As per my mother's fervent requests i've decided to update my blog. I'm currently sitting in a cafe, trying to write a paper about French nationality and their attitude toward young migrants in the country. Clearly, i'm really focused on it. I think I wrote a couple months ago that I have been really focused in classes and such, hat however does not apply to my work outside of classes. However I mantain that I cannot help my lack of focus outside class when i'm living in Spain.
I do however really need to be writing this paper, I have put off a lot of my work either because it's been beautiful and sunny or because I've been traveling, and boy have I done a LOT of that. This past weekend I traveled up to the “Costa Brava” through my program for a weekend of visiting smaller towns on the Northern Mediterranean Coast of Spain and the Southern Coast of France, all nestled into the PyreneesMountains. Despite a day or two of wet weather, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking, and the towns absolutely charming. One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the Salvador Dali museum commissioned and designed by Dali himself. If you don’t know Dali…you probably do…he’s the one who painted the Persistence of Memory with all of he melting clocks on trees. Knowing that you can probably imagine what this museum was like, there was no rhyme or reason to it all but the tour guide gave us some interesting insights to his mindset and I found myself having a lot of connections with my own mentalities in some of my artwork. On the last day of the trip we hiked around a small Peninsula of one of the oldest and brightest lighthouses on this Coast. The hike was right along the rocky coastal water front of the Mediterranean and it was completely breathtaking. It wasn’t a very long or difficult hike but I did manage to shake myself loose from my group for a while and take it all in on my own for a little while. I cannot explain how wonderful it felt to feel like I was on the edge of the sea and the world. Basically I just repeated to myself how lucky and blessed I am to be able to be exploring the world an entire ocean away from home.
The weekend before this I was in none other than Paris, France! It was probably one of the best weekends of my life to date. It was such a great journey for me. I managed to make it to Paris by myself to meet my friend Dan who is studying there, and I managed to not get lost or kidnapped or anything! I’m really impressed with myself basically. The night I arrived my friends from school who are studying in London all met up with me there and we spent the weekend together. Honestly I don’t even know who I am to have a weekend rendezvous with some of my best friends in PARIS, FRANCE. I’m the luckiest girl alive, is who I am. We spent most of the weekend seeing some of the most famous sights and scenes in Paris and the WORLD. We went to the Paris catacombs that house more than 6 million bones, the LOURVE, rode a boat on the Seine, saw the Sorbonne, Sacre Couer, the Orsay (home to Monet, Van Gogh, Degas, and Rembrandt among others), Luxemborg Gardens, a million French churches of splendor, the Notre Dame, Victor Hugo’s house, the Arch de Triomphe, and of course…a culminating point in my whole young lifetime…the Eiffel Tower! (not to mention a million little adventures inbetween) I almost cried in the moment that I realized I was looking at the EiffelTower in person, a symbol and icon I’ve known since I was old enough to understand that there are other parts of the world besides Syracuse, NY. Actually, I practically almost cried every 10 minutes I was in Paris. I love it, the culture, the people, the LANGUAGE I’ve always been obsessed with the language, and the sheer oldness of just about everything. That’s the great thing about a city built in the Renaissance, there’s something ornate or some monument or statue or something around just about every corner. I plan to return asap. And the beautiful thing is that yesterday I received a thank you e-mail from Dan’s host mother, who let me stay in her house two days after the other girls left Paris, thanking me for the flamenco jazz cd I brought her and extending an open ended invite to return to Paris. Thanks Edith! Thanks Dan! Paris, I’ll be back again real soon.
Oh wow there’s so much I haven’t written about in here…backtracking further….all the way back to March 16….when I turned 21! I’m officially an adult! So of course what better way to celebrate being an adult than by being a kid. My friends here all took me out to a delicious authentic Mexican dinner, and I purchased my first alcoholic drink as a 21 year old, raspberry mojito anyone? A monumental moment if I say so myself. Of course being a Monday night one would think there wouldn’t be much else to my night….WRONG. When you live in Barcelona here’s always something happening. We managed to all stay out til close to 6am at a bar and local club. So most appropriately, I danced the night away on my birthday. I went home and managed to still get up for my 9am class the next morning…as in a couple of hours later, AND I presented on Barcelona parks for my art history class quite excellently if I do say so myself. See Mom and Dad, look how responsible I am! Haha. There is a note of truth to that however. I have definitely had to be a lot more responsible than I have ever been here. Between just trying to live and problem solve in a country that does not run on my primary language, and trying to maintain a life that is an ocean away. I’m sure I won’t even realize how much this experience has affected me until I am back in the States. And yikes! That’s just over a month away!
On the whole as this semester is winding down I can’t help but fathom at how much time has passed since I’ve been here. It has certainly had it’s ups and downs. Most notably there have been so many moments that I have wondered if Barcelona was the best choice for me. I do not have a lot in common with the majority of the American students on my program. In fact I don’t even like my program that much, it’s extremely large with what I’d now guess to be about 400 students enrolled, and they do a terrible job of integrating us into Spanish society. Not to mention that didn’t allow me to take any classes in Spanish at the level of Spanish I tested into….Advanced Intermediate. It doesn’t make sense. So on that note, I still feel as though my Spanish is extremely primitive, mostly from lack of immersion and practice with it. That is however not to say it hasn’t drastically improved since I have been here. However despite all of this, I have gained some extremely valuable insights and experiences from Barcelona. I have learned to deal with people I don’t like, which is of course going to be an inevitable event in my future life. I’ve had to deal with a lot of cultural differences with Americans almost as much as dealing with the cultural differences with Spaniards, which is something I never expected. From this though I have learned to appreciate people and their mentalities in a new way, and as a result I have met some very interesting people and made some pretty decent friends on the program. On the note about my lack of Spanish immersion I have to think that perhaps I could have studied somewhere in Southern Spain where they don’t speak Catalan, and I for sure would have had much more daily Spanish exposure…however, I would not have had the experience of living in a Big International city. Being in this city has taught me a lot on the front of multiple cultures, not just Spanish. I have the pleasure of being immediately surrounded by it seems like 20 different languages a day from all tourists all over Barcelona, surrounded by the culture of travel and international business and ever continued modernization. Honestly this city may not be drenched in constant historical contexts, or have museums full of renaissance art, but it creates its own culture just simply by being one of the most international cities in the world. So I could be upset and regret that I haven’t learned as much Spanish as I’d hoped, or that I haven’t found a passionate Spanish boyfriend, or become a pro flamenco dancer, but instead I whole heartedly am thankful that I was able to come to Barcelona and experience life in a bustling city of such a diverse array of life. Besides, if I didn’t come on this program I couldn’t really have studied abroad at all, so you know, you play the hand you’re given right?
Continuing on my European journey, I will embark for Italy in about 2 days. I will be there for 10 days with Sarah Nagle and hopefully will see the ladies from London as they will also be in Italy at the same time. I’m mostly and shock and disbelief that this is happening, and cannot wait to step foot into Rome and the Vatican city. Not to mention the fact that we’re hitting up Florence, Pisa, Arezzo, and Venice….Sarah and I plan to pinch each other for 10 days straight just to make sure it’s all real. It’s really excited however, mildly to muchly stressful. While it is Spring Break for us, there’s stillalot of work for me to be done after I return, because when I return I will only have 2 more weeks of classes, and just about all of my work will be due then. Not to mention all the work going into planning a 10 day vacation in 4 major cities. So everyone is kind of stressed out but that is life, and I’m slowly learning to take it all in stride. Stress is probably the number one killer in humans, heart attacks and disease and all that is the byproduct. I’m working on less stress in my life, which is inversely related to the amount of procrastination and laziness I upkeep. Good thing I tried to give up procrastination for Lent…ha ha. I’m trying though I swear!
Anywho i’m off to finish these papers before class, and a little field visit to the Basque representative party in Barcelona, should definitely be interesting! So here you go, a nice little novel, hope you’re all awake and could make it past my 8 billion typos in here, I don’t really have the time to reread through this whole thing. Sorry I’ve been so not intouch with my journal, because it’s obvious that as soon as I begin writing I can’t stop. OH and I forgot to mention that Maria an Andrew will be going to almost the same place in Italy, except we will be missing each other by a DAY. How absolutely crazy is that? Anyway I told her that we’re going to compare and contrast stories the next family holiday we’re together. OH MAN IM SO LUCKY TO BE HERE!!!! Pinch me!
This past weekend I was in Barcelona, and for whatever reasons, spent the majority of it in bed. And the whole time I was in my bed all I could think was that I was in my bed and i´m in Barcelona, this is wrong. Nevertheless I could not get myself to remove my body from it and place it into a pair of shoes that would take me out the door. Mind you I didn´t spend the whole weekend there. I did manage to get out with some of my friends to a wonderfully atmosphered jazz club on Friday and on Saturday I spent Valentine´s with 3 ladies at a Mexican restaurant and one strong round of drinks. Sunday however, I did not leave.
Thus by the time Monday morning rolled around I think I had had enough of my own reclusive and inexplicable depressed attitutde that I decided to teach myself a lesson, and enjoy myself. I could not tell you why or what exactly invoked a change in me but I felt pretty pleasant and careless. During my classes I was shocked at the amount of attention and care I had in my classes. During my break during the day I sat in a big squashy armchair in a café next to the huge picture window and just sank in to the rhythmic motions of people passing by me on the other side of the glass. If I was a person on display in the big window neither party noticed much, and I contentedly sat and read about French citizenship laws all morning pausing to reflect on notions pertaining to my academics and future interests. I really truly enjoy all of my classes here and I cant say why. Some of the material I have already covered before even but now here in Spain I have this renewed interest in it. Maybe it is the fact that I am living in a place where the implementation of the things I learn is actually present. Just last week they arrested 10 men in Barcelona suspected of al-queda connections (don´t worry, there was no evidence of plans in the works). Then there are the radicals in the Basque region just to the west of here in the group ETA, that are active with their terrorist actions right now. These things that I have learned about from my safe classroom in America are real and present here, yet people still live their daily lives without constant fear. And even with that notion, im in Western Europe, it is by no means a dangerous and unstable area. Yet it is still s different from the U.S.
Yesterday I decided for the first time to walk home from school. I looked at a map before I departed and realized that it is just about a straight shot from school to home. From start to finish i´d imagine it should take about 50 minutes or an hour but I was dilly dallying so it took me a lot longer. The walk was pleasant, and it encompasses a trot through the fashion district with stores like Burberry and Gucci and turns into a much smaller street which I have deemed my favorite street in Barcelona to date. It is a typical street in La Gracía, the burough if you will, in which I live in and it is a very family oriented neighborhood with lots of young people. The street has tons of little stores and cheap cafes, which isnt out of the ordinary for Barcelona, so i´m not really entirely sure what made me love it so much. Maybe the combination of the narrow street, the sun, and some trees that actually had leaves on them, and perhaps that added dash of exploration and discovery put me in a good mood for the duration of my stroll. I ended my journey with a quick stop at the Farmacía to buy some more toothpaste since my little travel size finally ran out. I was pleasantly surprised when after a quick conversation about my bad habit of not spending my change yet always accumulating it led, the cashier to offer to change it all into bills for me. It was an interesting juxtaposition to the other day when I misunderstood the cashier at my local grocery 3 times, and she ultimately frustratedly thurst my change and receipt into my hand before I shamedly walked out the door. But yes for whatever reasons this week the sun was shining on my back and I was very pleased.
I hope that these feelings are an indication of the fact that i´m finally letting go and just accepting that my days will be jarred with moments of uncertainty. that I will probably spend a lot more time with my own self and mind in this semester than with other people in the grander sense. that it is a good idea to strike up conversation with whomever even if neither of you can understand each other very well. and that this semester can be full of surprises if I let them surprise me. More or less I realized that I need to stop trying so hard to make things happen and let them happen to me. The favorite word among the people here is Tranquilo...and people use it to say Don´t worry, and I believe it has become my favorite word too!
I ought to write in here more, sorry everybody! Which reminds me of one more little thing. Being here in Spain has ingratied in me a sense of wonder and yearning for travel and discovery more than I thought was ever possible. There is so much I want to see. But at the same exact time it has really made me appreciate everything that I have at home with me in Syracuse and in Rochester. I miss everyone at home and I think have only come to appreciate my relationships with the people there more. So mom, stop worrying so much, I promise i´ll come home to you, at least for a little while...
...Morocco?? Yes. So I know that Morocco is technically in Africa and all, but it's not real Africa. Just a European subdivision. And I am headed there tomorrow on what may be the most spontaneous trip I have ever endeavored. I'll be there til Sunday with 4 of my friends from the program and I am extremely excited and also a little bit nervous. The plan was as spontaneous as walking past a travel agent store front, strolling in, and telling the lovely agent that we'd like to go somewhere this weekend. anywhere, to be exact. And Marrakesh it was! And so in a matter of an hour I went from having a weekend with no prospects due to a fieldtrip cancellation, to having a full 3 days and nights set to go for me in Morocco. Boy I love travel agents. I am sure it will be an amazing time and Morocco was definitely on a list of places to go here. SWEET.
In other news, I realized that I haven't been posting any news on here. That may be partially due to the fact that I purchased a rather adorable little journal at an adorable little corner shop in an adorable winding alley with an adorably aging man with crooked specs. And since then I have been writing most of my thoughts in it. I'm sorry! I also just realized that people can post comments on here, which I was completely oblivious to...so those of you who have posted, thank you for reading my journal! And I will respond in the future. I hope you are all well : )
Onto a little recap here...Tomorrow marks my 3rd complete week in Barcelona, and I'm already beginning to forget what it was like pre-Barcelona. My complete fear to even move around the city and use my spanish is only vaguely clear in my mind now. Yet I know for fact how potent it was just 3 weeks ago. My spanish is also definitely improving. I find myself just saying small phrases and responses in spanish without thinking about it at all. Things like, "i don't know," "i'm sorry," "I like that," etc just come out in spanish. I've also gotten a lot of remarks from friends at home about the rapid deterioration of my spelling and grammar skills. Still, I don't feel as though the language immersion is intense enough. Partially because I don't read spanish everyday. Everything is written in the Catalan language here in Barcelona. Which i'd love to learn but I need to learn spanish first. Mostly because all of my classes are in english! It's very frustrating because before I started classes my spanish was making leaps and bounds and now I feel as though it has tapered off. I guess I just have to put a lot of time in on my own.
Speaking of classes. They are pretty good. Even though they are all in english it's good to know spanish because the language barrier gets a little fuzzy with a lot of my professors at times. And despite the lectures being maybe a little dry, the subject material is all very interesting on me. Right now i'm taking a comparative class on Catalan Nationalism, Politics of the Mediterranean countries, a class about Migration, and a class about the construction and planning of Barcelona, in addition to my spanish class. My favorite thing about my classes has to be the little quirks that each of my professors possess. My spanish professor is hilarious and was definitely meant for the stage, and is constantly acting out the words we don't understand in spanish, and is ALWAYS playing something on youtube for us. The other day he randomly showed us a video he acted in which one of his teenage children must have made. It was an incredible experience. My migration professor is legitimately crazy. He is an american trying way too hard to be european. And is very anal retentive about conduct in his classroom. I don't dare walk in there late. I also suspect that he doesn't actually speak spanish very well. When he was trying to pronounce some Argentinian names and tripped over them a bit and ended his thoughts with "I have trouble when switching languages." Yeah, okay. you're not fooling anyone! My art history professor is she insanely cute with her language barrier issues, and we spend all class looking at pictures of the world she has taken herself more or less. Makes class time at least a little more interesting, and allows me to be a bit forgiving when the hour and a half long classes start crawling.
Outside of class....I have two roommates now! They moved in a week ago today. I was initially upset about my space being interrupted and losing all of my face time with my host mom, because we had become close, and also because i had grown perfectly fine with traveling places on my own. They're move-in at the beginning felt mildly like an invasion I suppose. However, they are both surprisingly nice. Surprising because I had low expectations. But I think that everyone is a bit happier with a little more life in the house. It is still a bit weird because they ere an inclusive set when they arrived and still are, but have taken care to ask me how I am from time to time. Appreciated : ) Other than that home life is just dandy and I definitely don't think i'm going to lose any weight in this place. I am also beginning to want a dog. real bad. Pancho is adorable and a lot of times I just walk him myself when Maria is running late or something. We are pals, Pancho and I. Pals because he helps me pick up cute Spanish men on the street....just kidding!
I'll post some pictures on here from my recent travels around the city. During the week I like to amble around town when I don't have class. (Clearly, I am doing so much studying here.) The city is really beautiful. I was very skeptical at first I suppose because I don't have much to compare it with. But I get the feeling that when I leave is going to be the point at which I actually realize what a great city i've been living on.
Until then I might try to get some sleep tonight. I'm not actually sure when Barcelonians sleep. I mean I usually finish dinner by 11:00 and I wake up at 7:30 every day to go to class. And I clearly don't sleep immediately following dinner. I mean a lot of people do this! Crazy! Anywho, sleep tonight, class in the morning, Morocco by tomorrow night!!
In regards to the title of this post, there seems to be a trend in the names of places I find myself in...revolving around the theme of cats. Els Quatre Gates ( a catalan name) by the way is a famous restaurant where Piccasso used to hang out. Sweeet! This title of course has nothing to do with the entry really. Just a few places i've been in the past couple days.
In a continued theme of trends and observations about Barcelona: The music. I have heard very few of the classical and traditional tinny and classical guitar towns I supposed would be normal for Spain. How easily I forget I reside in a cosmopolitan city. Everyone here listens to american music. Not really sure why. I suppose a good majority of the youth of Spain understand some english, though in my travels I have not met very many people here who have a good grasp of english or at least to understand lyrics of a song. For instance the other day my host mom had the tv on and Celine Dion was on. She mentioned that she loved Celine Dion despite the fact that she couldn't understand any of the lyrics? Sometimes I chuckle because she is so like my mom, only 2 years apart. Scary, really.
Everyone here looks so cool. Seriously. If they are not dressed incredibly smart or sophisticated, they are pulling off this awesome alternative look, complete with dreads. And then here I am. Honestly, for the past week and a half i've been here I have felt incredibly uncomfortable with my appearance and existence in the city. I've been trying incredibly hard to blend in with the people of Barcelona. But I think it hit me that I might never do that, so I should just be who I am and go with the flow. It's kind of a scary experience to be such a minority. And a bit embarassing. I guess the easiest way to be okay would be to blend in. I'm not so sure anymore. I do know that the hardest part of overcoming that particular insecurity has been curbing my ridiculous want to buy all of the cute clothes and leather boots found on every street corner in this city. However I must remind myself that there are more important things to spend money on here in Europe. haha.
On a high note, these past couple of days have been really fun. I finally found the courage to leave my nest and do some moving around the city by myself. It's been so hard to find this courage because I am further out in the city than most of the students in my program and am without a roommate. Thus doing anything when I am not already with kids from my class, means doing it alone. The upside of this is that I have really formed a good relationship with my host mom, and I know we agree on that sentiment. The downside has been a real hard time establishing good relationships with other students in my program. But right, on Thursday my host mom took me to see a movie with her. It was very nice of her to offer me her second ticket, and so we went. The movie was however in french, with spanish subtitles. Additionally, we met up with some of her friends there who all speak catalan. The movie was one of those abstract artsy movies and was pretty good. I was just proud I understood some of the jokes. However by the end of the night my head was swimming with all the languages I had heard and used that day, being english, spanish, french, and catalan. ay dios mios.
Friday was a fun day, and I suprisingly found myself spending the afternoon with an acquaintance from school who is really to be thanked for bringing me out of my funk here in Spain. He made me realize that even though I may not be best friends with anybody here I don't need to be. It's all about being in the moment and just becoming one with the situation you are in. I just need to let go my uneasiness about the people i'm surrounded with and take it for all that is. And SO Friday night I finally went out. Yes, yes, I know I have been here for over a week but okay so I went out. Ridiculously fun. The nightlife here is amazing. We went to a place called Chupitos (which is the spanish word for shots) where they had at least 200+ kinds of shots. To name a few we tested, Topless, Harry Potter, Finding Nemo...etc etc. At around 2:00 we headed to Catwalk a nightclub, which of course was playing copious amounts of american music. At the end of the night (4:00am for me and pretty early by spanish standards) my feet were tired from my furious dancing skills and I hailed a cab back to my barrio all by myself! The cab ride home was pleasant, I was just bold enough to hold a conversation with my cabbie about what else...the weather...the economic crisis...and of course our president-elect mr. obama! A good night I plan to repeat.
Today I got up and did some sight seeing around the city (pictures to follow) and I think I might just be falling in love with the city! It really is an experience for me to live in a big city because I have never lived in a situation like this at all. I'm not sure I will ever want to either, I know that I do like to have nature so eminent around me. But I feel like there is no better time like the present, when I am young, to go live in a big city. Tomorrow there is more touring on deck for me. But I think i'll get started a bit earlier tomorrow before the cold starts to bite again.
Monday starts classes and I am surprisingly excited. I guess probably for the fact that it's a chance to meet more people. aaah, I hope 4 months doesn't go by too quickly! Though my host mom reminds me every day that I will blink and it will be gone.
This is my host mom's dog, named Pancho! The famed Sagrada Familia by architect and artist Antoni Gaudi! a little closer. This is Tibidabo, and is one of the highest points in the city that is home to this beautiful cathedral and an amusement park, all in one! I plan to return. And apparently this part of Barcelona is featured in that movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona. This is a view from atop the cathedral. The day today was a bit hazy and the church stone is so white that it almost felt like floating on a cloud today. And here is another view from Tibidabo, with me. Just to prove that I am in fact here in Barcelona!
Hola everybody! I have been in Spain for about a week now and I decided that is probably a good idea to start a blog (albeit a little late). For those of you who do not know, I am studying in Barcelona for the spring semester and will be in this lovely mediterranean location until May. Here I am studying local and regional politics along with the spanish language, as well as taking some time to admire the beautiful architectural and art history of Barcelona! Hopefully this blog will keep everyone updated and in contact with me because I have a tendency to be pretty bad with staying in touch over long distances. But nevertheless, here is my blog for the duration of my stay in Spain! The journey to Spain was long and tiring. The morning I was to begin my trip I barely spoke to my parents for fear I might just throw up if I tried to say anything. Sorry Mom, Dad, i'm pretty sure you knew I was nervous and not trying to ignore you! So between Syracuse, O'Hare, London, and BCN, airports I lost and found my cell phone, found and spent some time with a friend from school (Leah Taylor!), learned that I am easily preoccupied, and spent about 28 hours altogether in a plane or waiting for one to arrive/be fixed and about 3 hours actually sleeping. I am not a great flier. When I arrived at the airport in Barcelona all my nervousness was replaced by relief that I didn't have to spend more time in airport. From there my trip to my homestay was quite hysterical because it is a testament to my naivety about my trip. No my taxi driver didn't speak english, nor did he know where my homestay was actually located. Long story short, between some shotty exchanges of my rusty spanish, and some prior knowledge from googlemaps, I finally made it to my homestay. And just in time to meet my host mother walking down the street with her dog! What a scene, me trudging up the 45 degree street with my massive suitcases, and my madre coming down the street at the same moment. We meet, we exchange dos besos (kisses) and then I realize she speaks abslolutely no english! surprise! Boy was I naive. That night I settled into my room a bit uneasy, realizing later on that I would also have no roommate, because for one reason or another she decided not to come here this semester. That first night was the hardest. There as absolutely no way to establish a connection to home. Not even with language. The next morning I awoke to my senora softly knocking on my door to wake me up for my orientation meeting. I had no idea where I was or why someone was speaking to me in Spanish. Day two. Round two. I managed to have the good fortune of meeting two american girls who showed me to the metro and ti Placa Catalunya (about 4 metro stops away) which is where my program center is. The metro is really simple to use but the first time I rode it back to my homestay alone I was a complete wimp about it. And that is a good example of how things have been going for me. As I said i've been here for about a week now. My homestay is great. I believe I lucked out with my senora, my madre, because she is really accepting and patient of our language barrier. She also understands what is like to have your family so far away. For me, having never traveled overseas, or been away from my family for a very long time, she has been a blessing. We have a dog named Pancho who is still a puppy, and we spend a lot of time talking and cooking and playing with Pancho. I am completely comfortable here. It is however a different story when I leave the building. haha. The biggest problem is not having a roommate because any traveling I do to and from the big centers for school or entertainment must be done on my own. But as with everything, there is a first time for everything and then it is smooth sailing from there. This week I have had spanish classes and orientation events everyday. And in my free time i've been able to go shopping and see some of the most famous sights in Barcelona. We have already had a little excursion to the medieval towns of Besalu and Vic. And I have had some time to explore a little bit of Park Guell, which I live very close to. It is a very famous park with architecture by Gaudi. I plan to spend a lot of time there, as it has nice architecture as well as a great view of the city and sea. hooray! Next week starts the real work, when all my other classes start, but for now I am content to wander around the city making a complete fool of myself when I need to buy anything or ask anybody a question. Really, feeling like a fool has become a full-time job for me. Tomorrow I have plans to get up a bit early and buy some cute boots and a few more stylish articles of clothing. As it were, I may never blend in with the Spanish people if not for my complexion/hair/eyes, but because the Spanish people are endlessly stylish. It is immediately known that I am not european as soon as you look at what I wear. So that is my my goal. I only have my spanish class tomorrow and then the afternoon and evening are free. How glorious. I love not having every hour of my day scheduled, like is usual for me. I also however have no idea how to fill the time. But I suppose that is the beauty of it! So for now I am going to bed and looking back I realize that this entry hardly covers everything that happened in a week and I probably should have started this blog earlier...but alas. I am in Spain, and I am alive and well! and really cannot believe I am here! More to come, stay tuned!
