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[Jan. 29th, 2007|12:12 pm] |
A week of final progress.
I have finished my 10 page paper, as well as the project (going to the English classes) along with it. I have both of my exams this week, Wednesday and Thursday. I have studied for both of them. I have also completed my literature paper.
Surprisingly, it snowed on Friday. None of it stayed though it seemed at the time like some of it would stay on the ground. It all melted away but it remains just as cold. Next week it looks like it’ll warm up again.
Also, the students from Iowa came. There are two that are staying with me. It was amusing the first day, especially when they realized I was an American as well, and wondered why they were still speaking to me in Spanish. I have also helped them understand my Spanish family from time to time either by translating or re-explaining in either different words or just repeating the exact same words in a Spanish they are more used to hearing, rather than the thick Extremaduran accent. They appear to never have heard Castillian Spanish. I guess I was lucky that one of my professors from K was actually from this region of Spain, so I was used to hearing the accent.
My ICRP classes were amusing. In my Monday class, I was able to speak Spanish for the first time. (On the first day, the professor said I didn’t know a word of Spanish to make them speak English). Too bad the Spanish I used was an explanation that I was leaving and it was nice to know them. On Wednesday, they started asking me my opinions on Iraq (in the last 5 minutes of class). And on Friday, we started talking about September 11th. I find it ironic that all of the interesting conversations happened in the last week, instead of when I had to think of topic ideas before. |
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| Who thought this was a great idea? |
[Jan. 28th, 2007|05:45 pm] |
Who thought it was a great idea to have the exam at the end and being the only grade in the entire class. And yet there´s so much i don´t understand, or I once did but I forgot. I have 2 exams this week, I dont feel like reading all of my notes, but I need to. I´m tired and I´m stessed out. I´m also lonely. How can I have no friends to hang out with on a saturday night. I used to be able to fill a weekend, no problem, now I can´t even fill 2 nights without hanging out with Iowa students.
Speaking of hanging out with Iowa students, I want to hurt a Spaniard. He was all like ¨speak in spanish because i can´t understand english¨ and I was pissed because I didnt want to tell him what I was saying. I was already in the middle of a story and didn´t want to retell it in spanish. when i did retell it in spanish, he got bored and didnt want to hear the end of it.
at other points in time, he tried to get the americans to speak spanish. i bitched that i have spoken spanish for 5 months, so i´m going to speak english with the americans. he argued that i´d lose my spanish if i dont speak it.
At this point, i´m better off speaking english to the iowa students. they understand me in English, but a lot of the time, don´t understand me in spanish.
I also learned why i dont go to discos. they are boring and i have nothing to show in dancing. i´d rather just stand around and talk to people, get to know them that way instead. that´s what the bars are for.
i can´t tell if i´m ready to be home or not. i want to stop feeling lonely, i want aim to actually work once in awhile, and i´m ready to be done with work. on the other hand, i realize there´s still a mess of problems awaiting me when i go home, so i´m not safe anywhere. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 22nd, 2007|12:17 pm] |
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Life goes on. Finished up my linguistics class. Now just have to memorize shit for the exam. Have 4 pages on my ICRP paper done (4/10) and half a page on my imagenes paper (.5/4). Didn´t get much further than that. Got sick again. This time the worst was on saturday, with a fever up to 101.8 and throwing up. Sunday was more just like a normal cold, but I couldn´t sleep last night due to a stuffed up nose. Now I´m out of medicine and am off to go buy some. This is my last week at my ICRP. Not much left to say. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 16th, 2007|09:57 am] |
Spain not as wonderful as I thought.. Forgot about the fun sacrifices that I make in Spain, oily food, short showers, space heater for heat..
Classes are underway, getting ready for exams and papers. Mostly the work seems reasonable. 3 papers and 2 exams. The exams look to be in the same week, Feb 1st for 1, and unknown on the other. I have 2 weeks on 1 paper, and a little less than 4 weeks on the other 2. I think I can manage to get them done.
Past weekend: Saw Eragon, went to bars, took nighttime walks with Jessica, went to bars another night, tried rum and coke, a little heavy on the rum.. didn’t drink any alcohol after that for the rest of the night...
This weekend: Shopping on the giant sales here in Spain, possible trip to Badajoz, gotta see how long it takes Juan to respond to email.. another movie as always..
Future trip: National park with Austrians. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 23rd, 2006|12:57 am] |
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Home! I am finally home for christmas after 46 hours of not sleeping. And as of 30 hours ago, I began my travels, and have finally gotten home. Luckily, I will still get to go back to Spain agian, but for only 4 weeks :( |
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| Puente |
[Dec. 12th, 2006|08:48 am] |
This week, our 5 day puente was amazing. As I’ve said before, I traveled with 2 other K students to Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, Tarifa, Malaga, Granada, and Cordoba. We actually managed to make it to all of those places too with enough time to do some touristy things.
In Jerez, we saw the cathedral and Tio Pepe. We also ran into some Christmas music being sung. In Cadiz, we went to the beach and walked a fair bit on the beach, since we got off at the wrong bus stop that put us off the map. We watched some of the surfers. We looked at the outside of the cathedral, but chose not to enter the tower since it would’ve cost us 4 euros.
In Tarifa, we spent the beginning of the afternoon on the beach. We ate lunch there and looked at Africa across the straights of Gibraltar. We also watched the kite surfers (a sport I had never seen before). As weather appeared as though it would turn for the worse, we headed to the old part of town, window shopped and had a drink in a cafe. The seating was outside, were an ugly cat decided to try and find its lunch from one of my friend’s cold cuts. (She threw them out that night). We also went shopping in the surf shops once they opened.
In Malaga, we discovered our hostel that we reserved space from had a problem with the room we had reserved, so we were moved to another hostel a block away, which was fine. We were in a dorm style room with a German and an American. We visited the cathedral and the Picasso Museum. We passed the fort and took pictures from the outside, but we decided we didn’t have time to go in. (We chose the Picasso Museum due to the rain, instead of going to the fort).
In Granada, we spent the evening walking around the old part of town, including finding several good views of the city. The following morning, we managed to visit the Alhambra, though it was quite cold. Granada in general was the coldest city we visited, with temperatures around 40 degrees F. We found a nice Italian restaurant for dinner though.
In Cordoba, we had a more relaxing day. We walked around the old part, did some shopping, and stopped by the Salón de Té. Although the tea house was a little expensive, it was very good. Sunday morning, Jessica went to the Mezquita for mass, while Sally and I went shopping and stopped by the synagogue and the park. We planned to stop by the Mezquita in the afternoon, but by 2pm, when the Mezquita opened to visitations, we decided that 8 euros was too expensive for only 20 minutes of visitation, since we needed to catch the city bus in order to catch the next string of buses from Cordoba to Seville to Caceres.
Overall, it’s been a very fun weekend. Unfortunately, now it’s time to write 2 4-page papers, both in Spanish. I am glad to be back in Caceres though and with my friends and Spanish family. It has finally gotten cold here though. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 4th, 2006|03:39 pm] |
This week has been somewhat less eventful prior to the weekend. In my classes, we are beginning to get the big projects that must be completed before we leave for vacation. This includes a 4 page paper in Literature, and a 4 page paper in Imagenes. This weekend alone got filled with work with a composition, which is filling in bubbles in a strange comic strip (which is harder than it looks) and another written work for History class, which we are likely to protest doing, since it went off the assumption that we were getting a guided tour of Seville. Now in general, I’m not against work. It just occurs at bad timing, where I have no time during 2 weekends in a row.
So this weekend was our excursion to Seville. I like Seville. On Friday, we began with our tour of the city. The tour was conducted by our directors. The Plaza de España is wonderful. Followed our tour, we had time to start Christmas shopping and we listened to the bells in the Cathedral tower. On Saturday, we visited the cathedral and went up the tower. In the afternoon, we went to the Museum of Beautiful Art, and then we walked along the river, passing the Plaza de Torros and the Torre de Oro. On Sunday, we went to Reales Alcázares which is the royal palace. It was interesting, or at least the first 10 rooms were. We had headsets to hear about the rooms, but the battery in mine died so I couldn’t learn about it. Without the headset, it looked like just more Muslim architecture, with each room appearing very similar.
Next weekend, we have a puente, a 5 day holiday weekend. I am traveling with friends to Cadiz, Tarifa, Malaga, Granada, and Cordoba. It will be fun to travel to all of those places. Plus I will be able to figure out if I want to revisit any of them after my program is over. We’re spending a day in each place, and about half a day in Cordoba.
I broke up with Steve this week. At least it’ll last until the end of study abroad. When I get back to the US and the new quarter starts at K, we’ll talk and see what we want to do. |
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| Thanksgiving |
[Nov. 23rd, 2006|11:37 am] |
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!
Here´s my plans..
Today, ask Austrians or Spanish friends to a dinner tonight, just to do something tonight that isn´t eating cold cuts or getting drunk. (aka watching friends get drunk)
Then probably go out with K friends, and watch them get drunk (or hope for a better offer to come along)
Sunday: thanksgiving dinner with K group and directors at one of the director´s house. A traditional thanksgiving dinner.
Life goes on in Spain.. I learn new words in British English and in Peninsular Spanish every day. ( Toilets v. Restrooms) |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 20th, 2006|08:44 am] |
Summary of This Week:
Classes are same as usual. History is hard to get through without caffeine. I received the Linguistics notes from a friend, so that class will make more sense as time goes on (I can use his notes to clarify my own).
Saturday, I had lunch with Maria Belen, who studied at K last year.
Friday included salsa dancing with K friends and Eurasma friends. It also included a Canadian movie called C.R.A.Z.Y. which turned out to be in French.
New words in Spanish: Clay-arcilla, Play Doh-plastilina
I tried to describe clay to my Spanish friend, Juan Carlos. He said plastilina. I decided to check the dictionary anyways, and discovered he was wrong.
Spanish seems better this week. Overall, I have been a little better, until I am tired, and then it’s the same old mess.
Thanksgiving has been moved to Sunday this year, and will include desserts with the profs. (This includes the horrible history teacher that we call dragon lady).
This is the shortened version of my week. If you want more information on anything above, feel free to ask. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 13th, 2006|04:49 pm] |
Describe: My madre called me fat. “gordita” and said I had gained weight. She can tell by looking at my face.
Interpret: It is socially acceptable to talk about whether or not someone has gained weight.
Evaluate: She finds it cute that I gained weight.
I just want to be left alone. What more can I do? Stop eating? I chose to not fight with her over how much I ate (aka eating too little). Now she’s all impressed that I can eat so much and thinks it’s cute that I’ve gained weight. Do I not eat the chocolate any more even though it has the drug that is the same drug your body produces when you laugh? Do I not eat the few comfort foods that I can find in this wretched country? Do I let myself go insane? I hate this. I have enough Spanish to understand what she is saying, but not enough to defend myself.
I just want to go home.
By the way, Salamanca was fun. The medieval festival in Cáceres was awesome. Classes continue.
And I am still very homesick. It’s starting to show throughout the day instead of just when I’m in my room alone. Now it shows when I am in the bathroom and I can feel it at other times throughout the day, though I try to not show it. |
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| Culture Shock |
[Nov. 8th, 2006|08:54 am] |
Ok, it seems official. I have hit the Crisis phase according to the Study Abroad Handbook. Can I go home now?
Getto School
Getto City
Are we sure Spain is a first world nation?
Computers that don´t log you in.
Trash cans collecting rain water.
And having to turn off the running water at night at the homestay due to a leak, and the plumber not showing up when he was supposed to.
I want to just go home with better medical care. I actually miss Sedexoh food (cookies and pasta).
I miss manga, anime, video games, computer games and being left alone. My host mother thinks I´m doing homework everytime I´m in my room and not sleeping, because she just doesnt understand someone will just stay in their room, read, and write for pleasure. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 6th, 2006|04:52 pm] |
My latest adventure this week is having my foot swell up. It swelled some on Tuesday night and more on Thursday night. Friday I went to the doctor, and he decided it was an allergic reaction to the Benadryl cream I had been using to keep it from itching. I’m still not sure what would’ve caused the itching in the first place then. He gave me medicine to take, and so far, the swelling has gone down.
Halloween was fun. I sort of dressed up without it being obvious that I dressed up, some of my other friends from K also dressed up, including Nick who decided to straighten his hair and go as an Emo kid. Wednesday was relaxing since it was a holiday. I went to see Little Miss Sunshine in the cinema, which was pretty funny.
My birthday was really fun, since I was hanging out with both Kalamazoo people and some of my friends from my Linguistics class. The bar we went to had another Halloween party, but it was still enjoyable because I also saw other people that I knew there. Overall, it was a fun time until we ran home in the pouring rain, and I discovered my foot was more swollen than it had been.
This weekend, there was an Irish Music Festival that sounded very interesting, but I had no interest in standing/ walking through pouring rain just to listen to Irish music. When it rains here, it also feels very cold. It doesn’t help how many layers you put on, you still get cold and wet. It is also windy when it rains, making the umbrella almost useless. |
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| Madrid |
[Oct. 9th, 2006|07:49 am] |
This weekend, we went to Madrid. Great hotel, horrible map, and a lot of walking. We were given a map of Madrid that was smaller than the map we received for Caceres. Many streets were missing from the map, including the one the hotel was on. We managed to get lost a few times and find ourselves again a few blocks later. Friday we went on a tour of the oldest restaurants and bars in the world, or at least in Spain. The first three were interesting, a restaurant, a pastry shop, and a bar. The last place was less interesting as it was another restaurant, that although it had some interesting rooms, like the private dining room and the oriental room, it was at the end of a 2 hour tour with a lot of standing. If the tour were to remain 2 hours, I would like to see more places. And a lot of the places were beyond anyone’s price range among the students in my group.
Saturday, some of us walked to Museo de Reina Sofia. Of the art work that many people were interested in, of Picasso and Dali, I preferred other museums that had more selection of those artists’ works. A few interesting areas of that museum included the sketches before the paintings, photographs from the civil war period, and a series of buildings that had cut outs in them, like a building that looked like a giant cannon just popped a hole through the entire building. There was also some artwork that dealt with using what was available and making art with it, which I found interesting. We later went to the Prado Museum, where we spent a lot of time looking at “Las mejinas” since we have to write about it for history and art class. But there was other interesting art too. Lorena’s works seemed to have a focus of the painting to be a very small portion of the painting, and the landscape and other happenings in the moment to be the rest of the painting.
Although I did not go, another thing in Madrid that sounded interesting was a seven-story club. Each floor has its own theme, at least in music genre. I chose sleep over this club since I managed to get sick last week, and am trying to get over being sick (with what feels like no time).
Sunday we went to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) which was interesting though I would have preferred to have the radio consoles instead of the guided tour. The K group of 13 went through the palace with another giant group, which just made it harder to see and hear everything. Then some of us went to the Plaza Mayor for lunch, as we weren’t leaving Madrid until 4.
This week, I will start my ICRP (Intercultural Research Project). I will be helping in ESL classes. I think one or two are high school level, and one is an adult level. This week we have a holiday on Thursday, which means no classes. Some people are going to Lisbon, but I was considering just having a quiet weekend for my own sanity. Everything will be closed Thursday, and I don’t know if businesses will re-open on Friday. (I can’t imagine that they would remain closed, but I will see). I have agreed to work on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at the ICRP site, so I will find out if the teacher will have class on Friday or not. |
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| Classes |
[Oct. 4th, 2006|09:46 am] |
So far, I have had at least one session of every class, except for the university class which is a little more complicated. In grammar, there is grammar 1 and grammar 2. I am in grammar 2 which so far seems like an easier version of Spanish 203. We write 10 papers over the course of the semester (8 before Christmas break). They are hand written on special paper, which has 18 lines. For each composition, the minimum is one page, and there is no maximum. Literature class is better than Spanish literature at Kalamazoo College. We are reading contemporary works, both pre-civil war and post-civil war. When reading about the author, the professor stops to explain some details about the history and clarify the text. I think I will enjoy that class. Images of contemporary Spain also looks like a fun class. The professor is the same from the society orientation class and we are watching videos and looking at other pieces of publicity to understand Spain culturally starting with the Franco dictatorship.
History and art seems like a harder class for multiple reasons. First, the professor talks really softly, and especially when the bathroom is running, it is very hard to hear her. Second, she writes in cursive on the board, and her handwriting is not legible a good part of the time. You pretty well have to be listening to her really closely and hope you hear every word she writes on the board. I am already not good at history, so this class will be a challenge.
As far as the university class goes, I tried a class of Linguistics, then talked to the professor after. He recommended that I tried Fundamentals of linguistics, since that class is only a semester long. I will try Fundamentals of Linguistics tonight. My issues are the professor speaks really fast, such that it is hard for me to catch what he is saying, and I am not sure if I can grasp the theories of linguistics through a different language. I have considered other classes, but they seem to conflict with classes I already have.
-I went to fundamentals of linguistics and have decided that is the class I am taking. It is linguistics for people who don´t have English as their first language, so the professor speaks much slower. |
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| Weird culture |
[Sep. 30th, 2006|05:33 pm] |
I am starting to get fed up with this culture and am beginning to feel bored out of my mind. Hopefully by monday, things will start looking up with the start of the new classes. Hopefully I can meet Spaniards in my Linguistics class and start to have a larger social circle.
Things that annoy me so far:
-Nothing is open on sunday and most things are not open saturday afternoon
-my dear K friends are not the easiest people to try and hang out with and plan gatherings with (the fact that I will be texting hopefully no more than 5 people tonight just to find out what people are doing, so I can have a social life, instead of sitting in my room with no one to talk to)
-the fact that no one in my family is anywhere near my age, except one ´nephew´who i have only met once, and havent seen since (he doesnt live in Caceres)
-the knowledge that no matter how hard i try, i will never fit in
-Spanish men whistle and hiss as you walk by (not all, just enough for it to be annoying).
-If you are not talking/flirting with someone, bars are lame. and no one seems interested in finding the discotecas. last night, we were in a more interesting bar that had live music and was less smokey because the smoke just rose to the sky.
I want it to be easier to find friends without having to fear that any guy I start talking to is going to want sex. I dont like living in fear, being unable to smile at anyone unless I have met them already (which is very few people), and being unable to get real hugs from anyone.
At this point, I know I have changed enough already to know that K would just frustrate me too. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 28th, 2006|09:27 am] |
Things are going well so far, though I am beginning to feel homesick. Some tensions are rising among some of the K members, there are those who go out to bars often, there are those who have the latest swear word or slang, and there are those who are sick of hearing about it all. At the same time, people are getting irritated that their first impressions to the group were not as they hoped. Tension in my family is also getting a little annoying. My madre is getting irritated at her 8-year-old grandson because he wants to be loud, play with his annoying toys, and not sit through a meal, in short, he´s acting his age.
This week, we´ve had classes in the morning and afternoon. In the morning, we learn about the society (mostly the politics, and issues in the news) and then we learn grammar (and new terms and phrases). In the afternoon, we learn about historical Caceres, and walk through the old part of town to see what remains from each group that has controlled Caceres (Romans, Muslims, and Christians). Today we´ll go to a nearby town, malpartido, to look at another museum. For people interested in medieval history or islamic history, this is an interesting place.
Time for my first class of the day. Bye |
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| Bars |
[Sep. 23rd, 2006|05:23 pm] |
So we have managed to get around to several bars in 1 week. First, to ease Steve´s nerves, I have only had 1 alcoholic drink this entire week.
La traviata is our first bar that we visited the first night we were here. A little smoky but it seemed fine (especially for being Sunday night when nothing is open).
La Divina Commedia is another bar that had good ratings from past participants. In my opinion, it´s a great atmosphere, but they do not have any wine.
La Coral has a great atmosphere, is in the old part of town, but I will probably enjoy it more on the weekends when there are live concerts and more people.
Among drinks, chupitos are shots, dyk is whiskey, and rom is rum. Among what I plan on trying is Calimocho (red wine and coke), Tinto de verano (red wine and sprite), and the only alcoholic drink I actually had where I ordered a calimocho and was given red wine with carbonated water. It was still good. Does anyone know the english names for these drinks.
I learned at my last bar experience just how much K students are loud and try to drink more than the locals. Thursday night, we went to La Divina Commedia, had a drink (and realized their lack of selection). Moved to La traviata for a few drinks (one for me and several shots for my friends). Then we went down the street to see if some of the other bars had cheaper chupitos, but discovered the best price is 1 euro for rubbing alcohol.
And to easy anyone´s concerns, my rule for myself is 1 alcoholic drink per bar night (which will contain wine in one of the above drinks or be plain wine). The exception will be my birthday when I have agreed to have 1 chupito, then I may have a calimocho or tinto de verano in order to have something better to drink. I promise to not come back as a drunk. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 21st, 2006|12:31 pm] |
Things are improving here in Caceres. I feel much more comfortable here but still have not gotten into a rutine yet. Partially this is because when we need to meet with the directors is different every day this week. 9am yesterday, 11am today, 10am tomorrow.
I have electricity working better in my room now. One of the wall outlets is broken so the wall outlet i was using was behind the bed. My madre put an extension cord that also allows me to use the adapters. The wall outlets do not have a ground but the adapters do, making the adapters not fit into the wall outlets.
I am learning more about my family every day. Though each day I become a little confused with the new information because I did not understand the previous information. I mostly talk to my madre. Her grandson has been spending the afternoons in her apartment because his mom is doing her residency. My brother is a sports teacher and also works as a waiter some.
We have been exploring Caceres more and more. A couple of days ago, I went to Carrefour that is very similar to a Meijer. I discovered that there are no washclothes in Spain, so I settled for a hand towel.
I am getting used to the customs now. I am enjoying the siestas, getting used to the hours of eating and everything. The bus is easy to navigate, at least for me. I am a block away from the bus station to school and have to cross 3 streets to get around the intersection. I am also getting used to the different showers (using less water).
There are many words that are different here. Zumo instead of Jugo, Ordenador instead of Computadora. But I am adjusting.
I will post pictures either tomorrow or next week since I can only post pictures from my computer and only get wireless at school. I didnt think it was possible to not touch a computer for several days at a time, but it seems to be. Maybe because there´s more hastle to getting online than it is in the US.
It has also been hot here, over 90 in the sun, near 90 in the shade. I tried wearing a skirt one day, but by the end of the day, I realized that I can´t walk a lot in sandals now that I am used to the orthotic soles that support my flat feet. Thanks to Tropical Storm Gordon, it has cooled off some for a few days before it will heat up again.
I am having a great time. I hope everyone else is too.
Hasta luego |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 17th, 2006|06:08 pm] |
I am in Caceres. it is the second day and it´s been up near 28C (83). We have found the cyber cafe which we received money for, and can buy more minutes on our own when we run out. The heat is dry heat. I can compare Caceres to a mix of Arizona and Albania.
My madre is nice. She has 3 daughters and 1 son, all are over the age of 30. The son still lives at home, it seems.
The second day is much easier than the first. I can actually communicate in Spanish much better. For the most part, fitting in seems to be realitively easy with my madre. Today we went to see parts of the ciudad antigua. Tomorrow we´ll go see parts of the main city. The cell phone I bought from last year´s quadmate seems to be not functioning and not wanting to charge. I will go with my madre to fix that. The plug in my room didnt seem to work, and I told my madre, she had her son, Franci to fix it, and he did but it still seems broken. I dont know what is wrong with it. I will talk to him later to see if he can help me again.
I am glad this week we have a lot of time to explore on our own (as a group or with our familias). Today, we spent 2 hours with the directors, went home for lunch, than came together as a group to the cyber cafe. Tomorrow we won´t meet with the directors until 5pm.
That´s all for now. I will update when I can. I will probably update more starting October, since the campus has wireless internet. At that point, I will start uploading pictures to Yahoo photos
The flight was long and tedious. But I´m glad to be in Caceres, and after a good night sleep (10 straight hours), I am feeling better. Still a little homesick though.
Hasta luego. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 1st, 2006|06:30 pm] |
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This is where I will be posting my adventures in Spain starting September 15th and ending in February (with 2 weeks in December/January for Christmas) |
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