May Jubilance

The University of Carlos III is quite bleak in the first few weeks of the spring semester, but as the sun and humidity set in full force throughout the season, the flowers bloom and the air is rich with spring. The last two weeks have been filled with end-of-the-semester group projects as well as leisure in the scorching sun.

     Regarding schoolwork, lots of classes here at UC3M are designed to be smooth-sailing for the first few months and then really heavy with essays and presentations at the end. Recently, school went from a walk in the park to consisting of consecutive days jam-packed with group meetings and research in the library. Being an foreigner makes finding a good group for projects difficult, so it’s worth investing some time towards developing relationships with the more dedicated students. I ended up putting together our entire oral exposition for Economic History because the hooligans in my group simply didn’t care enough to put forth an effort (and I’m the one who’s taking the class pass/fail!).

     The following are pictures from some of the best local activities I’ve taken part in: playing tennis at the university, attending the Madrid Open, and going to the amusement park.

TENNIS 101: This is only half the class, but the tennis pro who is standing next to
 me, Alberto, is a really cool guy who constantly teases me about America. 

MADRID OPEN: A Masters tournament is going on this week on the local red clay.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I got to see my favorite tennis player live, and
came to the conclusion that he should really just retire already.

FOX SPORTS CHANNEL: Matt's brother took this picture of us on TV in Australia
 pouting after Hewitt failed to hold serve in the deciding third set.

AMUSEMENT PARK: I spent an afternoon waiting in formidable lines,
but it was worth it to hang out with my two Puerto Rican friends.

PARIS: Well, maybe not quite!