iYa esta!

Nik nire klaseak bukatu ditut. Nik nire etsaminak bukatu ditut. Osteguna ni etxera joango naiz. Hala ere, asteaztea nik maletak prestatuko ditut...


I'm done with classes, I'm done with exams. Thursday I go home. However, I'll pack on Wednesday.



Whew, time flew! Especially finals! Well, it helps that they were all ON THE SAME DAY.


But I think I did well. On all the art tests I have been getting A's, and in Euskara our teacher graded the exams so we could know what we got before we left.

I got a 99 on the midterm, a 98 on the final project, a 96 on the exam, and my final grade was a 97. As Natalia (my teacher) said, "ZORIONAK!" I am not sure what that means, but I think it's congrats or something.

And she was so sweet today, telling us that she cannot say "agur" (goodbye) because she'll get too sad. Instead, she says "gero arte" which is "see you soon."
"Agurrik ez, gero arte baizik!"= No goodbyes, but instead a see you soon!

After she told me my grade, she insisted that I continue with the language because I am so good at it. I would love to, but being in Chicago with 3 people who know basque (the three Loyola students in this program), that won't be very likely. I am sure I will say "Kaixo"(hello) and "ongi"(good) a few times, as well as "neska"(girl) here and there.

I am definitely going to miss Natalia, but I plan to keep in touch by email.


And finally I had my Track/grammar exam, which wasn't too bad. I was actually surprised by how easy it seemed, but we shall see how my grade turns out. Looks like I'll be getting a B in that class, but a high B, which isn't too bad.

Aihnoa (my Track teacher) had chocolates and cookies for us at the test, which was a nice treat. We gave her a card wishing her a good summer and an early congratulations for her baby (she is pregnant, and BIG TIME showing...I think august 3rd is when she will "dar la luz" aka give birth). It's gonna be a boy, and she has a name picked out already, but I can't remember what it is.

But wow. The semester is over. Now I have two full days of nothing until Wednesday evening when I catch a bus to Madrid at 7pm. THEN I am waiting there for 5 hours until my 7am flight, then I am off on my long journey home. I wish the travelling times weren't so cruel.

They just can't get enough...

...pictures of us USAC students!


Last night in Basque cooking the two USAC supervisors took many, MANY pictures. It was unbelievable how many pictures they were taking. We were in the kitchen an hour and a half doing the same thing over and over, but they would just take a bajillion pictures of us doing the same thing.
"oh, here are some students cutting stuff"
"oh, here are some students cutting stuff!"
"here are some more students cutting things."
"here are some students eating things"
"wait, here are some more students eating things!"
"Oh, more students eating things!"



And then they just go ahead and post them online!

Well, I am sure you all would like to see them.

Go here:
http://www.gastronomica.com/
Click on "Eventos"
Then, under Curso Cocina USAC, scroll to where it says "ver mas" aka "see more" and it will show you some more pictures.
To see even MORE pictures, click the part that says "Galeria de fotos" I will let you assume what that means.

ENJOY!

PS, that website is in Spanish, so if you can read it, enjoy! If not...it says some pretty simple stuff. Like, "here are some American people cooking stuff."

Textbooks!

Can I just say that I love European textbooks! They are so cheap! Last semester at Loyola, I spent around $400 on textbooks. Most books were $30 and up; one was around $98. Very typical for college.

Then I come here and look at my textbook list, and the most expensive one is 19 Euros. MOST EXPENSIVE! And a few of the books I don't even have to buy b/c my host mom has them in her house (some of the literature books). Very nice.