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Published: September 7th 2011
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This morning began with an early morning run around 8. Right before my roommate and I left to go running, we decided to do a little pre-running warm up dance that we like to call La Cucaracha. It goes a little something like this: bend over to put on your tennis shoe, throw your shoe across the room, move your legs up and down one at a time as if the floor is made of hot coals and scream "CUCARACHA!". Then, your partner should proceed to stomp one foot over many areas of the floor as if he or she is trying to squish la cucaracha. For those of you know don't know what a cucaracha is, it means cockroach. This is the second time Hayley and I have done that dance since we have been here. Once the crisis was averted, we proceeded to go on our run on the sidewalk alongside the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful.
Every day here is a cultural life lesson. One of girls from our group who has been having a difficult time adjusting was enjoying our run until she was nearly run over by a man riding a bicycle. He ran into her
and stopped to avoid a collision with my roommate who had been a few feet ahead. Instead of apologizing for running into or not warning my friend that he was approaching her (which is customary for person in the United States) he yelled at her that it was dangerous to run near the bike path. I thought she would be feeling less of a culture shock than the rest of us, because she has studied abroad before and is one of the stronger and more stoic members of our group, so I was surprised when she began to cry out of frustration. It made me realize how much weight is on our shoulders as foreigners and how difficult is has been and will continue to be, especially with the things that seem so insignificant, like getting use to people being rude and less accommodating than they are in the United States. We have a daily battle with the language barrier, because even though we are all good at Spanish, every detail matters when we are in an academic setting or in a house with other people.
Hayley and I constantly go over conversations that we had with our host
family to make sure we heard them correctly and don't leave room for misunderstanding. It is exhausting to say the least, but we wouldn't have it any other way. We have learned more in the past seven days with our host family about culture and vocabulary than we have ever learned in a text book. We have learned to adapt, improvise, ask for help, and push ourselves harder than we have ever had to in the United States. Despite the paradise we are staying in, this is not a vacation for us... it is our life and our home for the next four months. What we learn from this experience will stay with us forever.
Today we went to the Torre Tavira, the highest lookout tower in the city at 34.55 meters above street level. When you climb the steps inside the tower to the second to highest floor, you are taken into a room where you stand in a circle around a large pensive which serves as a lens that allows visitors to have a 360 degree view of the city as if they were looking down on it from a helicopter. They can focus and navigate throughout
the entire city. You can even see the people on the streets as they walk by. It is a difficult thing to describe, but take my word for it when I say it was one of the incredible things I have ever seen. Before leaving, you climb one more flight of stairs to the roof, where you can see all of Cadiz. I want to live in the Torre Tavira!
After the Torre Tavira we went to the Cathedral of Cadiz, which took 116 years to finish! It is a beautiful mix of Baroque and Neoclassic style.
For the rest of the day I have been sitting in a quiet little cafe studying my vocabulary and grammar for tomorrow's class. That is all I have for today, thank you to all of you who care enough to take time out of your day to read these blogs. Adios!
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