The End of my Journey

Well, that's it. I'm out of Spain. In England now, chillin' at Matt's place indefinitely. Hopefully I will find a job this week, but if not, it's looking like I'll be heading back soon enough.

I'll recount the last parts of my program and throw in some reflection for good measure, along with what I've been doing in the meantime.

So we had a big dinner at this so-so restaurant put on by our program. With over 115 people crowding this place up, things were a bit messy, but I still can't scoff at a free meal. Sitting there looking around I realized how little I'm going to miss those people. There's maybe a dozen or so I'm going to want to keep in touch with, and maybe a smaller group still that I really want to try to see more of in the future, but I really found most of the kids in the program to be just that... kids. There was this lame frat-house mentality that seemed to pervade our group, and it really pissed me off. I feel like under other circumstances, people wouldn't have acted so lame on my trip, but when they all got together and went out it was unbearable sometimes.

But I digress.

I spent my last few nights out just enjoying the company of friends. Went to Iman's (Eric and my's Uruguayin bar owner friend) a couple nights and we ended up staying up til 5 drinking with him and his wife after they closed. They are really nice people, regardless of their serial alcoholism (is there any other kind?). They sure are generous with the food and drink, though. Also, a lot of my conversational Spanish skills came from talking with them. We had a lot of fun nights there, and it was good to be able to say goodbye properly.

Nicole showed up on Friday and we bummed around Alicante for the day not doing a hell of a lot. I went out for a little while and said bye to a few more people who were still around, but kept it low-key. The next morning we headed off to Granada on a way-too-long bus ride. I suppose it's not particularly tasteful to mention this, but the bus smelled like menstrual blood (I know I know ewwww, gross) and it was absolutely impossible to get used to. Every noseful was like... well yeah, you get the idea. The bus' septic tank needed to be emptied. If you think that was gross to read about, imagine living it for 7 hours straight.

The hostelwas impossble to find but was really beautiful once we did. It was in this old building and was kind of open-air, so despite the warm temperatures it was always nice and breezy. I really loved Granada. It was probably the most beautiful city I've seen in Spain. The Arab Quarter had a very cool vibe to it, and the gypsies were really friendly and actually worked for their money, unlike in Alicante where they sit on their asses and drink, sometimes asking (or threatening) you for a euro. Everywhere we went there was always music in the street or some kind of performance going on. It was just a very artistic city and had such a chill feel to it. It was quintessentially Spanish. Also, unlike Alicante, it was much more diverse ethnically which was definitely a fresh change from the somewhat homogenized atmosphere of Alicante. There was also an assload of tourists, but they didn't seem to detract from the overall vibe like they usually seem to.

We hit up the Alhambra the second day, having to wake up way-early so we could get in line to wait for tickets since we didn't book ahead of time (something I recommend you do if planning on going to Granada, which you should). Before coming everybody and their mother that has ever been to Granada told me I must go to the Alhambra because it was so incredible and beautiful and wonderful, etc. etc. etc. I can honestly say they were completely right. It is easily the single most breathtakingly beautiful tourist attraction I've ever seen (not that I've been that many places).

Originally it was built in the 13th and 14th centuries when Spain was under Arab rule, but was modified in parts after the Christian Reconquista in 1492. It's a huge palace that sits above the city, giving you an incredible view. The carvings on the walls and ceilings were so detailed, and basically the entire place was constant eye-candy that I was never able to get used to looking at. It definitely helped that we were there on a gorgeous day but I've heard it's even more beautiful if you go in at night since everything is lit up all dramatically. It also happened to be a cat sanctuary, which of course made me happy.

After that we just continued to walk around, checking out the Arab Quarter and just enjoyed the day in general. We also went to a kebab place that had the best kebab I've ever had in my life. Nicole definitely knew what she was talking about when she brought us there. I ate one each day we were there, but kind of wish I got another one.

Another good thing about Granada was how cheap it was. The whole buy a beer, get a tapa (or vice versa, depending on how you look at it) thing was incredible. For €1.20 you get a beer and a small plate of food, incredible. These weren't little wussy tapas either, you spend 2 and a half euros and you're pretty much fed for the night, not to mention two drinks deep already. Excellent deal. Most places we checked out had delicious tapas too, so it's not like just getting a little dish of peanuts when you get a drink.

So after Granada we went back to Alicante so I could pick up all of my crap and say goodbye to my host family. I'll definitely be missing them, as they were so good to me. Besides feeding me, doing my laundry, and making my bed every day, they were also very nice, very cool people. They helped to make my time in Spain a truly enjoyable and comfortable one. So after one last tasty paella, we hopped on a train for Barcelona.

We got in at night, so all we did was get some food and watch a movie at Nicole's place. Nicole lives with this 30 something year old, awkward, neurotic, Catalan pride filled dude named Dani (who also happens to have an asian culture fetish). He seemed nice enough, anyway. Dani has an awesome psychopathic cat named Sushi that I happened to be extremely allergic too (moreso than most cats it seems). I had a lot of fun playing with it since it had so much energy and could jump extremely high.

Anyway, we walked around Barcelona the next day and enjoyed another beautiful day. I got to see the big palace and where they had the 1992 olympic games. We checked out a Dali gallery which was filled with some of his earlier stuff and a bunch of his sculptures. Most of it was pretty twisted, in traditional Dali fashion. The rest of the day was just walking around and sitting around in parks, relaxing. That night we ate at an incredible Indian/Thai/Whatever fusion place and I had an incredible lamb meal with mashed sweet potatoes. This was the first somewhat fancy type meal I've had in a long time and it was so good it was ridiculous. It also wasn't very expensive either, which was sort of surprising. Afterwards, we went to an absinthe bar and sucked a couple of those back before deciding to head home.

The next day I got up and got the hell out, having to lug an assload of heavy luggage to England. I ended up having to pay almost double what I paid for my ticket because my luggage was overweight. It was actually 19kg overweight, but they only charged me for 10kg (€75!), and ignored the fact that I had one too many carry-ons. I guess you could call me lucky, but I'd rather you call EasyJet and tell them to eat bleach.

So I've been in England since Thursday, seeking employment, illegally. I think the guy at passport control knew what I was up to cause he was giving the the 8th degree or whatever. He was asking all sorts of questions like how much money I have access to and when I was planning on leaving (not once, like 3 times. he wouldn't stop asking until i practically told him what time my plane was departing). It just annoyed me because he was laughing and joking around with the New Zealand couple that went through before me. I guess he had a right to be suspicious (hehe), but it sucks to feel so scrutinized. I don't even want their crappy free healthcare!

So I found a few places that looked like they might not care that I don't have a visa, but I need to stick around at least an extra week to hear from them and interview, so i cancelled my plane ticket today and haven't re-booked yet. I figure by the end of the week I'll have a much better idea of my options, and if things look grim, I'll get a plane back ASAP and start working at $tarbuxxx.

I'm definitely feeling a little torn because I really would like to stay here and work for the summer, but I'm also missing friends, family, and home in general. I feel like if I have the opportunity to be abroad for even longer, then it's ridiculous not to take advantage, which is why I'm so bent on trying to find work here for the summer. I could easily loaf around Matt's place for 3 months, but I do need to save up some money, especially after spending almost everything I own these past five months. I am set to graduate in December and it will help to have some sort of nest egg waiting for me. The plus of being here is that I have a free place to stay and will make a killing with the exchange rate. As I'm writing this, £1 is equal to $1.88. If the dollar keeps dropping, it'll be double to the pound in no time. So even if I can manage £6/hour that's like getting paid $12 an hour back in the States! That's better than I'd be doing at Starbucks. Plus, England is beautiful in the summer. Generally the stereotypical grayness subsides and it's mild and sunny here, which will be better than a hot humid summer in Boston. The other benefit is that I would be able to take up an interview with the BBC and see what they might be able to tell me about future employment. I might even wander into their offices this week just to see if they have any information about what I could do to move in the direction of being working for them.

So yeah. Reflections on my progam. Uhhhh. It was a good program, I suppose. The ten page papers we got assigned at the end of it were definitely ludicrous. I gained very little from having to spend that much time filling up all that space. Ummm. I got to try a lot of new, delicious food. Ooooh, I know. I can look back at my original goals that I set when I started this blog and see how I did with all of them. Let's take a look...

Learn Spanish Fluently - HA! My ass! I'd like to see any of you learn a language fluently in 5 months. Seriously though, fluency does not come as quickly or easily as I assumed it did. That's not to say my Spanish didn't come a long long way, I just can't converse anything like I was expecting. I think I was just beginning to think in Spanish a bit as the program was coming to end, which is a shame, cause another 6 or so months and I'd be talking Spanish like Pauly Shore talks nonsense (it's a good analogy). I did start to have a couple dreams a week in Spanish which was promising. I am taking one class taught in Spanish in the Fall, so hopefully I will still be sharp enough to follow along.

Get Humbled - Nope, can't say that really happened. I didn't "realize the error of my ways" or feel like my eyes have been opened to a whole new and/or better way of life. I can't really say I was a closed-minded person to begin with, so while I learned a lot, appreciated and loved everything I experienced abroad, I can't say I felt "put in my place." Spain is a lot like the U.S. in a lot of ways, and also very different. Some stuff is better, some stuff is worse. And then there is a lot of gray area that depends on your personal tastes. Maybe if I want to be truly humbled, I need to visit some less stable locations. Next year in Bosnia?

Meet assloads of people from all over the world - Well I wouldn't call it assloads, but I definitely did meet a whole bunch of people from all around Europe. The University of Alicante did host a good deal of international students and it was fun to go out with people from all over the place. It's too bad I didn't start doing so a lot until towards the end of the program, but I can't really complain.

Learn to dance - Well I didn't learn Flamenco or anything like that, but I went out and danced a lot anyway, so I'd say all the practice definitely made me a better dancer. I don't feel quite like a one-legged chicken anymore when I'm in clubs.

And then there was the anti-goals. Things I was trying to avoid.

Starting a smoking habit - Nope, still not a smoker. I had a cigarette here and there when I was out, but no more than I normally would anyway. I don't think I'm cut out for a serious cigarette habit, which suits me fine.

Partying excessively - Well, I didn't exactly abstain from alcohol, but I wasn't an alcoholic either. We did have good handful of those on our program. I didn't let going out affect my schoolwork, so I'd say this anti-goal was a success as well. I didn't have any nights where I can't remember what I did, and I also didn't do anything I regretted whilst drunk, so I think I attained a serendipitous level of moderation.

So while I didn't achieve all of my goals to their fullest respective extents, I also didn't develop any vices. I think it's that my experience in Spain turned out to be a lot different than I expected it to be. The program itself was structured so that we more or less had our hands held the entire time, which could be extremely annoying. Take the Erasmus programs (for Europeans), for example. Students are given a monthly stipend (rather than paying to come abroad, they are paid instead) and given a pat on the butt in the direction of the country they want to study in. They need to find their own apartment and work out just about everything else for themselves. We started with 2 nights in a hotel with an intensive orientation session that lasted the entire week. They made sure to keep us close and only exposed to other Americans. We then were introduced, one by one, to our host families who took us in and made sure we could wipe our own asses with the new, unfamiliar, Spanish toilet paper. While it was nice to be cared for, it made me feel like a child. The entire program we were always kept close to the other Americans (we were in classes only with other Americans) and while there was opportunity for exploration, it wasn't exactly encouraged. I still managed to have a great time with it, and I think I gained a lot from the program, but at times I just wish it wasn't so tightly closed in.

So my overall impression was positive, despite those small details. I'm not exactly sure why, but I have a weird feeling this program would have been even better for me a year ago, moreso in the middle of my college career, rather than so near the end of it. Don't ask me why, I just sorta feel that. On the whole, I still wish I was able to go abroad in Latin America rather than Europe, but my language skills definitely weren't where they needed to be at the time. If I had more time I would maybe try to go down to Argentina or Chile, but it's obviously not possible at this point.

So for now my job hunt will continue here in England. I'm going to allot myself about another week, and if things aren't going well, I'll be trying to make my way back to the US on the earliest flight I can catch. Matt has been really cool to let me stay here with him, and has been as helpful as he possibly can in helping me find a job, so I owe him a lot at this point.

As for whether or not I will continue this blog, I'm putting some thought into it. I almost feel like my life isn't generally interesting enough to warrant recording it, but it might be therapeutic to get my thoughts down in words from time to time. Maybe I can practice my journalistic craft and talk about other things not necessarily related to my personal life. I'm not gonna go all political blog on you, but I might be able to comment on current events and how I feel they affect me/us or whatever. I'd hate to become one of those self-righteous blogging know-it-all types (rather than the regular self-righteous know-it-all type that I usually am), but I can try to avoid that, I suppose. It's also an easy way to keep people updated on my life without having to send out mass-emails, which I've never actually done. Well, I'll figure all this out soon enough. For now, dinner.

Thanks for reading!

ALL pictures are UP

Ok, every picture I've taken while abroad is now up* on the Flickr page. This includes everything from Granada and Barcelona. I especially like the way my Alhambra pics came out. Enjoy.

That mega-post will be coming along shortly. Right now, I need to go talk to the manager at a Funk Jazz Bar to try and rope me some job for the summer. Wish me luck!

*every picture I plan on posting online, that is.

Pictures up, and Updating

I just uploaded a ton of pictures onto my Flickr page. It's the rest of the pics from Spring Break (Belgium, England) as well as the rest of the pictures I took in Alicante after break, and the few I've taken so far since being back in England. I already have all the pics I took in Granada and Barcelona (post-program) edited and ready to go, but haven't uploaded them yet because I don't feel like labelling and tagging them all right now on Flickr. There are over 100 from this past week since Granada and Barcelona were both really picturesque.

I'm in the process of typing out a big update-post of the program wrap-up, reflections, and what I've been up to these past couple weeks. It should be a fairly lengthy post, although still nothing compared to my post-Spring Break mammoth entry. Expect it tonight or tomorrow.

I'm in England at the moment job hunting, with no luck yet. I need to type up a Curriculum Vitae (CV, it's similar to a resume) since almost no places have application forms like in the States, even if it's for some jackass barback job. I'm going to do that tonight and hand it out to maybe a dozen places tomorrow, telling them I need to hear back ASAP. If anything looks at all hopefull, I'll probably postpone my ticket home just because I barely have enough time as it is. It seems like there is a handful of seedy places that won't look into my not having legal documentation, but we'll see.

OK, gotta run and get this CV thing typed up. I'll have my big post up soon enough. Check the pics out. There's a lotta good ones in there.

DONE!

Finished, all done, he terminado, ya esta, nada más, etc. etc. I got a B/B+ in my language class. Did much better on the final than expected. I think I already told you I got a B in history class, which is fine, and I think my lit. final went alright I think. I wasn't completely stumped for any of it, so I might possibly have managed an 8, but that's being optimistic. My paper came up 4 pages short, but so did everyone elses, so I don't think there will be an issue. Nobody hit anywhere close to 10.

I'm tired, hungry, and have a nasty headache, but I'm gonna go drink a couple of 70 cent beers at the cafeteria to celebrate before I head home for lunch. This is one of the last times I'll be able to drink beer for less than it costs to drink fresh juice. I will miss Spain.

Wow, that feels good. No school to worry about until September.

Few more days left in Alicante, then some travelling, then we'll see what happens next. I'll post for real soon, I think. Maybe not for a week though. You'll find out.

Slow Going

Not even 2 pages into the second 10 pager that I have to do. It's Sunday at 6:30 and I have until Tuesday afternoon to finish it (as well as prepare for my final exam that's on the same day). It's looking a hell of a lot like I'm going to be passing in 5, not 10 pages. I'd rather study up for the exam and do well, since it's worth more than this paper and will only take an hour or two to prepare for, rather than the 30 hours this paper is taking. Joder, tío. Anyway, I only need a C or better to get credit for my Spanish minor, so I might just have to be happy with that if I can manage to swing it.

That whole thing about hating Spanish kids in my last post... I meant it. I completely and totally meant it with all of my heart. I wanna kill all of them. They swarm the internet salon I'm in (which is already full) yelling at the top of their lungs, buzzing all around me, getting in my face because I've been on the computer so long doing work, and of course they all smell bad. It's a gorgeous day out, why the hell won't they go outside? I wanna tear gas them, except that their screaming would make my head explode, and they'd probably come back anyway after the air cleared up.

Oh, by the way, got the rest of the Holland pics up. Still no Brussels or England, but they will be up eventually. Maybe when I get back to England and have lots of free time... I don't plan to spend too much time on computers during my last week in Spain after I get this paper finished.

Cool thing happened last night. Was at the port with friends and we spotted 125 euros sitting on a chair! They must have fallen out of someone's pocket. But we looked around and nobody seemed to be searching for lost money, so we took it and chalked it up to buena suerte. We bought a few kebabs and some beer so far but the rest we're just gonna save for so we can have a couple free nights out on the town together. la puta madre!

OK, I'm wasting time and not really writing about anything substantive here, so I'm gonna go and try to get some work done. Hopefully Eric will let me borrow his laptop tonight so I can work into the wee hours of the morn.

Chau, friends.

One More Class!

One 10-pager down, one to go. That thing took me 5 days to write- The teacher picks it up, reads it, and corrects it in less than two minutes. Regardless of the fact that I got a 9 out of a possible 10 on it, that still felt like a swift kick to the junk (or at least a well-executed sac tap). Kinda like how you take 2 hours to cook a fancy meal, then eat it in 10 minutes, except waaay soul-crushingly worse. I guess I can't complain too much, writing it did improve my Spanish a lot, and now I feel better prepared for my much more difficult Literature paper (which has to actually have a thesis and all that crap). No pictures either in this one. Bleck. Overall, I got a 7.7 in History which comes out to a B by American standards. Not quite as good as I was hoping for, but I'll take it.

So I have until Tuesday to finish my Monster Lit Paper and prepare for my Monster Lit Exam (MLP and MLE respectively). I think together they are worth over half of my grade in the class. At least I have a new Uruguayan friend who has been proofreading for me. That should ensure that I at least won't get marked off for bad grammar and syntax, although it will be tough whipping up substantive content for the MLP. This is an Honest-to-Bob literary research paper that will force me to not only analyze the poems of Rafael Alberti, but also to see how stuffy literary critics have analyzed it, and then think of some kind of idea that hasn't been thought of too many times already. All Well and Good, except that Alberti is one of the most well-known Spanish-language authors of the 20th century, so people have pretty much gotten all the angles covered at this point. At least writing the MLP will make taking the MLE a bit easier. I should be able to analyze just about anything she throws in my face. I'll have alllll the adjectives you can use to describe a poem down by then.

Sunday I went out with the Spanish Fam to La Día de la Madres (Mother's Day for you thick headed folks in the crowd). We went to a restaurant (something I never see mi familia do) and met up with a rather large handful of the extended family. They were all really nice and fun to talk to and hang out with. The little 5 year old, Inma, had started learning some English in school so she could say Hello and Bye Bye to me along with counting to 12, which once she got comfortable doing, felt the need to keep doing. I had a great afternoon with them, and am a little sad I couldn't get to know some of them a little better while I was here.

The program is ending way too soon. For all it's shortfalls, I think it has been a decent program, minus the assinine amount of pages I've been requried to write in this last month. I really don't wanna leave now. I've really started to get comfortable here and feel much less like an outsider. My Spanish has come along far enough that I'm never aprehensive about at least trying to jump into a coversation, regardless of the likely outcome (that is, I'll completely run out of things to say, or things will start getting too abstract for me to understand after 5 minutes). I've gotten used to a lot of the quirks of Spaniards, and have grown to like -while maybe not always agreeing with- a lot of their whacky ass world-views. I could easily see myself spending a few years here.

There are things I've noticed about Spanish culture that are sometimes good and sometimes crappy. A few examples:

Spaniards appear to be much less ageist than Americans. There's a much broader spectrum of age groups in any given situation. You see older and middle-aged people going out to the bars along with the yung-uns, albiet not in large droves. There are a lot more older people studying at university as well. Oh, and maybe this is tied in or maybe an entirely seperate issue, but there doesn't seem to be any embarrasment tied in with hanging out with your parents during those "awkward years." Family seems more intertwined throughout here, and everybody sticks pretty close together. I guess they have to when the kids are living at home until they are 30.

Something crappy is how ridiculously racist Spaniards (or at least Alicantinos) are. It's pretty ridiculous, to be honest. I thought America could be bad, but people are are so blatantly xenophobic sometimes. You hear Spaniards at school talking shit about everybody: Moors, French, Americans, English. Doesn't matter to them. If it doesn't have Spain in its vein, it's just not the same (and not quite worthy). This is definitely especially bad with Moors, which is understandable in a way, although still not justified. Sometimes you get the impression more than a few of the 40+ers miss Franco more than you might first think.

It kind of interested me though, because Spain has had a history of doing well after expelling people that were different. Can you say "Inquisition?" In 1492, they had just finished kicking all the Arabs out of Spain, the Jews were being worked over quite well by that point (almost all that were going to convert had already, then rest were leaving or being killed), Columbus just found America, opening up a world of new economic possibilities, and all of Spain was unified under one crown. It was the Golden Era Renaissance for Spain, and half of the reason why was because they made sure everybody within the borders was Catholic and Goddamned Spanish. A similar kind of homogeneity was forced under Franco in the 1940s and onward (like how everyone had to speak Castellaño even though Spain has four official languages), so the residule effects of newly-widening cultural demographics are being felt throughout by the natives. Needless to say, there is negative racial backlash.

Also, girls in my program complain that they get hassled constantly by guys here. Not just the regular cat-calling-run-of-the-mill-un PC behavior though. They actually get hassled. They get sworn at and followed around, and have guys walk up to them randomly on the street and try to start kissing them (and not on the cheek). Lauren says she's had things thrown at her head while being called names. Sam, who looks Cuban -although he is from New York-, gets called derogetory names all the time. Spaniards really hate South and Central Americans, because they all come over and take advantage of the healthier economy. All and all it's pretty ridiculous. I myself have experienced almost no trouble, save for more than a handful of scowls-of-death for wearing sandals and shorts when I go to the beach.

One more thing. Spanish babies and young, young children are probably the cutest in the world, on average. We're talking the 1-6 age group. After that, the become the most obnoxious kids in the world. No joke. I think it's that parents here baby their kids too much, and they inevitably turn into brats. I want to strangle all of them.

Alright, that's enough for now. Gotta go catch the bus. I'll probably snap up another post after I get everything done on Tuesday. Maybe I'll get a quickie in before then, but no guarantees. Still no more pics up yet, folks. Sorry. I really do have hundreds more to put up. They will come eventually.

Paz

mierda

see topic title

Coming Up for Air so I can Bitch and Complain

Whew. It's getting pretty messy here. Barely one page into my first of two ten-page papers and I'm already tired of this crap. It's tough when teachers keep giving us new short-term assingments in these last weeks of classes, so I never get a chance to work on my final projects which need the most time. My goal for today is to get through 5 pages of this paper (my history paper). The fact that we can use a picture per page almost, but not quite, makes up for the fact that it has to be 1.5 spaced instead of double. I, unfortunately, won't have this graphical advantage for my Lit paper. I guess I'll use poetry excerpts instead to fill the space. I also signed up to perform some kind of something-or-other in front of my entire program next Wednesday for extra credit. I think I decided I'll write a poem about Spain or Alicante and present/perform. I'll try to make it ridiculous and entertaining. It shouldn't be that hard but it's something else to add on to the pile. I also have my Language final on Monday and Tuesday which requires some preparation as well. So yeah. Whew.

Everybody - my friends, my madre, even my teachers- has been telling me to not stress out or work very hard at any of this, which is kind of baffling, but I'm trying to take their advice. What I can't understand is if my teachers are saying not to work too hard, then why the hell do they assign so much hard work? I'd be happy to sit back and not give a crap about any of the work I have to do, but my grades are transferring back to Northeastern so I need to do at least pretty decent to maintain my GPA.

I'm also trying to work on being employed in the UK for the summer and make post-program travel plans, on top of trying to maintain a somewhat decent social life. These are my last couple weeks in Spain, and I would like to enjoy them at least a little bit. This is turning out to be one of the busiest end of the semesters I've had in my entire college career. This is also partially because my access to the internet is limited to a small number of daylight hours, so I can't chug away at a paper in the wee hours of the morning - the time when I'm generally most productive. I borrowed someone's laptop and checked to see if there is an open wireless connection floating around in my apartment, but no dice. I have to rely solely on the computers at school and the internet salons to get my research done.

OK, I think I'm done. Got all of it out. I'm not constantly stressing about all of this, really, but it is a constant nagging that I can't get rid of. I just need to get this crap done. I wish I could write this things in English, is all.

Planning to head to Granada with Nicole after the program ends, then I'm gonna go up to Barcelona with her for a couple more days, since there are more things I definitely wanna see there. Afterwards, I'll be heading back to the Land of Assless People (aka, England), and staying with Matt in Southampton until the 31st. He has to prepare for exams that entire week, so I'll probably wander around on my own the whole time looking to see if someplace will hire my American ass (at least I have one, hope that doesn't intimidate them). It's looking less and less like I'm going to have the proper paperwork for employment, so I'm hoping some place can put me on the payroll without it being too official.

The weather has been less than stellar lately in Alicante which is making me not regret being able to get outside so much lately. I'm actually praying it'll pour the entire weekend so I have no incentive to go out at all. Laura is coming down from Madrid to see Alicante next weekend, which is gonna be tough to manage in, but by then I'll have everything done except for my Lit paper, so I should be able to have some fun.

Lately, I feel like my conversational Spanish is improving a bit, or at least I'm less inhibited about speaking. I'm getting slightly better at talking about abstract concepts as my vocabulary is improving. I know I would be able to reach fluency, or something very close to it, if I had another four or five months here, but oh well. I've learned enough at this point that if I ever need Spanish in a tight situation, I should be able to call it up without too much trouble. If I find a way to be immersed in an entirely Spanish speaking environment for more than a few weeks, I have no doubt it wouldn't be too tough getting back to the level I'm at now. And at least now I can watch Spanish soap operas on Telemundo. Hooray.

Seems like it's time to dive back in, so I'm going to go ahead and do so. I'll get those other Spring Break pics up eventually. I'll try to at least get the rest of the Holland ones up this weekend.

Besos all around