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Published: September 7th 2011
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Hi!
First order of business. DO NOT SEND ANYMORE PACKAGES TO THE UNIVERSITY! SEND THEM TO THE ADDRESS I GAVE FOR LETTERS!!!
Sorry about that. If you have already sent something to the school its ok, but Juan said to just go ahead and send packages to our houses.
I'll re-post the address here:
Pepa Barroso
(Para: Devin Schultze)
C/ Sacramento
no 49, 2o IZQ.
11003 Cádiz
España
(And just so you know, C/ is like writing St. for street 😊 )
Alright.
Last night I was feeling just so-so and a bit out of place in the house after I got scolded for trying to do work in the living room. So before bed I tried to relax and watch a movie I had downloaded a while ago. It was called "Everything Must Go" with Will Ferrell. Um...don't pay to see it. Its pretty slow going. A bit like "Dan In Real Life" if you've ever seen that, only not as funny and you don't really feel better at the end so much...maybe a little. I don't know. It was bad enough that I felt the need to watch a few minutes of Avatar before I actually
fell asleep just so that that movie wasn't the last thing on my mind before I slept. But today, I watched the first episode of that show with Zooey Deschanel...its a keeper. Need a show? Go watch it. I only watched it because it was free, so I probs won't be able to again 😞
In trying to get comfortable in our home, it makes me think of our past students that we have hosted in Nebraska. I learned a lot more from them than I knew until I came here. One in particular. Chiara. I wasn't always particularly helpful at times with her adjustment to the US. I'm really sorry for that. Costa Rica was an easier adjustment because I was very close to my family there, especially my two host sisters. Its not easy to learn to be in a whole new place that you don't know, a new culture you don't always understand, and struggle to learn a language and on top of that you don't always feel welcome in your home. I wasn't a very good host sister to her at times. I am so glad that now we are friends and that I may
Pensive?
No, not a Harry Potter Pensive, this is the bowl the projections are put on. even get to go see her and her home in Italy! However, you can never really understand how hard something is for someone else until you are in a similar situation. She stuck it out, and things turned out pretty well in the end I think. So, thinking of her encourages me to stick it out too, keep working on my relationship with my family, especially Alba, and focus on why I am here: To become fluent in Spanish, to live like a Spaniard, and see a bit of Europe.
Today I woke up and went running with Hayley and Jerica at 8. Got clipped by a bike on "el maritimo" (maritime: the path that goes along the ocean). Apparently "on your left" is not something they do in Spain. Put that in my manual for next time.
When I got home I didn't take a shower because we can only really shower once time a day because we don't want to waste water. We have Wednesday off during our 3-week class and Natalie and I weren't sure if maybe we wanted to go to the beach, and if we go to the beach I have to shower
Camera Oscuro
The camera projects a 360 view of the city. when we get back. Hence, Hayley and I were the smelly ones at our group meeting today. Just kidding we didn't smell...well, no one said anything anyways.
Natalie and I get to talk each other through living abroad a bit. She made a comment about how she feels like her stomach is an empty pit and she is eating all the time. So, I gave her some advice from a "Friends" episode of course! Have you ever seen the episode in season two where Pheobe has the psychiatrist boy friend who is always analyzing everyone? Well, I know Heather has so at least she is with me. Anyways, Pheobe's boyfriend tells Monica, "Monica, don't depend on those cookies. Remember, its just food, not love." Hahaha! We both thought that was funny.
Juan, our resident director, took us to see El Torre Tavira. First of all, I just have to say that Juan looks just like Oscar from The Office. He is super cool though. He is very helpful and he is like super mountain man. He has hiked up all these crazy mountains and bikes and everything. Anyways, El Torre Tavira is a tower here in Càdiz that
El Faro
A view of the lighthouse (el faro) on San Sebastian from the top of the Tower. has a dark camera which projects a view of the city onto this bowl that looks like the Pensive from Harry Potter. It was sooo cool! I am definitely going to take my parents there when they get here at the end of the year. You can see people, cars, dogs and boats moving around. Really neat. After you see the images the camera takes you get to go up to the roof and look around the city yourself and it is really beautiful. We took tons and tons of pictures. I'll put some up here, but they're all up on Facebook.
We also got to see the New and Old Cathedrals in Càdiz By "New" they just mean not as old and the "Old" Cathedral. The "New" Cathedral was built in the 18th century. The "Old" was built...sometime before that, but destroyed in the 1500's. The only part remaining from the original "Old" Cathedral is a small room with a classic Arabian archway. The rest of the arches are more rounded and are Roman and were built after the English destroyed the rest of the Cathedral.
Both were pretty cool. The coolest part was the crypt in the
New Cathedral. As we were walking down the stairs I smelled a familiar smell. Then it hit me! The Lied Rainforest and Henry Doorly Zoo! The crypt smelled just like it! Nebraskans know what I'm talking about...sorry Clemsonites 😞. The wall of the crypt is right up against the ocean. When the tide is high and if you are somewhat quiet, you can hear the waves crashing on the other side of the wall.
Natalie and I opted out of the beach today. Pepa had already made us a couple of sandwiches so that we could take them to the beach instead of coming home for lunch. So we just came home and picked them up and went to my little internet cafe. We both had a lot of catching up to do on our photos and such! We even got a homework assignment.
Tomorrow we go back to school and this weekend we are going to try and go to a Càdiz C.F. futbol game!
Love and miss everyone,
Love always,
Devin 😊
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Dad
non-member comment
Devin - I have never blogged. I love what you write. It makes me feel connected to you on a daily basis. Your observations about Chiara are right on and inciteful. Hang in there. Your home situation will get better - you are just finding out the ground rules. Mom and I are getting used to our quiet house. Love you! Dad.