Just one more week in China!!

At the end of April I was sad because the year at Drake was almost over, then I keep my international experience abroad one more month with a Drake Summer Seminar in China, then I applied for a two month program with IES Beijing & Chengde and now: FIVE MORE DAYS and this course is over too.
Why does time fly? Why the summer was so great and fast? It was like yesterday when I was doing all the applications, applying for a visa at the China Embassy in Chicago, moving out of Carpenter Hall. But now, it isn't May 16th.
It is already August 6th. I have travel all over China, I have met many Americans and Chinese people, I have learned Chinese, I have improved my English, I have read some books, I have visited almost everything in Shanghai and Beijing, I have taken thousands of pictures, I have taken calligraphy classes, I have gone to a Chinese soccer game, I have gone to a Beijing Opera, I have lived with a Chinese family, I have gone to the coolest place in the world: Tibet, and I have missed Drake family a lot. I have learned so much this summer!!
And yes I'm Spanish, as it appears written in the Chinese calligraphy in the picture, 西班牙人: xībānyá rén, and I miss my family, friends and home, but this have been the year of the opportunities and the year of my dreams and I don't want to say goodbye to it.
I don't like goodbyes and I'm next to another one. But at least on Saturday morning (Chinese time), I'm going to take three planes and arrived 24 hours later and with a 13-hour difference in Des Moines and see all of you again. I can't wait to share stories, go to Kansas City, walk around Drake campus, go to Drake Dinner, go to Mars Cafe, go to an Iowa Cubs game, visit the Iowa State Fair, etc.

A year at Drake in pictures

Dinner at president's houseDrake choir concertBen & Jerry on campus

Prudence's birthday party

First snow at Drake

Apples & Caramel at Carpenter

Halloween party with friends from Spain at Drake!! :)

Cowboys party

Trip to Madison County Bridges

ISA nightBasketball game at Knapp Center! Let's go Bulldogs!

Yolanda, Marion, Andrea, and Muna in a basketball game

At Carpenter bridge going for a floor dinner

With Shilpa, Daphne and Prudence playing with the snow

With Spike

Barack Obama in downtown Des Moines

Going for the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert

ISA formal!!

With Emrah, Miryam and a bulldog

With Megan and Fiona at the foam party

With Laura at street painting

Miryam's birthday at Mars Cafe

Playing with refugees

Next to the library

Surprise goodbye dinner!! thank youu!

Las coffee at Mars Cafe

With Emrah, Fiona, Miryam and Christen.

With Jason, Christy and Christen in Pella.

With Pooja, Angel and Isabelle in a party.

With Fiona and Ling Ling at Carpenter Dorm.

Spanish coffee with my DULAP students: Jasmine, Marisa and Sherly

Last morning at Drake with an American flag signed by all my friends.

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

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