When people used to ask me if I've lived in CT all your life, I always used to love saying... Well I've lived in PA for almost over a year now. I would count the weeks I used to go to camp and add them up. Dorky little Adam. But I did the same thing with school. It was always weird to me thinking that I was living somewhere else besides home. Besides Westport. Now Leela makes fun of me for how much I love Westport but that's besides the point. I guess what I'm trying to say is that last night I had a "holy shit, I'm living in Spain!" kind of moment... Every Sunday night we don't have food in the Resedencia so we are responsible for getting our own dinner. The past couple of weeks we have been going out and enjoying the fact that we don't have to eat the resedencia food (tonight wasn't bad though...) Last week we went to Don Kebab which has become my staple safe haven should the residencia food suck eggs. Anyway, this week Sarah had the idea to come here with Allison and the three of us plus David would make pasta. So we they went to the store and bought pasta, sauce, and cheese and the four of us crammed into our kitchen and cooked pasta which ended up being really good. I was making dinner for myself in another country. I felt grown up. Making tortellini. And warming up pasta sauce. Don't judge me.
Anyway... Saturday morning I had my final exam for the intensive language session. Thought it went pretty well! I did well on the midterm and papers, so I'm not too worried. But it really was a huge help. I wish that I had been able to take a Spanish class at Elon before coming to Spain, I had all these "ohh yeah..." moments where I would remember some grammar thing or vocab word. I had forgotten a lot of what I learned in high school. But I guess that's what happens when you don't practice for two years! I love the ability to talk and converse in another language and it's getting so much easier.
After the exam and on Sunday too I went to the big park in the city for the Festival de las Naciones. I believe it starts in the Spring and ends the 1st of November but it is like a street fair in the park and they have all these booths were you can buy things from different countries. Really cool to walk around and see all of the different stands and shops. BUT my favorite part was that there's a food section to the Festival. There are different mini restaurant stands set up where you can try things from all around the world. I had a hot dog from Germany with the most amazing kraut ever and then tried a bite of Scott's Kangaroo sandwich from the Australia stand then got tried a bite of Paige's crepe from the French stand, had a chip with salsa from the Mexico stand ;), decided to pass on the Frog's Legs from the Japan stand, and was in heaven. They also have these mini shows where there's dancing and presentations of the different countries. On Saturday it was Brazilian dancing... lots of bumping and grinding and shaking hahaha. But all in all, such a fun place to walk around!
Today we started our regular session classes! I started the day off at 9:00 AM (little early if you ask me...but 11:00 AM is early too so don't bother asking me..) with Flamenco! Seems like its gonna be a great class and right up my ally. It's a lot about musical interpretation and styles and I think I'm gonna really enjoy it. After Flamenco I had Inter-American Relations...should be interesting, but the professor was a little all over the place. It's hard enough to understand a teacher who's jumping around from date to date, century to century when speaking in English! Imagine that feeling but in Spanish! Ay ay ay.... Later that afternoon I had Contemporary Spanish Theatre. Today was just really an introduction to the history of Spanish theatre in the last century so I can't really get a gauge on the class but I'm excited to read the plays and get started! I only have once class tomorrow at 1:00 PM which is a perfect time for me :)
After class we all met up at the Plaza de Espana and we walked around and I saw, once again, how beautiful it is. Last time I went I didn't really get to observe it and take it all in but it was built for the world expo and the building itself is supposed to be a representation, well more like an effort, to bring together the provinces and areas of Spain.
Click here for some more pics! I was a little overwhelmed after my last class today... It was just a long day and Spanish being thrown at me from all angles, so it was nice to take a break a walk around.
OH! Guess what?? I met Chema! Who's Chema you ask?...The cello playing mystery apartment-mate! He is such a cool guy. He practically doesn't speak any English but today we had a long discussion about music. I asked him what was his favorite type of to play on the Cello and he said romantic and symphonic works. I asked what's his favorite/what is he working on now.... WEST SIDE STORY! He loves the works of Leonard Bernstein and he said that he'd play Maria on the Cello for me with one of his buddies and I'll sing along. He attends a music conservatory in Sevilla
Oh, check out this video Chema showed me! Que guay!
We've become pretty good friends with our guides from orientation. They're about our age and from Sevilla and whenever we're with them we speak spanish spanish spanish so we love hanging out with them. Not to mention they're such fun people. I was talking to Carolina, one of the guides, online today about feeling a little overwhelmed. While you're here you have to think in a completely different way and I'm far away from everything I knew/established before, starting over completely, in a different language! But you know what? I'm loving it. And Carolina reminded me to "seize the day" and take advantage of this incredible opportunity. She also said she'd come over to cook me a Spanish meal so I don't have to eat the residencia food!! Carpe diem, baby!
Hasta que volvamos a ver!
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