Sevilla, Espana

I just looked at the calendar and realized I have 6 weeks left in school over here and only 10 weeks until I leave back to the States. I have been here for 8 weeks now and feel like I am fairly adjusted to life over here. It will be really weird going back to the states for so many reasons. Living in Sevilla feels like home now and I really love this city. I definitely prefer New Mexico State's campus over Universidad de Pablo de Olavide (UPO). While the campus is nice, since it is a newer college and Spain's economy is so bad, as a whole, the country cannot compete with USA's college facilities. The campus here is not as nice as Las Cruces and the infrastructure is definitely not as good. Although these are downsides, some upsides are that classes are smaller and the professors care more. This has made me a lot more involved with my education, a motivation I really needed. 

I just set my schedule for all of my classes in Spring 2016. Looking at it now it freaks me out a little bit. My schedule this semester includes: Spanish 201 (language), Spanish 315 (culture), and Chem 210 (Organic Chemistry). My classes have been fairly easy so far. I think this can be attributed to many reasons. The different dynamic between the professor and students is one. The professors here are very clear when it comes to instructions. They are also very interactive in their teaching styles, which has always been something that helps such an impatient learner as me. Also having such small class sizes has allowed for more questions and further clarifications from the professors. Because I never took any Spanish classes back in the US, it's hard to compare the level of difficulty of courses. The level of difficulty for my course in Spain, in comparison to my regular course load, is incredibly easy. Now that I have exhausted all of my elective and general education course credits, I will be taking pure engineering courses for the remainder of my undergrad degree. It will be challenging, but I made this decision consciously before coming here. I don't regret it at all. 

I have been writing a lot of music in my free time and can't wait to share it with everyone when I get back to the states. I am currently working on putting together a show with my friends that I played with last time. "The Temps" are looking to make a comeback in late January but this is all speculation at the moment. I have been experimenting with the way that I write songs and my process is really starting to take shape. I am also looking for new music to listen to so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!!

Not much else to say other than I miss everyone! While I love it here a lot and feel like this is my home, Las Cruces will always be home to me. If anyone wants to shoot me a message on Facebook it would be greatly appreciated. Hope everyone is having an amazing week!

- Ryan