Hola from Madrid,

After traveling nearly 18 hours, we arrived in Madrid without any problems. Luckily, I was able to sleep on the red eye from Atlanta thanks to a Dramamine and a really boring movie. We spent almost 5 hours in the Paris airport until our connecting flight, and wow, were we tired. Needless to say, I slept very well last night!

Today, we spent the morning in Toledo, which is about 70 minutes from Madrid. Toledo is a beautiful old city that is very hilly with very narrow streets. It´s known for being the workplace of one of Spain´s most famous artists, El Greco. It also has the second largest cathedral in Spain (it´s BEAUTIFUL!). Toledo also used to be the home of many Jews, Christains, and Muslims who lived peacefully until the Spanish Inquisition forced the Jews and Muslims out of Spain or made them convert to Christanity. So, we also visited the oldest synogogue in all of Spain, even though there is only one Jewish family left in Toledo.

We returned to Madrid for a free afternoon and evening. So, my new friends and I ate a yummy lunch before braving the metro. We took a tour of the Real Madrid soccer stadium, and wow, was it a tour! We saw everything from the stadium to the dressing rooms! It was awesome. Then, we went to the Parque Retiro which is just like Central Park in New York. We ate some tortilla espanola and walked around for awhile.

It´s now 11:03 in the evening, so I´m going to go out for sangria and retire for the evening. Tomorrow we´re going to all the art museums, and then I found the theater for the Spanish National Ballet. The tickets cost 20 euros ($28), so we think it´s worth it to see the show.

Un beso a todos!

BBQ / Last Weekend

This was my last weekend here in Athens before departing to Spain in three days! I spent Friday working on my first assignment for a class I didn't even know I was taking (Methods in Teaching Spanish...boring!). I was suppose to write a self-assessment of myself in Spanish and then read a chapter in a book that I used when I was a senior in college. I then made Andy's favorite meal of crab cakes, onion potatoes, and then chocolate chip pecan pie. Yum!

Saturday, Sampras got a deshedding bath, and we bought a VERY expensive deshedding brush. This gets rid of his undercoat which makes him extremely hot in the summer. Also, when we would run our fingers on his back, we'd always end up with handfuls of black fur. Therefore, we felt as though this was a good investment, especially since Sammy's spending the rest of the summer with both sets of his grandparents who might not appreciate black fur balls everywhere!

Today, we hosted our Summer BBQ / Farewell to Betsy & Sampras (see the pictures below). There were probably 15 - 20 people here, including some of our friends from Atlanta and the dog park. In fact, we invited our dog park friends' dogs to come over as well, so we had a total of 7 dogs here in our little tiny duplex. We grilled out hamburgers, hot dogs, and veggie burgers along with chips, fruit, cookies, and sodas (we are too poor to provide sodas). The doggies all behaved very well, swam in the baby pool in the backyard, and played with Sampras' toys. It was great seeing everyone before I leave! Also, it forced me to clean the apartment which made Andy VERY happy!!!

My mom's down here now (she came towards the end of the BBQ), and she's going to help me pack tomorrow and hopefully buy me some last minute essentials. She was more excited to see Sampras than Andy and me!

New Pictures of Sampras

Andy and I just spent a really nice weekend together. Saturday, we went to Atlanta and saw a fabulous new singer named Mika at Center Stage. If you've never heard of Mika's music, go to http://www.myspace.com/mikamyspace. He was full of energy, put on a great show, and has an incredible falsetto. This was only his second concert ever in the US (he's only playing three dates in the US), and we were so lucky to see him cheaply and at a small venue before he gets huge, which I know he will!

Today, we slept in and took Sampras swimming in the afternoon. We think that's his favorite summer activity since it's so hot outside. We loves playing fetch, eating the grass, and chasing after the birdies. You can view the latest pictures of Sampras at home, at the dog park, and swimming.

Lastly, I went shopping and bought some new cool clothes for Spain. I am worried that I'm going to be VERY hot in Salamanca this summer. Last summer, there was a fluke African heat wave that made everyone miserable. Most places don't have air conditioning like we are used to here. Hopefully, with my new clothes, I'll stay comfortable!

2 Weeks and Counting!!!

T-minus 2 weeks and counting before I board my plane to Spain. Actually, I'm boarding my plane to Paris because the geniuses that be decided we should take the red-eye to Paris (leaving Atlanta at 9:00 pm and arriving at something like 8:00 am), spend 4 hours in the Paris airport before flying to Madrid. This means that we'll arrive to Madrid at 5:30 pm the next day. This sucks!!! There are direct flights to Madrid from Atlanta, so I don't quite get our little detour. I can't imagine how tired I'm going to be when I arrive in Madrid because I don't sleep very easily on planes. I suppose I'll have to double-up on sleeping pills or something like that.

I've bought some new clothes for Spain that don't require a lot of care (meaning no ironing, easy to pack, etc.) Thanks to my friend Lisa Fox who designs fabulous jewelry (www.lisafoxdesigns.com), I have fun new necklaces too. Finally, and most importantly, I have some new shoes that will support my various walking endeavors throughout the country. I have to admit that my new Borne flip-flops (or are they sandals?) are probably the most comfortable and supportive open-toe shoes that I've ever worn. I also invested in some new (expensive!) walking shoes that I will be wearing in Spain as I continue my training for the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk (http://www.the3day.org/atlanta07/betsyalpert). By the way, props to Dick's Sporting Goods for giving me a 20% off discount on these shoes in support of The 3-Day (http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/home/index.jsp).

Lastly, I hope you enjoy the mini-slideshow that I put up a few minutes ago. It was a test for me to be able to publish my pictures in Spain without having to spend too much time figuring it out.

Test of photos

Exactly 3 weeks from today, I will be leaving for Salamanca, Spain!!! I can’t believe that the time is almost here for me to begin my summer abroad adventure, and I am very excited about this.

How did I get here? I remember sitting in my office in October, and Greg Barfield, my former department head at Kennesaw Mountain High School called to say hi to me. When he asked about how my classes were going, I complained that my two Spanish literature classes were very challenging, and I didn’t like them very much. He told me to look into a Spanish study abroad program for graduate students, and I was unaware that those even existed. After much searching, I found my program through Augusta State University. Seriously, they are one of the only universities that have a master’s program specifically for Spanish teachers. The best part is that they actually offer classes that Spanish teachers are interested in taking, like how to teach Spanish culture and a complete overview of Spanish grammar and problems that foreigners have with Spanish grammar (those classes might not sound too exciting for most people, but they do for me!). Since UGA only offers Master’s Spanish classes in either literature or linguistics, this is why I am so grateful that there are other programs out there that offer what I want.

Most people want to know how I can leave Andy and Sampras for the summer. Andy has an internship in Norcross, GA (a suburb of Atlanta) for the summer. I think he’s doing data analysis in the finance department for a company called Rock-Tenn. Because we live over 50 miles from Norcross and the traffic sucks, Andy’s been spending the week with our friend Kirk in Stone Mountain (only 14 miles away). Therefore, because I don’t see him during the week anyway, I don’t feel guilty about leaving him. He’s busy with his own work, plus we’ll be able to talk and email each other. Additionally, he’s coming to visit me for a week, and this will be his first time in Europe! Sampras is another story. I feel so guilty and sad about leaving my baby for six weeks. Sampras is going to spend the rest of the summer at my parents’ and in-laws’ houses in Cincinnati. I know that my family loves and adores Sammy, but he’s still MY baby, and he won’t understand why his mommy and daddy have abandoned him. (BTW, my 12 pound baby has morphed into a full-grown 77 pound big boy!)

As I stated earlier, I only have 3 weeks to get all my stuff together. I haven’t even begun to do this yet, and I probably won’t until a few days beforehand. Luckily my mom is coming down on Sunday, June 24 to help me pack and hopefully buy me the little things that I am lacking. Unfortunately, I am just allowed to take one suitcase that can only weigh 50 pounds (along with one carry-on and a purse). Perhaps this will be good so that I don’t overpack (like I did when I went to Mexico!). Also, since it’s the summer, my clothes won’t weigh as much as winter clothes.

Lastly, if you want to learn more about Salamanca (the city where I will be studying), check out some of the websites that are on my blog.

Until then, Happy June! (And Happy Birthday Jen G!)