out and about

well, i should be prepping for a presentation, but i'll get to it... i'm giving a little speel on pablo neruda's "verbo" - i don't think it's one of his best, but it was preselected, and i wanted to do neruda. i'm going to the alpujarras for the 2nd time this weekend- a smaller mountain range that leads into the sierra nevada. hiking will be fun, and afterward i'm going to a bullfight for the first time. thought i would check one out- to see the world-renowned spectacle and the customs surrounding it, but i'm not sure if i will stay long. it will be disturbing. i have to take a language proficiency exam called the "DELE", similar to the TOEFL in the US, but of course in spanish. not so sure if i will pass, it would be nice though. the test is comprised of oral, listening, written, and bubble filling sections and is about 3 hours long. i have a practice tomorrow and the actual test is may 11th. we have the 30th of april and the 1st of may off from school, so i decided to go to ireland with a friend. we found decently priced airline tickets and jumped the bandwagon. i heard it's absolutely beautiful there. nothing much else is going on on my end except running into some creepy guys on the streets. you would think there would be an age limit on pursuers, but no. i'm trying to put together some travels for when i finish school. in the cards- italy, portugal, england, scotland, serbia/bosnia, greece and germany. i'll probably end up going to 2 or 3 places. my return flight from madrid is the 15th of june and i finish school may 24th. i've mostly been taking sm. side trips in spain or exploring granada. morocco was the first time out of the country. i have a lot of friends that travel during the weekends, but it's only 3 days and to spend the money for transportation- might as well stay there for longer and really experience wherever it is you are traveling to. i repeatedly am being told that greece is the most beautiful place- however, i might have to wait for that one and make a separate trip. plane tickets are ridiculous, but once you are there it's reasonable. we'll see... well, cheers! wish me luck on my presentation and exam studying- i'm definately lacking on the studying bit...