So I just finished my intensive Spanish course for the month of September. It consisted of a History and Politics of Spain course, a Spanish Art History Course, and a Spanish Grammar and Composition course. I had all four of these classes four days a week from 9:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. The word intensive does suffice. The last two days, I had to turn in two papers (in Spanish) and take three exams (How's that for cultural immersion, eh?). The Art exam I don't think I did so hot. I didn't fail, but I didn't do great. I'm expecting a grade somewhere in the middle. History and Grammar I think I did really well on. All three of these classes count as one Boston College class or 3 credits. It should count toward part of my Hispanic Studies minor but I need to get approval first. Regular university classes begin on Monday (October 5) and I get to attend as many as I want until I know for sure that I am going to take it. It's kind of interesting seeing how laid back the Spanish culture is compared to the scheduled and stressed out life of an American.

Tonight I'm taking a 9 hour bus ride from Madrid to the port of Algeciras from which I will be taking a ferry across the strait of Gibraltar into Morocco, Africa. I am going to Africa. That is probably one of the coolest sentences I have ever written. I am going to Africa. This is going to be the experience of a lifetime. I will be in Morocco for 4 days with an exchange program. I will be living in a Moroccan home stay and follow the program's itinerary to a number of exotic Moroccan locations. Boston College actually helps pay for half of this program so I am getting a great deal on a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'm diving head first into an extreme culture-shock and I'm ready to take it on.

I will, however, be missing out on the Detroit Tigers final push to make the playoffs, Michigan vs. Michigan State football, and ESPN College Gameday visiting Boston College this weekend, but those things will always be there for me when I return. I'm in Europe now, and I can only live life once. Grab life by the horns.

"Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face, stars fill my dreams / I am a traveler of both time and space, to be where I have been."

The first single off John Mayer's new album Battle Studies was just released and is entitled "Who Says." If you don't know, John is my favorite musical artist right now. I'll start off by telling you the back story to why he is my favorite artist. I used to be a classic rock and blues purist believing that the only good music was made before the year 1990. When John started playing the blues with his Trio, playing licks from Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix, I knew I would like the guy. After listening to his blues I decided to explore his other music. His first two studio albums were standard pop-tunes, but with the complexity of a great musical talent. His third studio album Continuum regenerated the blues in a whole new modernized pop format. Not only is the music phenomenal, but the lyrics are beautiful pieces of poetry. Thanks to John, my musical spectrum has been broadened tremendously and am now listening to and playing all different kinds of music, and I am very grateful. If you want to check out the new single visit http://www.johnmayer.com/whosays

I am very excited to see how John has evolved again as an artist. He has also been blogging throughout the production process of Battle Studies and showing his fans how a record is made and how songs evolve from their conception to the final product. Battle Studies comes out on November 17 and it couldn't be a better release date. It will help provide some extra motivation for me to push my musical creativity as I pursue my goal of an album.

If you don't know, I am a completely self-taught guitarist, and have had no professional training. This is special to me because I learned to play music and express myself on my own. Now the reason I decided to make a record is to push me as a musician. I can play a mean guitar solo, but when it comes to song writing, the past hasn't been so fruitful for me. My goal will push me to better myself not just as a guitarist, but as a musician, and as an artist. I've already started to get deep into learning music theory and the "academics," I guess you could say, of music. It is really exciting when you record a rough demo of one song, and then when you play it back, billions of ideas flow through your head on how to improve on it. This is going to be a fun journey for me. I don't plan on sharing any spoilers with you on the way unlike John, but I will share with you the experience of making the record.

The most exciting part of this is that I am in complete control and I will be doing everything from the mixing and recording to the artwork myself. Who says I can't make a record?

"Who says I can't get stoned / Turn off the lights and the telephone / Me and my house alone / Who says I can't get stoned."

So I just got finished with my class as an English teacher. It was interesting to say the least. I've spoken English all my life but I feel as if I might be able to teach Spanish better. Maybe it's because I was never taught English, and I grew up with it. Anyway, the three children I am teaching are of the ages of 9, 12, and 14. The 14 year old has the best level of English so far than the other two, and the 12 year old has the second best. The 9 year old doesn't really have that much of an English background, so I'm going to have to start from scratch with her. It's interesting because even though I speak English, it tests my technical knowledge of its syntax and grammar. I'm going to have to do some research and make lesson plans and vocabulary lists for the future. It's going to be a little difficult at times, but I think it will be fun.

Their father is really adamant about their children learning English, and I couldn't agree more. After living in Madrid for three and a half weeks my Spanish has improved a good amount. It is so important to learn another language, especially in the globalized world we live in today. I just watched the movie Inglorious Bastards by Quentin Tarantino, and one of the actors spoke English, German, French, and Italian IN THE SAME MOVIE! I am calling it now, Christoph Waltz will win an Oscar for his role. (If you haven't seen the movie yet, do it. It may be gruesome like all of Tarantino's films, but it is one of the best films of the year. Guaranteed.)

Now back to my point. I've fallen in love with the Spanish language and I want my kids to grow up with some form of a Spanish background as well as English. There is one scene in the movie where one of the actresses says, "Don't Americans know any other language besides English?" This made me think. I feel as if Americans (not all, but a large number) have a sort of arrogance about them where they feel they don't need to learn another language while the rest of the world must learn English. It is this cultural insensitivity that absolutely grinds my gears. When you find yourself lost in translation you will realize what you have been missing your whole life as a sheltered American who lives in a bubble, separate from the outside world, only catering to your own personal desires. I didn't mean to offend anyone with this rant, but I do know there is a lot of people out there with this attitude of cultural insensitivity and I want to educate Americans on what the real world is like.

I plan on trying to learn a few more languages before my time on this planet is done. Communication is one of the greatest gifts we as human beings have been blessed with, and I plan on maximizing it to its fullest.

"Do you ever wonder what happens to the words that we send / Do they bend, do they break from the flight that they take / And come back together again with a whole new meaning."

So last night was La Noche en Blanco. This is translated literally as "The Night in White." The meaning behind the the title for this event means "to go through the night without sleep." It is an annual event in Madrid where stores and restaurants stay open all night (until 3 a.m.) with special events and spectacles happening in the streets throughout the city. It was an exhausting night, but great fun. It was just surreal seeing how many people there were scattered about the city. There is nothing that I know of in the United States that can compare to the event last night. It was almost as if every square inch of Madrid was covered in people. We started of the night watching a Cirque de Soleil show of acrobatics, music, and interpretive dance. There were so many events happening in the city we didn't know what to do. After this we walked through the streets checking out all spectacles we passed by. There were jazz and hip-hop concerts, people dancing through the streets, a small marching band, and throngs of people just soaking it all in. It was a great night and the city of Madrid really knows how to throw a party.

In other news, I FOUND A JOB! This is a great opportunity for me. I will be teaching English to three Spanish children for 10 euros an hour. I will be working two days a week and for two hours a day. My weekly salary will be 40 euros per week. This is substantial pay and will help me pay for the full European experience I hope to have. This week is also my final week of my intensive Spanish courses. I have two final essays and three written final exams, and the funny thing is, they all count for only 3 credits (1 class) at BC. This Wednesday is also the first day of Ana's (program coordinator) Spanish Art History class. I have a good idea of what regular classes I want to take, and will probably make my final decision later this week.

"Qué bonita fue esa noche / Me trae recuerdos la noche"

Warning: This will be a very long post because I have a lot to catch up on in my time here in Madrid.

So I'll just be blunt about it. I absolutely love Spain. The country is fabulous, the people are really nice, and the city is world-class. As of right now, I have been living in Madrid for about two weeks. I am living in a homestay with a Madrilenian family and it is wonderful. I have two Spanish "brothers" as well. It feels great to be a part of authentic Spanish culture and family life. Madrid is similar to most world-class cities in the United States, seeing how there is a great diversity of people and it is always busy. The culture isn't that much different from the rest of Western Civilization. I feel very comfortable here and it didn't take very long to adjust to my new lifestyle. There is, however, a difference in their daily schedules. We eat our lunch between 2:30 and 3:00 in the afternoon, and we eat dinner between 9:30 and 11:00 at night. I'm not really hungry for breakfast in the morning at all because I eat so late at night. On the weekends, or on nights when people go out and enjoy the town, they don't usually start going out until 11:00. The busiest time of the night is around 2:00 a.m. I'll be honest with you, I didn't get back to my house until 7:00 a.m. a few times.

European style is somewhat different from the States. Capris on men are very popular (we call them Manpris), as well as the mullet and rat tail hair styles. Generally people "dress up" a bit more here than normal in the U.S. Also, I have not seen very many American cars here. All the cars here are small, economic vehicles. Everytime I do see an American car (generally they are Fords) I get excited. My classes have gone well so far. The month of September for me, at Complutense University, is an intensive Spanish immersion program for students from Boston College, Marquette, and WIP (Wisconsin, Indiana, and Purdue). It's good to see some midwesterners. Right now I am taking classes in Spanish History, Spanish Art, and Advanced Grammar. In October, the full-time University students begin, as well as my normal University courses. I'm still not sure what classes I will take, but I meet with Ana, the BC Abroad program director Wednesday to figure things out.

This past weekend, a group of us Boston College students decided to take a day trip to Segovia, which is about an hour and a half (by bus) northwest of Madrid. Segovia is like that European fantasy land you see in guidebooks and magazines showcasing the great history Europe has. The first thing we saw was the Ancient Roman Aqueduct built in the 1st century. It was remarkable seeing something so monumental and yet 2000 years old. Apparently it had still been in use up until the 19th century. It was almost like I was living my high school history book. Then we explored the city and saw the Cathedral (built in 1571). The Segovian Cathedral was a phenomenal structure with gothic architecture. I didn't go inside because I didn't want to pay 4 euro, but the outside was a spectacle enough. We also climbed up to the top of the Alcázar of Segovia (Segovia Castle) for a fabulous view of the Guadarrama mountains and the rest of the city of Segovia. After the castle, we caught a quick 1 euro bus trip to the Palace of La Granja, which was a summer house for the Kings of Spain, in the small town of San Ildefonso, about 15 minutes from Segovia. King Philip V built this summer palace after his previous one burned down, and wanted to model it after the palace and garden of Versailles. We saw some amazing fountains in the gardens; however, due to the drought (apparently it hardly ever rains in Spain) the fountains weren't running. We were going to be late for our bus back to Segovia so we had to sprint in flip-flops about 15 minutes to make it back in time. Luckily we made it. After we returned to Segovia, we explored the city, and stumbled upon a wedding in the Plaza Mayor. We stayed and watched the celebration as people danced in the streets. It was great day trip, and as money allows it, I hope the first of many more.

I hope you enjoyed that review. A lot was accomplished in these past two weeks. I'll try to update more frequently so you don't get bombarded with a wall of text. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments section or shoot me an e-mail.

If you would like to view pictures I have taken, I post them all on my online photo album located at http://picasaweb.google.com/djruemenapp.

Hasta luego.

Okay guys, I decided to jump on the blog bandwagon too. The principal motivation for this blog is to share my thoughts with anybody who is interested, and to share my love of music and life with the world. Right now, I am in the middle of a semester abroad in Spain, and I will also use this to keep my family and friends back home up to date on my adventures. Also, I am beginning a solo music project, which I plan to entitle Clarity. I plan on completing this endeavor by the time I graduate in the Spring of 2011.

The reason I chose the title Clarity, is because true perception is the fundamental basis to life. We live through our senses, and there is nothing more clear than our perception, because it is so unique. Our senses pick up pick up information from the world, and our brain turns that stimulation into perception, whether "real" or not. It is this unique feature that all of our perceptions are different which motivated me to title this project Clarity. Thanks for listening.

"By the time I recognize this moment / This moment will be gone / But I will bend the light, pretend that it somehow lingered on."