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Sorry I haven´t updated in a while.

Alright...well the Thanksgiving dinner we had went really well, although my pie wasn´t exactly the success we were all hoping it would be. Maybe it just didn´t have the right look. Well, you be the judge. Here´s the final product. Mmmm, and here´s me barbarically ripping into a slice.

What else? It´s been a while since I´ve updated...I´m just trying to think about what all´s happened.

Let me just try and recall the week. Ok, I´ll start with the dinner on Thursday. We all brought something. At first, I didn´t think there was going to be enough food, but as it turned out, I ate until I was full, as did everyone who wanted to. We ate at this restaurant/bar that was entirely too small. The desserts alone took up nearly the entire table space we had available for ALL the food. We had to move them into another room just to fit the dinner foods.

The Friday after was spent being gloriously lazy. I hung out all weekend in Santander with my American crew and ended up saying goodbye for what will probably be the last time to a lot of locals I´ve met. It´s a little sad saying goodbyes. I guess it always will be, especially since there´s a 99% chance I won´t see these people ever again in my life.

Also, I´ve finally had a decent amount of homework this week. A paper was due, along with studying for final exams. Still, it´s pretty mild compared to everything I´ve ever done back home. But there´s not too much left here for me...2 easy finals. After that, I´m outta here. Thursday night will be my last day here in Santander. Sad, but I´m ready to come home. Now, understand something, when I leave here, I´m not going straight home. No, no, no. I´m leaving for Ireland on Friday, where I will actually arrive on Saturday (I´m flying to Stansted in London, and from there, after a long airport wait, it´s off to Dublin). So, when you wake up on Saturday, know this...I´ll be in Dublin.

Now my plans in Ireland are as follows:
I´m going to Dublin for 4 days, Galway for 3, and Cork for 2, more or less. I am super super SUPER excited about this. The downside is that I´m traveling alone. I´ll actually have the chance to meet up for one day with a guy I´ve met here in Santander, but other than that, I´m going to have to rely on my ability to spark conversation to meet random strangers. But that just might be the fun of it. How strange will that be though that I´ll be in Ireland, knowing that I know no one in the entire nation. Lonely thought.

Well, after that, I´m actually flying back into the Santander airport, just to fly out again the same day to Frankfurt...and the next day, fly into Vienna, Austria to spend a week there with Justin Eckley and Nolan Roberts, two guys I´ve lived with for 2 years at the Antioch house. Then it´s back home...for good. There´s no studying abroad in France for me this year. No money for it. But I´m confident I´ll get to go there one of these days.

So that´s about it. Oh! They´ve turned the city´s Christmas light decorations on finally! They do a pretty good job, but I miss the front lawns with 80 lit up raindeer and the icicle lights that hang from gutters. I also miss all those crazy houses that have no color scheme whatsoever where any and every christmas light that can be found has been strung up...like our house. Yep, I miss that too. Here´s some pictures of the big tree they have lit up right outside where I live.

Plaza Tree 1
Plaza Tree 2

Last night, I took a break from writing an essay and played a hour of soccer with some guys at the university. It was fun. Cold, but fun. I´m realizing now that all the stairs I´ve been walking to and from school every day do not equate into being in running shape, which I am not currently in. Plus, I´m not to good with a soccer ball. Oh well, it was fun though. Got a few shots of us too.

Alex, Manuele (my Italian friend) and I
Me, Juan Carlos, Marco and Coki

Final thought...with December upon us, I invested some euros in a warm jacket. Good thing too, cause it just got COLD over here. From what I´ve been told, the Willamette Valley´s not so warm at the moment either.

K, I miss you all. 21 days until I´m home. See you then!