My Life In Spain: almost better.

my leg and bites are almost gone... they are shrinking by the day thanks to some magical spanish cream.

i am not in the habit of taking twice as long to write my blog because i have to erase every other word after i misspell it. spanish has taken a toll on my english spelling and i try to leave out letters (letres en español) or putting in extras (action in spanish is acción). anyhow, i would like to thank grandma and all others who wrote comments about how stupid i am for staying in that stinky hostel and acquiring bumps. (sarcasm, but thanks, at least i know you are reading about my stupidity) i already heard long lectures from my spanish parents that i need to search very hard for a good ¨albergue¨ to stay in if i got to france this weekend. they keep telling me the same things, and it´s the one thing that i continually want to smack them about.

i made a mistake, yes. but does that make me a total idiot, NO. at least that´s what i want to believe. i get the point, spanish parents! i will not stay in another cheap hostel in my life, whether you lecture me or not! sheesh. i do learn from my mistakes.

anyhow, all else is well, for the most part. i still sat there on the bus this morning at amazement at the fact that i´m in spain. i just cannot seem to grasp the fact that this is really happening, that i am really doing this. this is just crazy. i don´t know why it´s so strange for me still. i´m used to life here for the most part, my spanish is getting better, but i still cannot believe these things are happening to me.

i have an exam thursday, and i believe another on monday and another on tuesday. i am beyond lost in the class with the exam this thursday, but i think with some studying, i´ll be able to figure it all out. the clarity has been emerging from the dark whole that seems to be my brain nowadays.

the thing is, i have been doing well in my classes (i think... wé haven´t had many grades yet), but i do a smaller amount of homework than usual because
a. i think they don´t give us THAT much
and
b. i would rather spend my time speaking with my family in spanish because i learn a lot more from that than looking at and translating a bunch of bookwork.

i have also dedicated large amounts to reading my one english book that i brought with me, so i hope when i finish that, i will have less distractions. i will just have to wait to read more english books till I come back because i think it is hindering my spanish learning by making me think too much in english about it.

i finished my ridiculous scholarship application for stupid scripps j. school. they are making me mail it over because they need my freakin signature to ¨confirm¨ that i will write thank you notes for any scholarships that i may receive. it´s a bunch of junk, i´ll tell you. this is a big deal here. i had to find a place to print the application, i have to go buy and envelope, go inside the post office to somehow figure out how to ask for a stamp, how to mail to the united states, etc. all for stupid scripps school who cannot accept an emailed application from a busy student studying abroad. i guess they will do anything to make their selection process easier. and there´s my daily rant.

but really, i´m not in a bad mood, as much as this blog entry may make me seem!

today i worked on a group presentation that will take place tomorrow, and i think we are going to be fine. i´m also still rejoicing from this amazing waffle i ate yesterday.

kristen and i went into cafe di roma, where we ordered, get this... waffles with hot fudgy chocolate, whipped cream, and vanilla gelato on top. i pretty much was so happy i wanted to die. and then i ordered hot chocolate, which, coincidentally, happened to be a melted chocolate bar. i have never drank chocolate so thick in my life. in fact, i felt the heart attack forming. but whatever, i swam for a hour that morning and i´m not depriving myself of sweets just because i´m in spain.

so when you go to spain, order un gofre con chocolate y nata and another gofre con helado, and you will probably just want to die of happiness like i did. unless you are a normal person who is not dependent on desserts like i am.

for all the perrysburgers out there reading this (knee, possibly?), there is a girl in my program named kate who went to perrysburg, and we did all the normal perrsyburg gossip, which i thought you would appreciate.

and noodle, my friend kristen here did go to hubbard (i think that´s the name) and we talked all the youngstown gossip too. i guess it is a small world after all.

my spanish mom has taught me that french people are pretty much alcoholics who are unhappy with their lives. maybe that is a generalization, but that´s pretty much what she said. they drink a ton in their houses and made trips to spain for the cheap tobacco and alcohol.

another random fact? the spanish kids here learn the form of english that they use in england, not in the united states. i thought that was weird... but i guess it´s the same. i learned spanish of south american countries, not spanish of spain. and there are very big differences, some of which i didn´t even know until i got here. in spain, they use a lot more informal verbs, different vocab for certain things, and have a very different dialect, to simplify it.

my spanish dad is watching some horrible movie with lots of monster noises and i kinda want to end this blog so i can leave the room.

goodnight!

p.s. my spanish friends and i at bar los portales.