Had my language class midterm, and it went rather well, yo creo. Wednesday we had the long form writing section which consisted of me talking about my intercambio and the intercambio program in general. I hammed it up, which probably wasn´t necessary since we´re being graded on our ability to form coherent thoughts on paper, not kiss ass. I figured it couldn´t hurt to talk up something that my teacher associates herself with though, and I really do think it´s a good program. Today was the grammar part of the exam, which I studied a lot for, but still found to be a pretty big challenge. They threw in a lot of tricks to trip us up, but I think I was wise to most of them. If I had to guess my grade, I´d say 7´3 or so which translates to about a B. I´m still clueless when it comes to differentiating when to use the future imperfect, future perfect, or conditional tenses, but that´s just because my teacher isn´t very good. Ho hum.
Only one other midterm left and that isn´t for a week or two. I´ll be sweating pretty hard, as it´s for Literature class, which I´m
1) not a fan of (mainly because of the teacher)
2) not doing very well in from what i can tell
Not that we´ve actually had any assignments yet (one, but it hasn´t been graded yet). I just have a really hard time understanding the nuances of poetry when it´s in Spanish. This is likely because I´m struggling to understand the literal words themselves, nevermind the deep metaphorical craftwork. I feel like I´d do a lot better in this class if I had an extra semester and became better acclimated with the language first. In conclusion, I´ll worry about the mid-term as it approaches.
So yeah, Madrid tomorrow after class. Weather doesn´t look like it´s shaping up to be terribly pleasant, but I suppose there´s not much that can be done with that. We have a pretty full schedule planned, so it´ll be a hectic weekend. Sunday, Eric and I are breaking off from the group to head down to Valencia for the last day/night of Las Fallas. I´ve mentioned Las Fallas in former posts, but it´s basically one of the largest festivals in Spain (possibly THE largest). It runs all week (although festivities seem to leak over both ends), and culminates with the burning of giant floats Sunday at midnight. This last night isn´t quite as rampantly debaucherous as the Friday and Saturday night leading in to it, from what I´ve heard, but I can imagine things will be still be plenty wild enough for me, especially after a weekend of sightseeing in Madrid. If I bring my camera I´ll try to take lots of pics, although pickpockets are at the top of their game during the festival (not sure the same will be able to be said about me), so I might leave it behind.
One more thing before I leave you. It relates to the rising temperature... again. Now I complained about the no shorts thing last post, which really isn´t a very big deal. It´s mostly just annoying how I get dirty looks from old people for deciding to wear shorts when its warm out. When I think about though, sometimes I get dirty looks from old people in the States for wearing shorts, so no big deal. Now I want to talk about the issue of the B.O. Spain, from what I´ve always heard, isn´t known to be a smelly country, and for the most part it isn´t... most of the year. I mean, when you hear of smelly Europeans, you hear about the French, right?. Well, Spain ain´t so peachy fresh either. I haven´t figured out yet if Spaniards wear much deoderant or not, but my observations (visual and otherwise) point to a resounding no. I´ve already figured out that Spanish people have a generally laid back attitude about showering. They do infact shower, but they don´t care enough to do it every day or even every other day if they don´t feel like it or don´t feel they have time for it. The combination of these two facts (the former having been recently discovered), and the recent spike in hot, humid weather has wound around and hit me squarely in the nose in an unpleasantly surprising manner. Right now, the computer lab -where there is the added heat of the computers and ventilation is apparantly non-existent- smells only slightly better than a typical (well-ventilated) gym does in the U.S. Don´t bother asking what gyms here smell like, use your imagination. In all honesty, this is only a minor gripe, as I´m sure my nose will become accustomed to that sour grapefruity underarm stench. I thought it worth mentioning only because it is my first experience -exception taken to Florida flea markets- with an entire culture that can reek pretty bad and not care one tick about it. Good for Spain and its water conservation efforts (or something). And good for me, since now I have an extra excuse not to shower regularly. SWEET.
Well, time to be off and into the day. I will return with stories of the weekend sometime in the coming days, but until then, you´ll have to occupy yourselves with less viscerally stimulating activities. Ho hum.
Hassaloowayohhhh
(that´s, phonetically, how Spaniards say "hasta luego")
