The Real World

After three weeks, I have finally started my regular classes.  With this, I also am getting a better sense of what my time here will be like.  I have four classes, Three cultures: Muslims, Jews, and Christians; Psychology of Learning a Second Language; Anthropology of Latin America; and Contemporary Spanish Literature.  All of the classes are really interesting, and luckily all of the professors are really interesting people as well.  I guess I shouldn't complain, I'm living in sunny Spain, living the good life, but I have to say that I am a little bit concerned about the work load. All of the classes are obviously taught in Spanish.  This isn't a huge problem, I understand Spanish very, very well. My concern is that when it comes down to reading long articles, books, and writing papers in Spanish, it takes a lot more time for me versus writing, and reading in English. That makes sense considering I'm a native English speaker. Yet, with the extra work that it will cost me, I just hope that I can manage it all well enough. But enough rambling, I don't know really what to say. I know that I can handle the work, I guess I'm just a little anxious and or nervous. Anyway, I have off class tomorrow, because there is a nation wide strike that will be taking place. That will be very interesting to experience. So who knows about the classes, I guess I'm gonna find out soon!

Livin' the Life!

As I approached my second weekend here in Spain, I came across a difficult decision. To go out Friday night, or not to go out, knowing that I had to wake up early Saturday morning.  Well, of course I went out!!! Some time I had! The evening started out by meeting up with a hugeee group of both Spaniards as well as Americans.  We then took the metro to a Chinese buffet...not my first choice but it was surprisingly scrumptious. We then took a longggg walk and reached a plaza where there was a botellon going on. Botellon is when hundreds and hundreds of people fill up plazas, standing around drinking, talking, just having a good time and keeping it chill. After several hours, we left and headed for a discoteca! We didn't spend much time there, and then we were off to another discoteca!!! We didn't reach the second one until after 4 in the morning! Anyway, what a great time we all had, dancing around like crazy people with nobody there judging our horrendous dance moves. It wasn't until almost 6 AM when I got home, leaving me not much time to prepare for my trip to Cádiz, one of the most beautiful and historic cities in Spain. Oh and I must mention that it sits beautifully on the coast, making for great beaches. I just got back from an amazing day there, saw so many interesting historic sites, as well as spent more than 3 hours on the amazing beaches there, and top top it off, I met some more local Spaniards who are now friends in which I've already made plans with for next weekend! So what a weekend it's been, and I still have my Saturday night ahead of me!!! Don't know if I'll be partying it up tonight though, as I'm going off of less than two hours of sleep, but we'll see! Adios!
 

First Week, and a almost a half..

Well, one week and almost a half down here in Spain, and things couldn't being going any better! I feel like I've already done soo much, yet I know that there is still much to accomplish. The start of my first class here has put a little hold on all of the fun, but I know that this class will in the end be a benefit.  For one of our first assignments, we had to go and find random Spaniards, between the ages of 18-29, and ask them questions from a sheet that was given to us.  I bet for many, this task seemed insane, but for me, it was awesome! I had no problems walking up to random Spaniards and asking them to answers some questions. Of course, I choose the University of Sevilla as a place to find my subjects.  The whole process was a great success! I got a chance to mingle with local students, and overall just build confidence. The fact that each group of students that I approached was very outgoing and friendly also helped. That is just a fraction of my first week and almost a half here in Spain, but trust me, there will be much more!

Basketball in Spain

Well, this is the start of my first weekend in Spain, and it's been a busy one. I just finished the first workout for tryouts for a basketball team here in Spain. After not playing for more than a week, boy was I not prepared. They go hard! I was dying out there, I'm not exaggerating, I felt and believe that I was close to a heat stroke. The coach was so intense, few water breaks, no smiles, all business. The workout consisted of everything from jump rope, push-ups, sit-ups, resistance training, all things that I suck at! We did do some drills that allowed me to show my skills, but I was so winded that I couldn't give a good example of what I'm capable of. This was not what I was expecting. Something interesting though, the whole time during the work, I really did feel like I was about to have a heat stroke, but the whole time all I could think about was my national pride, USA, USA and I didn't want to give up and have all the Spaniards say, "Look at this weak little American". I know that sounds silly but with the coach eye balling me all the time, I didn't want to disappoint. I must mention though that all the Spaniard players were really nice to me, helped me when I didn't understand, and generally seemed interested in what I had to say and though. I think this is interesting because basketball is a language. All of us were there for one reason, we love basketball. Anyway, I'm gonna get going, first weekend here, I have to go live it up! Right? Probably shouldn't after the evening I had but I feel much better now. Peace out! Time to partayyyyy!!!

First few nights

Well, I've been in Spain for about three days, and I can't describe how amazing it is here. You really do have to see it for yourself.  I just got back to my apartment, went bar hopping and plaza hopping if that is a word? There are plazas everywhere and every night,  even a Wednesday night like tonight, the plazas are full of young people drinking and socializing, its an amazing atmosphere. I was hanging out with some local Spaniards who happen to be friends of mine, new friends, but friends. They gave me some great advice and a few phases to use when it comes to the ladies. Now, I've got to say that the women in this country are, wow, and wow is a good thing ;)
I could keep going on and on and I've only been here for three days. That's enough for now but I will be back on here for sure so keep checking in!