OK Pictures are Here Soooner Than I Thought

That's me trying out this cool contraption thing at the exhibit by Blanca Li "Te voy a ensenar a bailar" at the museum MUSAC.

In Isoba, my host families Pueblo about 2 hrs. North of Leon. (Left to Right: Luis (host cousin), Artlet (host sister), Patricia (Luis' brother), Me.)

Cathedral in Central part of Leon

Isoba

Madrid
(Oh yea, I forgot to mention I took a trip to Madrid two weeks ago to visit Molly. 'twas fun)

Pictures are Coming Sooon!

Probably Friday

One Month Mark: Reflection?

As I roll up on my on the mark of my being here in Spain for one month, I find myself feeling as though I´ve been here forever, but still have a long way to go.

So far, this week has been the busiest week thus far. I´ve begun shopping for classes and it´s both exciting and a nightmare wrapped up in one. So far I have two classes which I love because I can understand my professors´ Spanish, and I find the subjects intersting. The first is Greek language and Culture and the other is the the history of Spain from 1939 (although so far we´ve only covered events prior to 1939...). At the moment, I´m kind of in the process of looking for a third course which will fit nicely into my schedule from 9am-10am Monday-Thursday so I can take a Spanish course at the Language School in the evenings twice a week. Problem is there are only TWO classes during that time block in my Facultad de Historia. One I know I already don´t want to take because I sat in on it already, Anthropology of Kinship. This morning I went to a history of modern and contemporary art class which thankfully I understand most/somethings, but I don´t find very intersting. But, it´s my only option right now which is a bummer because I want to take something I actually find intersting and understand more, but I don´t really have a choice because I need the credit. Problem is, credit won´t count if I don´t pass the class :p. I think this is the kind of class I´ll have to Wikipidea everyday after the lecture is over....

The whole process of choosing classes can be a little overwhelming, especially when you´re taking courses in a different language other than your native one. So far I have chosen classes (with the exception of art history) based on the facts that (1) I can understand my professor´s Spanish (2) The subjects are of interst to me and (3) I can find people to collaborate with/compare notes. One thing that lingers in my mind as I sit through all my classes is the final exam in June. That´s pretty much my entire evaluation for the course. ONE exam. Hit or Miss? I don´t really love tests and I don´t completely undersetand how people go about their studies here. I´ve heard the exam period is so long because it´s one big cramming session. There are no required readings throughout the semester, but already I feel like I´m doing/will have to do so much more work than if I was at Pitzer becaue everything´s in Spanish! Well, I mean, with the exception of Art History, I´ve been surprised at how much I actually do grasp, sometimes without trying. But I think i´m freaking out so much because I don´t like Art History and I have terrible memories of what Will went through when he took an art history course last semester. But I know I just have to suck it up and make the best of it because the decision has been made and I have to do what I need to do to get through that course with grace, right? Right :)



My family is still doing well. I was having a rough time last weekend when I wasn´t feeling too well (slight fever and cold) and my host mom wouldn´t really allow me to take care of myself. I appreciated her concern and wanting to make me feel better, but she sort of took things to the next level. I couldn´t sneeze, cough, or blow my nows without her rushing to me telling me what I should do next to feel better. She kept telling me over and over again that I was feeling cold and everytime I wanted to go outside she said it wasn´t a good idea because i´ll get even more sick. It was incredibly frustrating because I´ve been sick before, obviously, and I know what my body needs in order to get better. But she just kept insisting I do things her way and it was driving me crazy. I was so overwhelmed. I felt like running to my room and having a good cry, ya know, the kind where you throw yourself on the bed, bury your face in a pillow and pound your fist every now and then for emphasis. But I refrained and decided to walk to a pay phone to call home. No one picked up (I tried about 17 times) and I felt like crying again, but instead, took a deep breathe, walked home and tried to calm myself down. I´m feeling much better now emotionally, healthwise, and with my mom. It was just one of those low moments and almost every and anything can set you off without notice. But i´m fine now.

I´m going to Amsterdam next week (kinda said I need a ¨vacation¨already) with Molly, her friends and two of the Pitzer gals. We´re all really excited to explore a new country, city, and culture. I don´t really know what we´re going to do, but I guess we´ll find out soon! I gotta go talk to a professor now, but I´ll write again somtime.

Michele

Eat, See, Speak, Rest

So I have now been in León now for a little over a week and so far things have been going well. I have had a lot of free/¨me¨ time because I wasn´t able to enroll in the intensive Spanish course because I arrived too late and my university classes don´t begin until sometime between the 15th and 19th. As I mentioned briefly before, my host family is beyond amazing. They are the kindest, sweetest, most generous people in Spain and I am so happy to be living with them. My host mom, Julia, has one daughter Artlet, and we have spent all of our meals together and we´ve spent a some time as well with Julia´s sister, Marie Fe and her two kids, Luis and Patricia. All have been very kind and treat me like family. Having such a great host family has really made my transition a lot smoother than I anticipated. Over the last week I´ve been spending most of my time with my family trying to get in as much conversation as possible to improve my Spanish. I´ve walked around the city a bunch and I love it. It´s pretty small, but once you enter the classic part of the city where the Cathedral is, you can easily get turned around with all the different streets and ally´s crossing every which way. In the evenings on the weekends that part of the city (also known as El Barrio Húmedo meaning the Humid Neighborhood named for all the liquor the flows out of the countless bars and discotecas there) is buzzing with people hopping from restaurants to cafés to bars and discotecas. I have gone out twice with some of the other international students who will be taking classes at the university as well and it has been pretty fun. There are people from all over the place: Australia, Germany, Canada, Poland, Ireland, Brazil, England, and Italy to name a few. The cool part about hanging out with them is hearing all of the different Spanish accents people have. Even though a lot of people speak English too, when we´re out, in general everyone speaks Spanish to each other. I love that I can speak to someone from Italy who doesn´t know English, but our common language is Spanish :) The food here is great! I love everything my mom makes and brings in the house. I still haven´t quite figured out hos the meals work exactly in terms of timing and courses, but in general we have an array of things to eat each meal. For breakfast I usually just have a glass of water, yogurt, and an orange. Lunch is the biggy meal from 3-5 (or later) and we usually begin with bread and something else like pasta and then move on to the meat and afterwards sweets! Dinner is a little lighter beginning anywhere from 7-9 and generally the same kind of dishes we might have at lunch, just less. I´ve been eating a lot of bread because it´s so good and i love love love it. We have to buy two baguettes everyday because they´re baked fresh daily and Artlet and I devour them at meals. My mom is constantly asking me if I want more to eat and it´s hard to say no when everything is so good. And man does she like to spoil me with sweets. She offers me about 3 sweets at the end of every meal! Today was a great day. It was Luis´ (Marie Fe´s husband) birthday and we all went to Musac, an art museum here in León. I was feeling a little sleepy at first and didn´t think I´d be up for a museum, but I was really happy I went because the exhibit we saw was unlike any other I´d ever been to. The featured exhibit was Blanca Li, a dancer and choreographer from France. There were displays of her short films that ranged from contemporary international dance choreography to comic workout videos. It was INCREIBLE! I think I´m going to go back because I feel in love with everything. Afterwards we went to a restaurant for lunch. I forgot the name of the place but it was a small traditional Spanish restaurant. It was very cozy inside and I got a chance to see the kitchen where they still use traditional fires to prepare all of the food. I stuffed myself with fresh baked bread (of course), potatoes, the tenderest meats on earth, and topped it all off with Natillas, my dessert. Well, speaking of food, it´s time for me to eat again now! Micehele