Baptismo y Palma Mallorca

Hola!
Well, a week from today I will be home! As much as I can't wait to see my family, eat Mexican food (I know, weird), and sleep in my own bed, I also don't want to leave. I also can't believe Joey is graduating in a couple of weeks, which also means I am a junior in college!
This past week has been a good one. I took my huge Spanish final, which I had studied a lot for, and I think I did well. In fact, even if I get an 85% on it, I will be fully content knowing that I know 85% of the irregular verbs in the Spanish language. (If you have studied a foreign language, you know exactly what I am talking about.)
Last Sunday, I had such a neat opportunity, that turned into one of the best days yet with my family. I was invited to go with my family to Claudia and Kay's baptism. Before the ceremony, Fran and I drove to get the cake, which was made by the same lady I took tapas class from back in February. (Small world, even on this side of the world.) After we successfully carried the wedding sized cake up to our 5th floor apartment (and that is just as hard as it sounds), we made our way to the ceremony. It was held in an old Catholic church, complete with all the decorations, stained glass windows, and huge ceilings. Claudia and Kay looked beautiful in their little white outfits, and I was surprised when we arrived that they ran up and kissed me. (man I am gonna miss these kids). The ceremony was short and sweet, and I understood a fair amount of what was being said. Afterwards, the whole family headed to a restaurant for lunch... just imagine 70 people at a restaurant. It was a fun afternoon; we were served a four course meal which took around 5 hours to finish. They really take their time with meals over here. When we were done around 6:00, Claudia and Kay's more immediate family and I headed to a local carnival and the kids rode some rides while we all had coffee. It was such a great day, and I am so lucky to be considered a sister in this family, therefore an aunt to these kids.
The week flew by, probably because it was filled with exams, projects, and of course la playa (the beach). On Friday, Kim, Tessa, and I left for Palma, Mallorca! If you know anything about Spanish geography, we went to one of the three islands to the right of inland Spain. Our flight was only 30 minutes long. Once we arrived in Palma, we took a bus from the airport, and headed to the city to have breakfast. We tried ensaimadas, which are the sweet pastries that Palma is so famous for. We met up with Chris and Quinn, who both had a later flight. It was hot and the beach was gorgeous, so we opted to go straight there. On the way, we ran into a fresh market, so we bought some bread, cheese, and fruit for lunch. The water was crystal clear, and perfect for swimming. We swam REALLY far out, I felt like I was in the middle of the ocean. We ran into random sand bars where we could stand, and then we would hit deep spots. We had a blast swimming, and I never felt like I would get attacked by huge animals because I could see my feet because the water was so clear.
Saturday morning, we went the Cuevas del Drach. We actually rented a car and drove all the way across the island. That definitely went smoother than we figured it would. We went on a tour of these huge caves, which led to an underground lake! There were tons of stalagmites everywhere we turned. When we got to the bottom, we watched a 10 minute classical music concert, played by musicians who were floating in boats on the underground lake. The music sounded beautiful, because we were in caves, and afterwards we actually got to take a 5 minute boat ride across the lake!
Once we were out of the cuevas, we bought another picnic lunch and sat on some benches while to eat. We safely (thanks to Tessa's amazing driving skills... ) made it back to the other side of the island. As soon as Quinn mentioned that we had done great, not got lost, not crashed, etc., we tried to park the car in a spot, on a hill. After nearly crashed 4 times, we ran inside to ask the owner of the hotel to park it for us. We all watched as he banged the front and the back of our precious rental car into the other parked cars, but at least no damage was done. We decided not to press our luck any further, and walked to the beach leaving the car where it was parked for the rest of the day.
Palma was so fun, and I think that might be my favorite little weekend trip we did all semester!