Week 2

Well after 2 essays, a test, and normal homework this week we finally finished the intensive Spanish course! This weekend we are FREE!!! No homework so it's time to "ir de huelga" and met some Spainards in El Barrio.

Gosh, what have I done this week? It's so hard to keep track of time here because I'm almost always busy. Well, on Wednesday we went to a movie that was in spanish called Lope. I really liked it although I didn't understand most of the poetry that was recited in it. It was supposed to be about the life of Lope de Vega the Spanish playwright who was like Spain's Shakespeare. But I think there were plenty of liberties taken with the description of his romances. (Although before the ending credits it did say he fathered 14 children...) Also, it's really cool because with my university card movies are only 5.50 euros which is so much better than the US! On Thursday I went to a close restaurant that I really like to study/practice for my test with a friend. There's an awesome waiter there who speaks English (although I try to only speak to him in Spanish). He's really nice, especially considering that a lot of waiters are somewhat rude to non-Spaniards (they don't have to work for tips). Hopefully I can eventually get to know him and practice my Spanish with him, although he always seems to be the only one working, poor guy.

Then the weekend came finally! On Friday it was Leah's birthday so we had to party it up. (I wrote the first paragraph of this post on Friday.) First, a group of CIEE kids had dinner at an Italian restaurant which was fun especially after they gave us chupitos (shots) and for some reason it hit me right away. So I was totally kinda drunk in the restaurant. But it passed rather quickly...The we went to a few bars in El Barrio. I liked one called Goa where we stayed for a while which had a large space for dancing but wasn't super crowded and we met a few guys. Also, I saw a Spanish guy that I had met the first week and thought I would never see again! It was pretty crazy. Yay small cities. After that bar we went to some near El Casino where we danced..and danced...and danced...and then it was 5:30 am and so we went home. It was tons of fun! I only regretted it a little bit when I had to get up at 10 in the morning to go to el mercadillo. El mercadillo was really cool. It's an open air market with LOTS of stands with fruits and vegetables, and also tons of other random things like clothes (including undies and bras...definitely saw some just hanging up on lines for sale), pillow covers, shoes, bags, table clothes, and random souvenir like stuff. It was also fun because my abuela espanola was there and she is super sweet and funny. Saturday I was pretty tired so I ended up watching a lot of TV. I love how the news is so much more international in Spain than in the US. They talked about 9/11 and the ceremonies quite a bit, but it made me sad because we don't really ever do that for any other country. But anyways, Saturday night was basically a repeat of Friday although this time a few of the Spanish helpers (they are Universidad de Alicante students who work for CIEE) were there too. On Sunday I went to La Playa Arenales with my host family. I enjoyed playing in the waves with my little sisters. This beach was nicer than the one close to my house because there were a lot less people and it was a lot bigger and cleaner. Then today I still didn't have class because CIEE classes don't start until Wednesday. Irene (the oldest of my new sisters) was off too so we did some errands and then made our own jewelery at this cute little shop!

Tomorrow I only have my direct enrollment course (Geography of health and wellbeing) which I am super excited for (although apparently the prof might not even show up). Also, I'm going to a winery with CIEE tomorrow! Woot. We get to taste the wines....ut oh. I might return to Austin a wino. Just kidding. =) Any ways I'm sure that's more than everyone ever wanted to know about what I've been up to. So hasta luego!

Besos y abrazos a todos,
Juleeyah