Happy Memorial Day!

Hey everyone! Happy Memorial Day! I hope you all are enjoying the grill outs and celebrations back home. It turns out, today is a holiday here as well. It is el Día de San Fernando, who is the patron saint of Sevilla. That means it is only a holiday in Sevilla the city, not the province and not the rest of Spain. All towns in Spain have a "Saint's Day" where the celebrate the birthday of their patron saint. Anyway, I am enjoying having the day to relax. This weekend I had a surprise visit from my friend Marilyn. She was on her way to Mallorca to work for the summer, and happened to stop through Sevilla. She was just here for a few days but it was nice to see her and we had a really good time.

This week it is time to buckle down and do some serious studying. My classes are officially over, and now I have some time to study for my exams. This weekend, I am heading to El Rocío for the Rotary District 2203 Conference, which I am really excited about. I have no idea what to expect but I know it will be a great experience and a great way to catch up with all of the Rotarians from around Spain that I've met this year.

You might have seen on the news lately the stories about all of the protests in Spain. Starting on the 15th of May people started protesting and camping out in major plazas around the country. In Madrid they set up camp in the Puerta del Sol, in Barcelona in Plaza de Cataluña, and in Sevilla in Plaza de la Encarnación. They are calling the movement "15M Movimiento," due to the fact that it started on the 15th of May. The protests began a week before the municipal elections and were very peaceful. The people were not protesting the elections themselves, but rather the horrible economic situation in Spain. There is a 21% unemployment rate, and the bulk of the unemployed are young people. The protests are trying to draw attention to this problem so that the new governments, from whichever party they may be, know that they have to make some changes. The people are fed up with the corruption and do not want to be merchandise in the hands of bankers and politicians, so they are demanding a change. I hope this clears up a little bit what has been going on, but just know that it has been peaceful up until this point and will hopefully reach a peaceful resolution.

Plaza de Encarnación in Sevilla full of protesters.