Time Flies (bzzzzzz)

Wow. My program is almost over. I´m not supposed to return to the States until May 31st, but school ends only half way through the month, and I just realized half of between now and then is actually vacation. I have mixed feelings about this...

I mean, it´s very cool to have so much free time coming up, but I´m going to be spending a chunk of it out of Spain, probably getting by on English, and maybe a few phrases I learn of Dutch or French or whatever the situation calls for. Then there is pretty much an extra week without classes where my Spanish will probably be kept to a minimum, since I´ll be lying on the beach the whole time not thinking about much of anything really. And then almost immediately after that we have our finals. Ech.

I hope I´m not too rusty by then.

So yeah, my thoughts on the program thus far...
I find it sort of frustrating how many Americans there are here. Besides my program, which is inordinately large this semester (115 students), there are like 3 other programs here as well that are full of Americans. Needless to say, it makes it real easy to stick with Americans all the time. Also, we do a ton of activities and trips with only Americans. I wish there was more integrated activities that sort of "forced" us to meet Spaniards. We have the intercambio projects, which are fine, but my intercambio doesn´t live in Alicante, so I only see her once (maybe twice) a week for an hour or so on campus. That isn´t to say I haven´t enjoyed making lots of new American friends. I´m finally at the point where I´ve figured out the truly quality people in the program that I´ll be in touch with for years to come, but I wanted to also make friends from lots of other places. I know that I´m not at all free of fault for not having made more international friends at this point, but I sort of wish our program wasn´t so structurally isolated. Well, there is still time left, and new places to see, so I haven´t given up hope. For now, I´ll just stay away from the Beer Pong and Flip Cup Nights at their respective American-college-student-pandering bars.

My Spanish Lit. professor is finally back. She had disappeared for 2 weeks because she had bronchitis and pneumonia and had to go to the hospital. While I have no ill will towards her (I´m happy that she´s fully recovered), I can´t say I was disappointed when we didn´t have class for two weeks. I really really can´t stand going and I´m dreading having to write a 15 page paper (1.5 spaced, not double) and take a final in May. She really is a godawful teacher. Also, I can´t imagine she´ll be in the most chipper of moods when she hasn´t been able to smoke a cigarette for over a week or two. Maybe she´s recovered enough to start smoking again. One can only hope.

I´m debating about whether to return to Madrid or not with the other group in my program. I´d be a sort of interloper, as CIEE only allows for us to take two weekend trips on their budget. I was told that I can hop on the bus for free though, since there will be enough space, and I´ve already had friends offer me up room to sleep in their hotel rooms. I won´t be able to go on the guided tour stuff (which I already saw the first time around) and they won´t give me €35 for food, but since travel and accomodations are taken care of, It´d still be a really good opportunity to take advantage of. This way, I can hope for better weather and will be able to just walk around the city at my own pace during the day chilling out, not worrying so much about this museum or that palace tour. I´ll also be able to take some half decent pictures which I completely failed to do the first time around. I´ll just eat calamari bocadillos (€2 a pop!) and kebabs all weekend to keep the cost of food low, and I should be golden. Hmmm, writing it all out and reading it over has pretty much made me convince myself I want to do it.

This weekend was one of pure relaxation. Friday and Saturday were spent mostly at the beach, with some frisbee and a lot of sleep thrown in for good measure. Sunday I lazed around the house and poked at my homework bit by bit ´til it was done. Saturday morning I awoke to this short, round, loud guy sitting in the kitchen, crackin´ wise and all but chugging wine. It turned out to be my madre´s primo (cousin) who was in from Barcelona for god knows what reason. Apparantly he´s a rich decorator who owns four different houses across Spain. Who knew there was so much money in decoration? He immediately starts pouring me a glass of wine (I´m still wiping the crusty gunk out of my eyes) and wants me to tell him my life story. We ate a kickass meal of lamb chops and murcías - weird brownish/black pig sausages that tasted slightly spicy and were completely delicious. It was a great way to start my day, and it ended up being a great weekend all around.

Can´t think of much else that´s going on at the moment, other than the fact that Spring Break starts two weeks from Wednesday - something I can hardly wrap my head around. Almost time to go home for comdia anyway, then I think I´d like to just lay on the beach til the sun goes down or until somebody comes along to play frisbee. Gotta enjoy it while I can...

Paz