Pot, Politics, Police and Professors

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Hello friends! My new classes started on Monday. The biggest challenge is not necessarily the difficult material, it is adjusting to yet another school system. Let me tell you what I have learned so far.

1) Professors can hold class on days when class is not scheduled. For example, I don’t have classes on Fridays, however, my professor decided that we would have class this morning since the course didn’t start until Wednesday. We also have class on Fridays that follow a school holiday to make up for the class we miss.

2) There are not any printers in the library. How do we print off the readings for class you ask? We go to a copy room in the university, tell the worker which class we want papers for, choose which documents they need to copy and then pay them for each copy. On a positive note, I don’t have any expensive books to buy! I am loving that part of it!

3) If you attend the University, never show up early to class. You will be waiting outside of the locked door until the exact moment class is suppose to begin or perhaps a few minutes later. Professors are on what I like to call “Spain time”, which means they take their time. My professors are all great so far though, I really like them!

4) If you attend grade school in Cadiz, always show up early. They close and lock the doors at exactly 9 AM and if you aren’t inside, you are out of luck. This rule also applies to the preschool that our 3 year old host brother goes to!

5) In Spain, you are not suppose to help yourself to a second helping, and if you are offered seconds, the polite thing to do is to refuse them. Thank goodness this is not something I had to learn from my host family (although other American students here did). I learned about this “etiquette” in class. This particular part of today’s lecture was humorous because the professor would give us a situation, such as “the person sitting next to you kicks off his shoes and puts his feet on the seat in front of him” or “You have a coworker over for dinner and he helps himself to more food” or “there is a couple making out passionately in public on a bench” etc, and she gave us 6 distinct choices for how people could respond in these situations and we were suppose to choose which one best suited the people in our home country. After someone from each country answered, our professor told us how the typical Spaniard would respond. I was surprised to find that the Germans’ responses were similar to the American responses.

6) Drugs are extremely easy to access in Cadiz, and you will not be penalized for using an individual portion. Apparently pot is not different than smoking a cigarette unless you are in a public place. I learned this interesting tid bit of information during our family dinner on Wednesday. No worries, my family does not partake in these activities, they were simply informing us, because they wanted to know if our laws were more strict back at home. Also, it is important to note that Cadiz doesn't have a lot of people who do drugs, Milagros and Jesus were just explaining to us that they are not a problem here even though they are easy to get. No worries Mom =)

7) Fitting 6 people in a 5 person car can result in a 300 euro fine. Also, not wearing a seat belt can result in a costly ticket. To be bluntly honest, we learned this from our family right before the drug conversation because they were lecturing us just like real parents when we told them we planned to cram 6 people in a 5 person car on our excursion to Lagos in two weeks. We love that they treat us and worry about us as if we really are their kids. I have never been so happy to be lectured, we are glad we can prevent getting fined now that we know what the laws are. Also, they said they would drive all the way to Portugal to get us if something happened. I can’t say that all host parents would say the same about the kids staying with them!
8) The government does not loan out money so that students have an opportunity to go to a university here in Spain. It made me realize how lucky we are in America (despite the twenty plus years of student loans I will be paying off).

9) When Obama was elected, people all over Spain were crying tears of joy. I said, “what a coincidence, people all over the United States were crying too”. We asked Josefa why they were so happy and she said it was not just Spain, it was the entire world and they were happy because it would put an end to the war. She proceeded to make a joke by adding that it was also a really big deal for American’s to have “a black man to live in the White House”. She laughed after she said that but she explained that the people of the United States are typically viewed as extremely racist people, which is embarrassing for me honestly. Our conversation made me realize one of the many reasons I love it here—people in Spain aren’t concerned with your religion, your race, your education, or your profession. They judge a person based on the size of their heart and how they treat others. Even though I love my friends and family back home (because they are awesome and not judgmental), it is so refreshing to be away from the judgmental bible belt region and be in a place where I don’t feel judged by the people in town. I feel comfortable with the laid back mindset in Cadiz.

One last bit of information for everyone. I graduated from my intensive 3 week class and I did pretty well on my final exam! I was a little discouraged though, because I was .15 away from getting an A. Even though my grades will only transfer to OSU as P (pass) or F (fail) I still hold myself to a high standard while I’m here. Our director Juan (who went to school both here and in the US) said that the tests are much harder in Spain though and that it is nearly impossible to get an A.

On Wednesday, when I got to my first day of the 12 week Spanish grammar course that is two levels higher than the one I just graduated from, they surprised us all by making us take a test that we had to do well on in order to stay in the higher level. I was really nervous because I had to take a similar test before the 3 weeks course and I didn’t do as well as I expected. I was so afraid that the same thing would happen and that I would get discouraged. I am happy to tell you all that the same thing did not happen this time! Yesterday our professor said she had graded the exams and that she needed to talk to about 25 of the 30 students to see whether or not they could stay in this level or if they had to go down a level. She called the names of the 5 students that she didn’t need to talk to because she said they did exceptionally well on the exam and for the first time in my life I WAS ONE OF THOSE 5!!!!!! Sorry for bragging on myself for a bit, I just wanted everyone to know that my Spanish really has improved a lot since I have been here.

I will be in Spanish grammar class Monday-Thursday from 9:30-11:30 and I have a literature class on Tuesday from 12-2 and Wednesday from 12-1. The literature class is going to be extremely difficult, but I am excited to learn about Literature of Spanish Oral Tradition. I will try and blog more often during the week and update you guys! If you have any questions that you want me to answer on my blog, feel free to e-mail me at [e-mail]

ADIOS AMIGOS!

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