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Published: January 23rd 2009
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This is from the other night when we chilled on the beach, I just stole it of facebook today. Thursday January 22—This day started a little different than normal. Usually I take the 24 bus to campus, which is about 5 minute walk from mi casa, but it’s about a 40 minute ride to campus and is packed. So, today I decided to take the 36 bus with John, a CIEE friend, to campus, it is more direct by taking only 15 minutes, but comes only once an hour instead of every 5 minutes. We had taken the 36 home the day before, but finding the bus stop is harder than getting off a bus, but we did finally find it after a little walking. This bus route was a lot faster; however, I don’t think I will take it in the mornings because on the 24 I get to talk to more of my friends during the ride. This got me to thinking, back in the US, we all drive to work and most of us do this alone because it’s the easiest and fastest way to get to work. However, this is a horrible thing, not only for our environment and budgets, but also for our social lives. I mean, millions of Americans spend hours in a car a day alone when they could be spending it with others. Yea, carpools are a hassle, but wouldn’t it be more fun or at the very least, more interesting to ride to work with others just a few days a week? One could respond, well that’s why everyone talk on the cell phone while driving (I’m a big one for calling friends on long solo drives), but there is just something about having other people in a car. Just a thought. As for the rest of my day, school went well. The four hours of class went by fast and I enjoyed my hour break with a friend over coffee. I then spent the afternoon/night studying for my mid-term, which is Friday.
Friday January 23—I did take the 24 today and enjoyed time packed in with Spaniards and friends. Today was my first big day because it was the day of my midterm. Some of you might be wondering how I could have a midterm when I have been here less than 2 weeks (yea, I’ve not been in Spain that long, but it feels like I have been here for months, in a good way). Well, the first two weeks of class is called an intensive Spanish course designed to help us survive Spain and to prepare us for the language courses we start Feb 2. Basically, it takes a semester length course and compacts it down to two weeks. I don’t even get credit for this course because I took an intensive Spanish course first semester freshman year, which met for 4 hours a week, now this course meets for 4 hours a day, just to give you a sense of how hard the course is and how much homework I get a night. But back to the midterm, there was a grammar, oral, listening and writing part. The hardest was the listening part, but when I did the oral part the professor said that I did very well and gave me a 8.5/10, which in Spain is really good because rarely do they give A’s. Although I had prepared for this test very thoroughly, even working with my host brother on the writing part the night before, it help to confirm that I was correct in getting moved up to the middle language level. I will admit though, that the professor said that this was the easiest test we’ll have all year, so I guess I will have to work even harder in the future. After class, I signed up for a tapas cooking class and a Latin dance class, which only cost 15 Euros because CIEE covered part of the cost. I figured that these classes will be a fun thing to do on nights and seeing that they are located downtown, will be a fun reason to get out at night. I’ll let you know how these go because I can neither cook nor dance, so it should be interesting. Then, myself and other CIEE student went to the beach and just chilled. It was suppose to be 79 and sunny, but it ended up being about 70 and extremely windy, so instead of playing volleyball we all just sat on the rocks around the pier and talked. It was a good way to end our first week of classes and relax after the exam. I did make it back for lunch and a nap, followed by going to the neighborhood park to read The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. I’ll save my comments on this book until I finish it, but thanks Mom for such an inspirational Christmas gift. For the rest of the night, I plan on continuing to allow myself to mess around on the internet and listening to English music (during the week, I mostly listen to classical or Spanish music) before hanging out with friends after supper.
Side note: While reading this afternoon I decided that I am going to add some of my thoughts and conclusions to this blog instead of just my daily activities, like the whole bus thing. I know that this will make my entries longer, but it is kind of boring to write only about what I did during the day. I hope you enjoy them!
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Lisa
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Thoughts
I really do enjoy the comments - makes it more you. In fact, the other day I was walking back to my apartment or else somewhere in Appleton (doesn't matter, I digress)... but I couldn't help but think in this extremely cold weather how homeless people do it... so random thoughts are really interesting! Keep enjoying yourself!