"There are of course those who do not want us to speak...while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth."
- V, V for Vendetta
It's September. I've been here for a little over a week.
In some ways, I feel I've been here for longer, as I'm slowly learning this part of the city and have adjusted to the living situation pretty well; in other ways, I feel like I still have so much more to do, like, you know, start classes.
But hey, CIEE Orientation officially ended today, and now I have three days to prep myself for classes and to go and hangout in the city before I get too busy.
The presentations at la universidad about the cursos hispanicos over the last two days were pretty boring actually. Lots of the subjects were really interesting, but the length at which some of the professors talked as well as the presentation itself were not good enough to keep my attention. The other problem was that they lasted for four and half hours, which was honestly draining; it sapped my energy very quickly. There was, however, one guy who was really enthusiastic about what he was teaching (Literatura Siglo XX, I think), and that's really nice to see. You can just tell people like that are going to be great teachers.
And overall, I guess they gave us a nice welcome to the university, so I respect the administration in that regard. We got to meet a bunch of other American students from different study abroad programs, too, which was kind of neat.
Heading out again tonight, but given the fact that today's presentations have kind of ruined my night time stamina (others's also), I'd say it's going to be a chill night. Sunday, the CIEE Group is taking an excursion around the city, which means...more fotos are soon to come! =D
Some thoughts:
Slowly, I am growing fonder and fonder of tomatoes. Mi anfitriona puts them in a lot of things, and today she gave them to me plain to eat with my meat, and they tasted wonderful. I normally dislike tomatoes by themselves but find them scrumptious in sauces or with other foods, but I think I may soon change my mind.
Coca-Cola tastes different here due to the sugar. I should actually mention that it tastes better than what it does in the US. Still, I'm drinking more water than refrescos, which is good; I'm trying to keep myself hydrated.
It's hard to tell if my Spanish is improving or not. It's only been a week, but I've seen a few changes here and there -- I'm trying to develop the accent a little bit, and I'm gaining more and more confidence in speaking it. I need for the conjugations and vocab words to come naturally to me, though, so I guess I still have a long way to go. But then again, I still have a whole semester to go, too. It's going to take time, and I just need to keep reminding myself that. I mean it's like my 6th grade teacher said: "How do you eat an elephant? Take one bite at a time." I know I'm heading in the right direction, and I'm going to march on, head up.
Speaking of going on, I'm headin' out for a peaceful evening.
Hasta luego.
~ LSquared
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Will you be able to have a class with the professor who spoke about Literatura Siglo XX (20th Century Literature)?
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to more pictures.
Thanks for the always interesting posts.
I don't think so; I don't need to take that class.
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