Poco de Todo (A Little Bit of Everything)

First let me say that jet-lag is NO FUN AT ALL. With that said, I shall begin. Yesterday was my second day of classes. I have Spanish class Mon-Thurs, so it was my second day in that class. I had an interesting dialogue with Araceli (my professor). It went a little something like this: 

• Araceli: Are you an optimist or a pessimist?
• Me: Optimist.
• Araceli: Idealist or realist? 
• Me: Realist. 
• Araceli: Are you selfish or generous? 
• Me: Mas o menos. (Both, more or less.) 
• Araceli: Aye! Chica perfecta! Do you have a boyfriend? 
• Me: No.
• Araceli: Well, I have a nephew who is very handsome that you should meet. 

So that's my nickname for the class, I suppose. Chica perfecta! 


My next class was Ancient Art History. My professor is a very distinguished Spanish woman who knows her art! She has studied in Spain, Mexico, and Boston. She recommended that we visit a few places to see the art that we will be studying firsthand. Paris, Rome, Athens, Berlin, and London were at the top of the list. She also included Egypt, but she said a weekend is not enough time to travel there and experience the art and culture at the same time.  I think it will be an interesting class. 


After my first two classes I went to lunch with another girl from Baylor. We went to Cafe Ferro. It was an adorable little cafe right around the corner from the school. We dined in (para comer is the term they use). I ordered water, and yes, it was the fancy water with the glass bottle and water goblet. As with every restaurant they serve fresh pan (bread) with the meal. I ordered a sandwich with jamon, queso,y juevo (ham, cheese, and eggs). 

It was so cute, that I HAD to take a photo!

They cut a peep hole for the egg. Que linda! (How cute!)

We people watched as we ate. Sitting near windows watching people parallel park was like watching the parking Olympics. They always prevailed though. I wanted to applaud their parallel parking expertise. Most of the time it looked like an impossible feat! Also gawking at all of the handsome, well-dressed men passing by made people watching even better. Communicating with people gets a little bit better each day. 

In fact, my host mom, Mari, suggested that I find a partner for Intercambios which are cultural exchanges between people from different countries. You arrange a meeting over coffee or lunch, and you talk with each other in one language and then in another. The idea is to help both parties improve the language of their choice. It's also a great way to make friends with local Spaniards. 

I had two more classes after almuerzo (lunch). The first was physics. There are only 4, yes FOUR, of us in the class. It's rather diverse, though. We have 3 chicos and 1 chica. Yep, I'm the only chica! 1 guy is from Spain, another from Jersey, and another from Pittsburgh. And the professor! He's very handsome -he looks like Patrick Dempsey from Grey's Anatomy. Professor McSteamy? It will be interesting to have such a small class. No hiding in the back this semester! 

My last class of the day was English Literature Special Topic: Americans in Paris. The class focuses on works by authors from the U.S. who either visited or expatriated to Paris and how Paris affected them. There's a healthy bit of reading, but it won't be that bad. Especially since there are tons of parks to go to and read. 

After classes ended I went to rest a while before dinner. We had paella de pollo last night. I was soooooooooo good. We liked it so much, that she is going to cook it EVERY Thursday. Yay! 

This morning I slept in until 1300hrs. I woke up and ate a desayuno tarde (late breakfeast) of ham, cheese, and pan con leche (sweet bread). The bread tasted similar to the Hawaiian Sweet Rolls we eat back home. While I was eating Mari showed me the linea de ropa (clothesline) that she hangs our clothes on. 

The people here don't use secadores (dryers), because energy here in Spain is VERY expensive. So like ye olden days, everyone hangs their clothes up. FYI: The yellow shirt on the left is mine :) 

So the notebooks, folders, and loose-leaf paper here are very different from the ones in America. Most of it is gridded paper like graph paper. After some serious hunting, though, I found some "regular" notebooks for pretty cheap. Carlin is a tienda (store) near campus that is basically the equivalent of OfficeMax in the states. 

Tonight I am going out for tapas with some people from the University! 

Hasta luego :)