Luis and I traveled some 2800 miles across the country in five days. Turns out this is a big danged country. I kept a diary of landmark cities and times we went through them, but it's buried somewhere amid the mess of the car. Perhaps I'll chart it out when I get home to Montana...
On Monday morning we drove the four hours from Fargo, North Dakota to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where we met and stayed over with old friends. I got to spend the afternoon with one of my best friends from high school, Jeff. On Tuesday morning we set out for another long drive, this time landing in East Lansing, Michigan. We had drinks with friends, and the following morning we visited Michigan State to see some of Luis' old professors and colleagues. On Wednesday we headed North through Canada for a few hours, eventually crossing back into the United States at Niagara Falls. We stopped for a bit at the falls to enjoy the view. That night we stayed over in Buffalo, New York. Road worn and exhausted, we arrived in Stoneham, Massachusetts in the evening on Thursday.
We had an enjoyable drive, save the torrential rainfall we drove through on Tuesday and the staggering gas prices we paid along the way. We've had a couple of evening to recuperate, and this afternoon we begin the next leg of our trip - in a few hours we'll board a plane to Madrid, Spain.
My grand plan to learn some conversational Spanish was thwarted by the necessity to write several papers, followed by finals week. Pretty much I can say "Hi, my name is Mandi," "Nice to meet you," "I work at a hospital," (which of course, I don't - but it's as close as my limited vocabulary can get to the truth), and "How are you?" I can also count, for good measure. Just in case someone urgently needs an American to count as many as twenty of something. Ah, well. Luis can translate relatively well, so at least I have some way of communicating. His nephew Jonathan (pronounced yo-na-TAHN, so I'm told), whom we're staying with in Madrid, doesn't speak any English.
And according to Luis, I will be called MAHN-dee. I guess Spanish doesn't include "'a' as in cat."
Stories, photos, etcetera to follow upon my return to the states.
(Unrelated to travel but exciting nonetheless, I got a 4.0 this semester. I rule.)
1 comment:
4.0 you do rule. Congrats, that is worth celebrating. I didnt know you were off to Spain until Apryle mentioned that. Had I know we could have practiced some espanol and you could have added all the swear words to your vocabulary.
Steve
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