Hola!
Here I am in Spain. I've spent exactly one month and three days here and, as of now, have written exactly three sentences in my blog. I've gotten a few complaints (oh hey, caro and court), so, this means I'm going to have to catch you all up (whoever you all are) in a very short amount of time and space. Here goes:
The last month has been full of approximately 1 million new experiences, surprises, etc...so I apologize in advance for the haphazard nature of this entry.
I arrived in Madrid at 10am on February 4th more jet-lagged than I have ever felt in my life. Luckily, I was oined on the last leg of my journey--atlanta to madrid--by my friend Zoe who also goes to Whitman and is studying on the same program in Córdoba (note here: for those of you who don't know Zoe, I'm going to assume in the following posts that you do). We somehow managed to get our tired bodies and enormous suitcases out of the airport and found ourselves an overpriced airport shuttle into downtown Madrid where we planned to stay with our friend Dorian for a few days until we left for Córdoba. The next few days we spent in Madrid are extremely hazy. Let's just say, they involved a lot of sleep, tiny sandwiches, a bit of walking around, more sleeping (this time in a park), and dreading the Spanish lifestyle of coming back from clubs between 6 and 7 am (a lifestyle, I might at, to which we are now quite accustomed).
Exactly one month ago today, we packed up our bags again and, after coffee and delicious breakfast courtesy of Middlebury, and various boring safety briefings (terrible word choice, they were anything but brief) we got on the train to Córdoba, this time with the other 5 girls from our tiny program. The next few days were a bit hellish. We took on the daunting task of finding 7 rooms in 7 different apartments (per Middlebury requirements which say we all need to live separately) with the help of only one Middlebury employee: a student here named Jose who has since become a close friend. Apartment hunting mid-school year was one of the more stressful things I have ever done and involved more than one apartment reeking of tobacco and even a hospital visit.
I don't want to bore anyone with little details, so let's just say a week later we were all settled and not really ready to start classes (which we did anyway). Classes are not the best, but easy enough to understand. So far I've had very little work for any of them (which has been wonderful, but worries me a bit about when finals roll around). I am still working on getting an internship with an organization called Córdoba Acoge which helps local immigrants. My interview is this coming Thursday, so more on that later.
I've managed to squeeze in a few touristy things since I've been here. We went to visit el Alkázar the first week here, which it turns out was the palace (ok, can't remember if it was a palace, so we'll just say "place") where Isabella and Ferdinand gave Christopher Columbus (or Cristobal Colón) permission and presumably funding for his journey to America! I also went on a fascinating tour of La Mezquita (the second largest mosque in the world, which is actually now a Cathedral...I recently found out that it is extremely illegal for Muslims to pray there, despite the building's history). I also now have three weekend trips under my belt! The first, to Málaga, was a Middlebury-organized trip and hence a bit tedious. The whole day was very planned out meaning we didn't even get to go to the gorgeous beach! Although we did see an ancient Roman theater, which I guess is also cool. Haha. The second trip was to the countryside (a little village called Espiel, where our aforementioned friend Jose invited us to come spend the weekend with his friends and family). That trip was much less regimented and involved a bit of hiking, and a LOT of drinking (sorry mommy!), but with very beautiful scenery. I just returned from the third trip, which was to Cádiz for CARNAVAL which was certainly a "experience." I wish I could put up photos now (of carnaval and everything else) but I am waiting for my camera cord, sent by my lovely mother, to arrive in 2 weeks. Carnaval was out of control. Thousands (like MANY thousands) of people everywhere in the most elaborate costumes I have ever seen anyone of my age group wear. One thing my American friends and I wee quick to note, was that girls here don't go for the slutty/sexy costume look that many American girls tend to shoot for. When I say all out, I mean they were dressed as cows and wearing onesies and face paint. Perhaps the most surprising thing about our trip to Cádiz (from the American perspective) is that our bus left at 6:30pm from Córdoba, getting us to Cádiz around 11pm and then leaving Cádiz at 6:30am to return us to Córdoba around 11am. People, that is more than 8 hours of bus for less than 8 hours of party!!
Ok, almost done. You all are caught up until yesterday morning, and all I've done since then is recover fom my night of zero sleep. All that's left are a few comments on spanish things in general.
The other day I ad to write an essay for my Spanish language class on culture shock "el choque cultural") and I was surprised by the number of things I could think of to write on. I expected zero culture shock here. First, because I have already lived in Spain, and second because it's a developed nation, Europe is similar to the US, blah, blah, blah...I'm sure countless things will occur to me later that I should have added here, but here are a few gems:
First, the male style. I have never been anywhere where it is more acceptable for straight men to spend as much, if not more, time grooming themselves than women. Nearly every spanish friend I have made uses some sort of product (namely) gel in his hair on a regular basis and is extremely protective of his carefully constructed hairstyle (i.e. don't touch it!). I even have a friend here (who shall remain unnamed) who told us he waxes his legs during the summer, and could not understand why we fond that unusual.
Second, just a little tidbit I've found here. Drinking and driving does not seem to be a huge deal. Spain has long had very strict rules on the use of cell phones while driving and, as a result, most people will willingly drive with an open 40 (or litro) in the car, but will ignore a ringing cell phone or hand it to a passenger.
Ok, I can't think of anymore right now. More next time!
Besos,
ness
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