MIA

My impeccable record of consistent blogging has been interrupted by my lack of having a computer! Welcome to Spain, McIntyre, where Dell does not exist, free computers are available to you only between classes and only on Mondays through Thursdays, and everybody else seems to have perpetually perfect computers and to have never had computer problems, making you the pioneer in this country to have them. This issue, slowly but surely, has been kicking my butt as classes have started, communication with loved ones has decreased to a frustrating rate, and I am recognizing that it is damn near impossible to figure out how to fix a broken computer without the use of one to find a place to go. On the other hand, I believe it has been a blessing. I knew all along that I had gotten too used to having America be too accessible, as well as the vice versa. I have taken this situation to be a subtle reminder to get out more.

so, i update you: real classes have started. i have two at the ciee study center and two at the university, though the ones at the university are with all american students as well. all classes are conducting in spanish, which has made my phonetics class, a field in which i have had class for a week now and still don´t quite understand what it entails. i am told by classmates that the only way this class will make sense is if i have a background with at least one class in phonetics. Uh, well, I don´t. So that should be interesting. My flamenco class is amazing. We are currently studying the five types of flamenco music, and my professor teaches through his guitar and rythmic clapping that makes me feel as ifI actually have some level of musical inclination past listening. My two CIEE classes are very interesting as well. One is a social justice practicum that includes the most interesting readings on human rights ever, as well as a volunteer component. we are picking our service sites this week and going into the community beginning next week. I cannot wait. My other CIEE class studies literature of marginalized societies and is taught by a crazy woman with big frizzy hair who doesn´t make a whole lot of sense (and i don´t think she would even if she were speaking english) but whom i have already come to adore. So those two classes and phonetics are all back to back, guaranteeing that I am hauling it from ciee to the university in a twenty minute time frame twice a week. However, flamenco is my only class on mondays and wednesdays, and no class on fridays, so i cannot complain.

The past two weekends I have done a bit of traveling, with friends and with CIEE, to some pretty incredible stuff. Last weekend we went hiking to Spain´s version of stonehenge, which was fun. Yesterday, I went to Aracena, a small town that I knew little about and didn´t get to spend much time in, but loved. This reminds me, Dave give me my postcard back. Anyway,Aracena is home to las grutas de maravillas, this really cool set of caves! So we toured the caves and that was a blast. We also saw some mine, which was actually pretty cool. A very geological day. Can´t say I´ve ever used that word to describe a day before. The mine is situated on a naturally exisiting lake called the rio tinto because the minerals of the rocks around it have filtered in, making the water blood red. After that little jaunt yesterday, we got on another bus to Cadiz, a coastal town that is famous for its Carnaval celebrations. Three friends and I dressed up as the four seasons, which I thought was pretty creative. Wish I could take credit for it. I unfortunately only took one picture, I am terrible about that, but I will maybe jack some off Facebook to give you kids a taste. It was a great night that I got home from at seven thirty this morning, which my senora says is typical and I should start getting used to.

As for my own immersion experience, I am still working on it. in the next few weeks, i will be starting an intercambio, where i meet with a student from the university of sevilla who is studying english, and we practice my spanish and her english. depending on how that goes, i might try to get another one. i am also starting volunteering soon, which i am so psyched for. i also might try to audit a university class (with real live spaniards, gasp) if my schedule allows it. I am working on it. i am still trying to find my favorite place in the city, though i am thinking it is this plaza near my house that is apparently the place where the young college kids and locals hang out. It is lined with coffee shops, bars that host live music nightly, and ice cream places. The cool spaniards have good taste. I have spent the past month in many bars and clubs that are far more american than spaniard, but i think i may have found where all the spaniards flee to. i hope they don´t mind.

travel plans for semana santa, my first of two spring breaks, are coming together. i will be in rome, florence, and santorini greece, and will be home with enough time to enjoy the end of semana santa as well. Semana santa is the weeklong easter celebration here that i have heard is pretty much the same thing each day. there is a schedule of processions, during which the different holy catholic brotherhoods process toward the catedral in the center of the city. at the end of the week, it is easter. I am definitely excited that I will be able to see part of this week. One of the processions is starting from my apartment building! Though I doubt i´ll be here for it. It was actually a pretty eerie night when I figured out that one of the processions was starting here. I was in the kitchen and heard a huge commotion outside the kitchen window. I looked outside and honest to god i thought a cult was meeting. About fifty men or more were all filing into a garage on the ground floor of the building, wearing shirts tied to their heads that were similar to turbans, but tied in a way that i had never seen before. I feel bad about saying this, but I got a little nervous. I just literally had no clue what was going on. I kept watching, and all of a sudden i saw this enormous wooden structure moving out of the garage. It was moving by the help of at least forty men under it carrying it. Each procession for Semana santa carries one of these wooden structures, which by semana santa resemble an altar I believe. I realized that these men were practicing for semana santa, and once I realized that, it was a very cool experience.

Next weekend we are going to granada, which I am excited about! classes are also getting rolling. hopefully some travel plans will come together as well. I caved and gave into the shoe sales a little bit this past week. hopefully i will have stronger willpower this week.

weather is getting BEAUTIFUL, unbelievable, although we are definitely not out of the cold weather yet. however, when it is warm, which it was about three or four days last week, it is sixty and not a cloud in the sky. Though I am definitely jealous about missing the five day snovafest happening at villanova right now, i am more pleased that i am essentially skipping winter, my least favorite season by far. I can run outside along the river in shorts and a t shirt, and i pretty much smirk the entire way because i feel like a champ for missing winter!