sad (no costume, no trick-or-treating, no candy) but the rest of the weekend made up for it.

This week, so far, has been low key and relaxing.  I am looking forward to spending this upcoming weekend in Madrid, cleaning my room and getting things organized.  The rest of November I am traveling to Scotland, Paris, and then celebrating Thanksgiving with my friend from Brown, Clancey, so it 

should be a VERY exciting month!

Miss you and love you all.  I will try my best to update more regularly!

xoxo Lauren