Second Week of Classes (2nd semester)

2:39am

Hola!

Today began the second week of classes. Melanie and I are continuing to walk to school in the mornings and ride the public bus back home. We leave about 8:00am and school begins at 9:00am. We usually run into other people in our group in the mornings as we all make the trek to save a bit of money. I also buy a 10 trip bus pass for 6.50 instead of 1 euro per ride.

After school Mel and I watched some TV and then when the stores reopened at 5:00pm, we went shopping and explored some new tiendas here. We have a new obsession with an Indian store tucked a few feet behind the main road. One of our friends found a very cute elephant purses there, and with Mel’s elephant obsession, we decided to stop by. My hippie style must have surfaced, as I wanted at least ten items in the store, 8 of which were too big to carry back to the US. Nonetheless, I found great presents for friends that do not weight a lot and will not take up too much room in the suitcase. I already have to buy a second suitcase for my gifts. It’s just too much fun buying gifts for people.

We had a true American dinner tonight consisting of chicken thighs, patatas fritas (French fries) and cut up tomatoes with olive oil. Mel and I felt like we were back in the states and continued to celebrate the fourth of July with our US menu. We are going to cook our family an American meal the day before we leave. The tentative menu so far is dirty rice (a famous recipe of my mom) and apple pie, which is our madre’s favorite. Our padre mentioned bourbon, yes it came from left field. If you have any suggestions on classic US dishes that we should make our family, respond to this post or send me an e-mail.

My Spanish skills are going in waves. Today I could not get a word out it seemed as at lunch I was saying a story about having a wife when I meant to say husband. The words are similar (esposo or esposa). At dinner, when talking about my boyfriend, the padre quickly corrected me saying that I have a girlfriend in remembrance of my mistake earlier. I will not let the incorrect gender be spoken from now on.

After dinner I went out with a group of friends to a Spanish restaurant here and then to the local Panaderia, which is a small bar with many locals that stays open late. One of the girls in our group was fortunate to have her boyfriend come visit her while she is here. He is being shown the Madrid and Amsterdam area in one week! Good luck…

It’s late and I’m heading to bed. Tomorrow we meet with our conversation partners again. I hope to have my Spanish back. We also have midterms on Thursday, already! I look forward to having them behind me so I can enjoy the weekend.

Hasta luego amigos!
Kristina