Can't sleep... whee stories

Today began with a welcoming meeting for all of the international students. Pedro drove Merche and I over there, and Merche helped me find the right room and all of that… I ended up being about 15 minutes late, and honestly, Merche was surprised that they had started on time. "Hora Latina" is not like what we’re used to, and punctuality, or rather lacktherof, usually isn’t a big deal. She waited for me at a nearby café called "El perro verde" (The Green Dog) and told me to meet her there when I was finished.

Well, after winding around various hallways and such to find the exit, I was completely disoriented in a town I know next to nothing about so of course, I was already lost. I asked a couple people if they could direct me to El perro verde, but nobody had any idea what I was talking about. Most of the locals just sort of looked at me like I was some insane American looking for a green dog. In any case, I called Merche but she didn’t pick up her phone. I walked around the block and finally got my bearings and found the café. It was full of cigarette smoke and people, and it was so loud that Merche didn’t hear her phone ring when I called. Whatever, I found it, right?

It seems like everyone in Spain smokes, that is, except me and my Spanish family. Actually, in the Madrid airport there were these little smoking kiosks everywhere, looks a bit like enclosed bus stops, where smokers would cram themselves inside to take a puff. Most of the bars and cafes here also allow smoking inside, and as far as I could tell, there doesn’t seem to be such thing as a "non smoking section." Then again, I haven’t really been to many cafes and restaurants yet, so I might have to revise that statement.

As I mentioned before, I have to completely change all of the classes I had picked out.
After pouring over pages upon pages of classes in the Campus Cristo, I picked out a few that I hope will work out. Apparently the classes I picked out before either had time conflicts or were not really meant for people who had never studied law before. I met with this woman named Paloma (I think that is such a beautiful name… in Spanish, "paloma" means "dove") who is sort of like an academic advisor for international students taking normal classes like me. She was extremely nice and very helpful.. with quite the sense of humor. I was pretty stressed out over the prospect of not having any classes, and well, I suppose it is the culture clash at work. I was getting all worried and she was just like "shhh shhh stop worrying, it’s not a big deal, whatever… you have until March 10th to figure out what classes you want to take." March 10th? Seriously? Two weeks of class will go by before some people have even registered?

I was worried about the fact that I had picked out my classes originally to fit with my schedule, which is to say, when my plane leaves Spain, since technically they have exams through the whole month of July and I am returning on June 10th. Also, I had wanted to take classes that had the "continuous evaluation" option, where basically one’s regular attendance and participation is the major weight of one’s grade instead of a final exam. Apparently Spaniards can take a class in several ways sometime, like for example if someone wants to take a class but also works on one of the days that class is held, they can take the class anyway as attendance is not a big deal, and in fact, it is expected that a lot of people won’t attend in lieu of the exam option.

In any case, Paloma said that most professors are willing to accommodate international students when it comes to exams, especially since they aren’t actually earning their diploma from Oviedo but instead are more here to experience the culture and improve their Spanish.

Oh yeah, and honestly, I am a little upset about this one: Originally, I had chosen Oviedo as my study abroad site because, among other reasons, they have a really big facultad (like a college within a university) for Spanish philology. However, when I went to the website to look for classes, I found that most of the classes were year-long, and therefore I couldn’t just jump in halfway through. Paloma told me that apparently they can make exceptions, again, especially for international students, and just divide up the credits accordingly. It is a little late for that now, because the facultad de humanidades, home to philology, is on the other side of the city and it would be a really big pain in the ass to get over there as often as I would need to. The international relations office placed me with this family since they are located so nearby to the Campus Cristo, home of law, sciences, business, labor studies, marketing, etc. In any case, I still think studying law, business, etc in Spanish will benefit me a lot in learning new vocabulary.

Although at first I was very much against taking the "Spanish classes for foreigners," I am thinking about taking the month-long intensive course for Spanish-English translation. It starts next week, and takes place every day Monday through Friday during the evenings. I’ll only earn one VT credit from it, but since this is actually relevant to the career I wish to pursue, it seems like a good idea, even if it does cost a little extra.

I asked Paloma a few other questions, for example, what the deal is with use of the gym facilities and whatnot. Apparently, it works nothing like what we do at VT. First of all, one has to pay each time they go to the fitness center, use the weight room, use the sauna, swim in the pool, use the tennis courts, or whatever. Students can buy a "tarjeta deportiva" which costs about 30 euros, but carries with it a ton of discounts. Honestly, I don’t really know if it is worth it for me. There are lots of fitness classes and also classes to teach various sports/activities like snorkeling, sailing, skiing, hiking, aikido, and more. I might look into one of those instead, but of course, they cost money too. Nothing here is free like it is at Tech, it seems… although there are student discounts.

Speaking of student discounts, I still have to get my "tarjeta univeritaria" made… student ID, essentially. There are little machines all around campus that can make the card for you, but apparently it takes them weeks to process it, sometimes months. Paloma told me that this one Italian girl submitted the request for her card, and by the time she left, she still didn’t have it. It doesn’t really matter though, because the only thing it is really used for is discounts, and most places will award the discount anyway if you tell them you are waiting on a card. She also said I could submit the request online and instead of having the machine take my picture, just upload one of my own. I had read on the website that I needed passport sized photos with me in hand when I arrived here so that I could get an ID made, but apparently that has all changed.
I also asked about wireless access… there has been wireless available in the libraries of each campus for quite some time now, but at the moment they are in the process of installing access points so that one will have access all over campus. In any case, the buildings are so close together I’ll bet you could pick up a signal from the library sometimes anyhow. I might try it out tomorrow.
Oh yeah I told Jay on the phone while I was in Philly but I forgot to mention to the rest of you, I somehow managed to break one of the nose pieces on my glasses just before boarding the plane to Madrid, d’oh.. luckily I had one of those crappy little repair kits in my backpack, so right now I have a temporary adhesive thingy in place of it, but I really need to get it fixed. I saw a few optics places around, but I need to ask where would be the best place to go.

Merce made me this crazy stuff which was basically calamari, fried up kind of like onion rings but in sticks for dinner, and also cooked a big bowl of cauliflower.. which was surprisingly delicious. I’m not sure what she did, but it was good. Pedro and Merce went to Los Rastrillos today and brought me some "bon-bones", which is exactly what you think it is, bon-bons basically, but usually with some sort of almond inside. There is an adult learning center of sorts where Merce takes restoration and cooking classes, and in Los Rastrillos the school sells some of the things that they make, like the bonbones, to help pay for costs. Oh yeah, these classes for adults, are completely free of charge.

Although Merche studied English for a long while in Ireland, Merce and Pedro don’t speak a word of it hardly… which is a good thing, for me. Merce knows one phrase and one phrase only, which she learned in London: "Please mind the gap!" Pablo, Becky’s son (older brother of Maria… I think he is probably 7 years old or so?) Is starting to learn English in school. After school he comes to the house as grandparents when they retire generally look after the children while their own children are still working during the day. Pablo, knowing that I am an American, likes to try out a few English phrases every now and then on me. "Hah-LOW Sandy! Haww ahhr yoo?"

Becky stops by every evening after work with her boyfriend Jonnie to visit for a few minutes, as her beauty school is just down the street from the flat. She is an interesting girl, very animated and very nice. Jonnie is also just lovely, he seems very sweet and always seems interested to hear how I like Oviedo… although I still haven’t really seen much, to be honest.
When Merche and I visited Becky at her salon, I was reading the price list (they do discounted beauty treatments, haircuts, manicures, etc, since it is a beauty school and the work is done by students.) Well, apparently "caviar treatments" are very popular here. I’m not really sure what it does, but it is some sort of facial. Hey, whatever floats your boat.

Becky told us this hilarious story about one of her students, who apparently had a pet tarantula that escaped its enclosure… when her mother returned home and swung the door open, the tarantula was behind it and SPLAT! No more spidey-friend for her. Becky is terrified of spiders, so she was mortified to hear that anyone would want one as a pet.

Speaking of being mortified, apparently everyone around here wears slippers around the house, even though it is always very warm and humid… at least, to me it is. I’ve been sweating a lot, and I have found it a bit hard to breathe at times… I suppose I will grow accustomed to it eventually.

I also still have to get used to the city noise: In addition to the hospital which is next door with ambulances zooming back and forth, they are constructing a 5-star hotel next door to the house and the cranes seem to operate on through the night. The building looks really interesting though, perhaps I will take a picture tomorrow on my way out to campus.

Well... time to try to sleep again...