First day of real life in Spain...sort of

August 17, 2009

Today was my first day at school. It was definitely more intense than I anticipated but, intense is good! I think a month in the program is really going to help my Spanish!!

There are only seven people in my class; three Americans, two Germans, a Swedish girl and a Japanese girl…It’s so interesting to me that we can all communicate in the same class. The class is taught entirely in Spanish so, I guess you have no choice but to learn and it also sets the common ground for communicating with the other students in Spanish as well. One of the exercises we did in class was reading different opinions and you had to tell if you agreed or disagreed…I was amazed at some of the other peoples’ responses. For instance, the German guy sitting next to me basically stated that he doesn’t care if people lie to him and that he doesn’t care to get to know new people because he has enough friends. Maybe it was the language barrier but, really? I guess my ideals are just very different. First of all, I believe honestly is the key to all communication and relationships. Secondly, who has enough friends? Don’t get me wrong, I have the greatest friends in the world but, I thrive on meeting new people and sharing different experiences. I guess it shocked me so much because he is here just like me, alone trying to learn Spanish and assimilate into a new society. Anyway, we’ll see what interesting thoughts David has to share today in class.

After class, I raced home on the subway to shower and then go back out to meet Alejandro and Ana (the couple I did the first apartment swap with). They invited me to go with them to the Festival de Gracia. It’s this amazing street festival where all the streets in this neighborhood have a contest to see who can come up with the best theme and decorations and also each street has a stage where different bands play throughout the night. I was so impressed!!! The installations were phenomenal and they’re all done by the people in the neighborhood…Alejandro was telling me that they work on their concepts and installations for the entire year! Also, the music was pretty good…we stayed mostly at the pop/rock stage. My favorite band was a band called The New Raymond (I think, although I can’t find them anywhere).

Today was definitely a good day. It felt more like living here than a travel day. I’m still having a hard time getting used to the way of life here though…it’s a good thing I have nowhere to be until three in the afternoon since a mellow Monday night out ends at 2 am…