Capítulo Siete: Learn to do it!

"Are you ready for some football everyone?!"
- Hank Williams Jr.

Small update.

Classes started on Monday, and I think they're all going to go pretty well. I really like my language course, actually. It doesn't seem frustrating or very hard, but what it does is teach me to correct the little errors in my grammar, which is something I definitely need! The professor's really nice and fun, too, which always helps. An additional fun fact: she was also the one that gave the oral exam.

Spanish History has potential. This particular class focuses on the big events and how everything impacts Spain's history and culture, which in my opinion is really cool; most history courses have the typical memorize this date and remember that name sort of thing, but what about being a bit analytical, maybe even theoretical? This course is supposed to examine those things, and I'm hoping it picks up soon. I'll admit today's two hour class was boring, though.

Cuento (short story) should be really interesting, though I have a slight bias since I love to read short stories and write. It should be interesting to see how it reflects Spanish culture, too. El profesor es really enthusiastic about it, and he definitely has the mind of an English professor (creative, witty, anayltical). He definitely appealed to me immediately. The rest of the students? Not so much. I have a big (well, at least my definition of big) class of probably over 50. I don't mind the big number, but I hope that there are at least a handful of students who will take it seriously -- most of them seemed kind of...well, stereotypically speaking, like dumb Americans.

While on that subject, I often wonder what the Spaniards think of us American students after witnessing some of the monstrocities that have made their way here to Spain. Not to be rude, but listening to them speak (both Spanish and English) and watching their gestures, they frequently come off rude and snotty, as well as ungrateful and apathetic. It just kind of seems like they're there for the social outings, or just because it was something to do. Makes me kind of mad, because this is a pretty neat opportunity, and some of them seem like they're going to be wasting it.

But who am I to judge, though?

I haven't taken my final class, Cine Espanol, yet. I start that tomorrow, and it meets every Friday for three hours. I am really looking forward to it if only for the fact that I love movies, and I look forward to seeing how Spanish movies fair against US movies.

All in all, classes are good! It doesn't sound like it's going to be easy necessarily, but I don't think I'm going to spontaneously combust from stress either. Hopefully I won't want to drive my head into the wall as a result of stress, which has happened several times at IWU (but to this day I look back at those times and smile, because I'm proud I made it through those obstacles successfully). I'm looking forward to learning a lot, though, especially since it's about a completely different place and a different lifestyle than America.

I started making a "Palabra del Dia" (Word of the Day) as well as a "Frase del dia" (Phrase of the Day) in order to expand my Spanish vocabulary and continue to work on my speaking. I put them on post-it notes and stick them on the wall behind my desk so I can always look at them, go over them, and practice. I'm thinking I definitely should have done this earlier, as in like high school or something, but better late than never, right?

The CIEE Group went out to an Irish bar tonight to watch the Real Madrid futbol team play; it's similar to what we do in the US when we go out to a bar to watch a football or baseball game. I'm sure everyone knows these things already, but if not, futbol's kind of a big sport there (and by kind of, I mean it's huge), and it is not futbol americano; it's soccer. I think we were initially expecting to go to the stadium and watch them play, but we just went to a bar and watched it on a big screen as well as socialized. I guess it makes sense that we didn't go to the stadium; it's pretty far, and I'm sure tickets are expensive as hell. Regardless, I really had a good time just chilling in there, chatting with people, looking at the gorgeous soccer players (numero 10 y 7), jamming to some music (this bar actually played some good tunes), and just sipping on a beer (I actually found a beer that I liked...weird). The people weren't paying as close attention to the game as I thought they would, but after a while and a few drinks, people warmed up to it and screamed the traditional "GOL!" whenever we scored. Madrid won 3-0.

One more day of classes, and it's a three day weekend. I think I am going to easily adjust to that whole three-day weekend schedule. =)

Now that I've booted out most of my sickness, hopefully I will finally get to a discoteca this weekend. There's also another CIEE Excursion this weekend, which means...mas fotos!

Hasta Luego.

~ LSquared