For the past 6 weeks I've been living on a finca (country estate) 2.5 miles outside a small town called Montuïri on the Spanish island of Mallorca (also called Majorca) in the Mediterranean Sea.  Mallorca is part of the Balearic Islands located off the east coast of Spain which includes Menorca, Cabrera, Ibiza, and Formentera.  Over the past 8,000 years the archipelago has changed hands and has been occupied by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, and Moors.  You can see the historical influence from each of these civilizations as well as the religious influence from times of Christian and Muslim occupation.

Everywhere you go on the island you hear a mix of Spanish, German, Swedish, Russian, Swiss, Italian and English being spoken.  Even though Mallorca is part of Spain, Catalan is the preferred language of choice by the real locals.  Street signs tend to be in Catalan or Spanish, but not both.

So far my experience here has been pretty cool and I'll have more specific posts focusing on each experience.  I was supposed to fly back to San Diego on May 18, but decided to stay longer so I'll probably be adding quite a bit of content over the next month.  Here are some photos of the area I've been living in.