Last trip until China

Yes, I made another trip this past weekend. I went to Maryland to see another friend and her family that I didn't see since 2001.
In this case, she is studying at Maryland University, so I visited her campus, Baltimore and Washington D.C. It was amazing although it was raining all the time.
I arrived on Friday night after a flight from Des Moines to Minneapolis and then D.C. My friend went to the airport and we were talking for a long time.
On Saturday, I went with her to serve lunch at a homeless shelter that is for women and their children. It was sad to see the children and her mums without anything. The worst part was when the sock of a 3-year boy got wet and he didn't have other socks to wear. It is diffult to understand why people have so many children (in some cases four) when they can mantain them, but I cannot judge them because I have no say in it.

Afterwards, I went sailing for the first time in my life in the Baltimore harbor. I don't know how to describe it because at the begining the boat was moving a lot but then, I really enjoyed it.
We left Baltimore and we decided to go to D.C. We walked around the war memorials for more than three hours. So, we were very wet and tired after a great but rainy day.

Some children

Sailing

Baltimore

American flags next to the Washington Memorial

Donna and I

Bulldogs are ready

We are getting ready to Relays. All the campus was decorated yesterday with pretty painted Bulldogs! I love them!
Yesterday it was also Blitz Day on campus. From 4 to 7 p.m. there was a picnic buffet and Olmsted Center was full of people.
They were also taking a picture of some students with Spike to send it to a Drake alumni 98, Zach Johnson, who won the Augusta National Golf Club.

Sodexho's Bulldog

Senate's Bulldog

My favorite Bulldog

With some friends

Having fun before the picnic

Playing with a friend

Snowing again

The bad weather has came to visit us. Yesterday the weather was bad and today when I woke up I saw that it was very white, I went to the window and I saw snow and more snow... I am tired of this weather, I want sunny days to walk around the campus with my friends and enjoy barbeques, games or just the walks from my dorm to Meredith.
Monday and Tuesday were crazy. I was working on my magazine, designing some features and departments pages. I spent a lot of hours working on it, but I am not very happy with the features pages I did. I will wait until Monday when my professor will give them back to me.
In Honors class I wrote a paper about a photographer from National Geographic magazine, called Michael Nichols.
I am working on my final paper for this class, it is a 25 page paper and I am going to write about the Prestige, a natural catastrophe that happened in Spain years ago.

Snowing again

First Spring BBQ

On Sunday I went to a barbeque organized by the Rainbow Union at the CAYA (Come as you are) house. This was the first BBQ in a long time, probably the last one I to went was in September.
There were a lot of people and Rachel was grilling hot dogs, hamburgers and ribs. The weather outside was cold so we stayed inside most of the time.
I was there just for two hours because I had a lot of homework, so around 3 p.m. I wen to the library to finish a paper for my Honors class and then I went to Meredith to finish a web page about Mars Cafe for my JMC 59 class.

CAYA house

Rachel cooking

ISA Formal

On Friday I went to the ISA Formal (International Student Association).
I met with my friends at Olmsted Center and we went by limo to a hotel Downtown Des Moines to have dinner and dance.
We arrived at the hotel around 8 p.m. and the dinner was ready to start. We ate salad, beef or chicken, chocolate cake and coffee. The best surprise was that there was bread! Like Spanish bread that I miss a lot!
When the dinner finished they gave some awards and I won the last one, probably the funniest, called "I is international student of the year." Ok, my English is not perfect but people understand me and I understand them, so we can talk and have conversations! It was very funny, because one of my friends support a campaign for me and I won.
One of my friends won "The best Malaysian student of the year," my RA won another one also, etc..
Then, the dance started and we had so much fun. I really liked it because we were around 120 people from countries all over the world and I know most of them.

Meeting in Olmsted

Inside the limo

People from my table and other internationals

My award: "My little elephant"

With "The Malaysian student of the year"

Dancing

Class papers, projects, etc.

And how are the things going at class? I think they are going really well. I love my classes this semester.
The classes are harder this semester than last one but I think I can do it and pass all of them before I go to China!
Just 42 days to go to China and less to finish this great academic year (I am sad every time I think about it).
At JMC 98 I have to do a web page with a classmate with the stories my other classmates have written about the topic "Working in Iowa." I also have to visit the "Des Moines Register" and write a paper about the work of the web editor. This is my favorite class and I really like the things we have done with professor Richardson.
At JMC 59 I have to design a web page about the same topic I took the pictures before (Mars Cafe). I started it this morning and I have to finish by Monday, April 9th.
At JMC 119, we are working in the design of our magazines, working with InDesign and doiing the Business Plan. This class is really hard for me because it is very specific and I did not have any other magazine class before.
At Honors 84 I have to finish a paper of 5-6 pages about Ansel Adams or other photographers works, I have to read a book and I have to work on my final paper (25 pages) about the Prestige Catastrophe that happened in Spain some years ago.
So I am busy during these last weeks but I am going to spend time with friends, around campus and doing homework.
This Friday is the ISA (International Student Association) Formal. And this is what is going on: "Start the evening with a limousine ride to the hotel located in downtown Des Moines and enjoy great food, music and much more..."

Mars Cafe web page outline- Boceto para la página web de Mars Cafe

Time for friends

This weekend was just great. I went to Maryland to see some friends that I did not see since 2001. I was in the United States, at Westlake High School with an exchange program and I met really nice people.
Now, six years later I saw them again. I left on Thursday because I did not have class and I was there until yesterday.
I visited Ocean City, Salisbury, Berlin (not Germany!) and I saw a lot of American houses. I love being in a car and just see the landscape because it is so different from Spain.
I really miss the Ocean in Iowa, so this weekend I was close to it and I ate some seafood and homemade food. Now I have to say that I like American food.
On Friday I spent almost all the day doing homework while my friends were working. Then I have dinner with them. On Saturday I visited Ocean City and Berlin. And Sunday was time to come back to Drake.

With Brenda- Con Brenda

Ocean City I

Ocean City II

Ocean City III

Ocean City IV