The world scholars joined the rest of St.Louis University freshman and transfer students at a retreat center for orientation. It was a really great opportunity for us all to get to know one another. The friendships are forming very fast between the world scholars; we are becoming a family very quickly due to the nature of our situation for the next few months. The opportunity was incredible the pictures of the landscape do not do it justice. Classes start on Monday and I am very excited at the prospect of getting to learn in such a diverse environment. The orientation was very enjoyable and we got to meet a lot of very diverse students. I can not wait to see what the rest of the year holds. The place we traveled was just a short trip outside of the city but it really was beautiful.

When we returned back to Madrid we attended the convocation for the year at St.Louis University. We were able to hear speeches from a former student, the student body President, the head of the faculty senate, the campus chaplain, and finally the academic dean. The program lasted a short 45 minutes or so. The bottom picture features the world scholars in the yellow shirts in the back.