Yes, I'm still here.

Not a whole lot of excitement lately, back to the school thing more or less...some more frustrations with the ever-changing classroom for Translation, but I've managed not to kill anyone yet. Nobody seems to know what is going on, ever. Honestly, I just finally had a mini-breakdown last week because I was getting so frustrated with it all. The worst part of it all is that it's not due to a language barrier or anything like that.... no fault of my own, just a completely wacko organization (or rather lackthereof) of the university, where everyone seems to be on a different page and they seem incapable of getting a message across to everyone at once. You see, there's this thing, called EMAIL...

...and yes, there is such a thing as university email... but most people don't utilize it, and honestly, I can't say I blame them. The webmail interface makes VT Webmail look divine, and as every Hokie knows, VT Webmail has got its issues for certain. Okay, aside from that, there's the basic issue of, well, NOBODY CAN REMEMBER THEIR EMAIL ADDRESS. Why? Well, first of all, you don't get to choose it. Second of all, it has absolutely nothing to do with you, your name, or anything like that. It's just a randomly assigned number of sorts with "UO" stuck on the front for "universidad de oviedo". So for example, someone's email address could be something like "UO1859301@uniovi.es"... so yeah, of course nobody really uses it.

Okay, frustrations aside, things are okay I guess. It is starting to get warm here which has me a bit bummed because I was hoping for some cold weather to hit. I have 3 or 4 long sleeved shirts that looks like will never make a debut in Spain. In fact, I went out shopping the other day to try to find just a long sleeved button-down light shirt to wear over my tshirts for some arm protection because I'm actually starting to bust out the sunblock now.

...so the shopping adventure. As I mentioned in the last post, the stores are all completely organized by color. You can't just walk into a clothing store and be like "hmm, I would like to buy pants. I will walk over to the PANTS section." No. First, you must envision exactly what color of pants you would like, and then dig through the shirts, skirts, dresses, etc that also happen to come in that color. Incredible.

Long story short, I didn't find anything that would even work, much less in my size. Bah. Merche is also fair-skinned so she has a bunch of long sleeved light shirts for protection so she said she'd take me to the place she gets most of hers next time we make a trip out to Parque Principado which should be fairly soon... hopefully I can come up with something there.

I know I've mentioned this to a few people but for everyone else who hasn't heard, Becky and Jonnie are moving in on Sunday actually, into Merche's room upstairs, and Merche is moving in next door to me where Andreas was earlier... so that should be interesting. Becky and Jonnie (her boyfriend)'s lease is up on their flat and they have a reservation of some sort on a new place, but it will take a couple of years to be built. In the meantime, to save some money, Merce and Pedro decided just to let them stay here with us, save up some cash, and move to the new place when it is completed. So yeah, little by little over the past week or two they've been bringing stuff over here from the current place, and this weekend they'll finally move out for good.

Well, I'm going to get a bit of work done on the online VT class... coming to the end of the semester over there, but still a good ways to go for me here in Spain. I'm not really sure if I'm even registered yet, to be honest. Who knows.

Next weekend we're going to Muros and then leaving from there to see Santiago de Compostela... weee? More pictures to be had, I'm sure.

And now, for your favorite species of blog-post....

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED IN SPAIN, vol. IV

- A “yuppi” is not a snobby sophisticate. It is actually a really hip little café and convenience store type of place that is open 24/7. Think of it as a 7-11 except with class, and someone working to serve you sodas, snacks, and coffee.

- Rabbits, baby pigs, and baby lambs are not only cute, but also delicious and fashionable to wear on coats.

- It is unreasonable to expect an ISP to provide service for all of the 24 hours in a single day, much less EVERY day…

- Infants shop at boutiques that look way too high-society for American college students.

- Fred Flintstone’s alter Spanish ego is “Pedro Picapiedra”, and Barney is Pablo something or other.. I can’t remember his last name right now.

- A “Tabaco” stand only carries minimal amounts of actual tobacco products… it is mostly a magazine kiosk.

- Apparently I suffer from some sort of body temperature disorder, since I feel comfortable wearing a tshirt walking around in 17C (about 63F) weather, when everyone else is bundled up like it is the arctic tundra.

- If a person “turns into a Swede,” it means that they don’t care to understand or learn anything new. I have to wonder if this has some Viking roots.

- “Colon” is not a bodily organ, it’s a brand of detergent, or possibly a reference to Christopher Columbus.

- If you want to ditch someone or break up with your significant other, you “send them to fry asparagus.”

- You can buy scotch and whiskey pre-packaged with a liter of coca-cola…. Handy I guess?

- I imagine either the Spanish have more money than me or they all suffer from dehydration, because I have yet to see a single water fountain in any building…. But bottled water is available in any vending machine, of course.

- Symmetry is for suckers. Clothing, buildings, etc should be asymmetrical, for style.

- Coca-colas are ALWAYS served with lemon in restaurants.

- If you went somewhere with your friends and you all had a really good time, you “enjoyed yourselves like gnomes.”

- All clothing stores are organized by color… not style, article of clothing, size, price, brand, or anything like that. I suppose we can see where the Spanish priorities lie.

Packing Analysis

I wrote this a few days ago but seeing as how my internet has been dodgy at home, I saved it and I'm posting it now:

Packing Analysis

Well, seeing as how I have been here about a month and a half now, I think I can make a fair assessment as to what I did right and what I did wrong in the packing process. I have received lots of questions from people asking what I need, what I didn’t need, etc, so I figured this might be useful information for anyone out there who is reading and thinking about studying abroad.

Well, just like every other study-abroad-packing-guide out there predicted, I did bring too much clothing I suppose, but it wasn’t horribly overboard. Since I happen to live with a family that does laundry once every couple of days or so, I haven’t really needed everything, but then again, with the rain we’ve had recently it is taking forever for things to dry. As a general rule of thumb for anyone thinking about staying in Spain for awhile, bring a pair of jeans if you must as they’re quite useful and can be fashionable, but take another pair of pants or maybe even two because you’ll need something to wear while your jeans are drying for the next week or so, haha.

Before this spirals out of control, I suppose I will break this up into sections with some brief summaries to make it easier to read:

CARRY ON LUGGAGE:

Good calls: Chex mix, granola bars, nalgene water bottle (to fill up after security of course!) knitting project on wooden circular needles, Pringles, mp3 player, toothbrush & toothpaste, deodorant, face wash, and a book. It was really nice to be able to “freshen up” a bit after that flight to Madrid since I was traveling for a full 24 hours by the end of it. Oh yeah, and my eyeglasses repair kit was a LIFESAVER. I had never needed it before but man, was I glad to have it when my nose-pad-thingy broke in Philly.

Bad calls: Pop tarts (they just got ruined and crumbly all over the place)

CLOTHING:

As I mentioned before, I probably did pack more than necessary, but it’s not that bad. I can easily fit it all into one back and then some, and I’m prepared for various scenarios. I

Good calls: waterproof packable raincoat, hoodie, non-denim pants, dirty laundry bag.

Bad calls: I was told that it was cold here… but cold is a relative term. Looking at the latitude, it seemed to me like it would be a bit like New Yorkish weather, but I was sadly mistaken. I packed some long sleeved and/or thermal stuff to compensate for lack of a proper coat but it was entirely unnecessary. I thought there was no such thing as too many socks too but again, with the frequency of laundry-service here it was entirely unnecessary to have more than 5 pairs or so. However, I’m not sure if I’d recommend that to other travelers… socks and underwear are not things you want to have to wear twice, you know? Also, towel was completely unnecessary since I have a very nice and well-stocked host family. Oh well. I went against the advice in other blogs and brought my baseball cap just in case I needed some shade from the sun on excursions… probably should have left that at home too, but we’ll see if I regret this decision or not when May and June roll around. I’m not sure if this is the case with Spaniards in general or not, but it seems that me not having bedroom slippers to wear around the house was a big no-no too. Thanks for hooking me up Julie and Cindy!

TOILETRIES:

Good calls: Basics like shampoo, soap, face wash, etc was nice to have on hand upon my arrival when I desperately needed a shower as opposed to hunting for it in town. By the way, Curel “continuous comfort” is some seriously hardcore lotion for anyone who needs just a non-smelly good overall moisturizer. I’m seriously impressed. Oh yeah, and that DayQuil I brought was a lifesaver when I got a nasty cold early on. Chapstick is nice to have on hand.

Bad calls: I should have brought more anti-acne stuff and some of those sweet nose strips for the blackheads… this change in climate has been really wreaking havoc on my skin. I probably brought too much lotion too, since I was expecting to be super dried out Blacksburg-winter-style.. but instead I’m sweating like a pig.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES:

Good calls: spiral notebook (they don't sell notebooks with lined paper... only grids!), post it notes, a large yet very useful dictionary (thanks Jay!), Sharpies, pens, and my backpack (was my carry-on bag). Even though my backpack makes me very unfashionable, I’m thankful to have it, and I'm popular among my Spanish Fam when we go on excursions since nobody else has space to in their little purses, haha...

Bad calls: Should have also invested in a pocket dictionary (but Merche loaned me hers from when she studied in Ireland), accidentally brought along just one college ruled notebook and the other notebook was wide ruled, hi-lighters weren’t really necessary because the classes don’t really follow any sort of textbook, they are mostly just for reference and research.

HOMESICKNESS COMBATANTS:

Good calls: My jar of peanut butter is god. The DO sell peanut butter here, but only a couple of weirdo brands and I’m not sure if it tastes the same as my Jif. In any case, it certainly isn’t popular here. My photos of Jay and Blacksburg and little removable stickies to hold them up on the wall rock, just wish I had more of them. Webcam helps a lot too.

Bad calls: should have brought peppermint patties or other mint-chocolatey goodness… they just don’t seem to sell much of it here, and it’s my favorite. Luckily my care-packages have been supplementing this quite a bit!

MISC:

Good calls: Little VT gifts for the family, a Skype Pro account, my laptop, a thumb drive, list of phone numbers and addresses, photocopies of my passport, sewing supplies, and my Baggalini wallet-purse to carry around everywhere. Oh yeah, and my digital camera is the envy of everyone here, and I love it to death. The 10x zoom is AMAZING!!! Definitely glad I brought the dual time zone alarm clock and the dual time zone watch that Jay gave me for Christmas too.

Bad calls: Should have loaded some music onto my laptop, should have tested the files I put on my thumbdrive because it turns out they were corrupted.

That's all I can think of for now... perhaps an amendment to this later on.

Hasta luego!

Finished the hat!

Despite popular belief, I was not making a scarf, I was making a HAT, and it is DONE! I might make a little pom pom to put on top of it though. It is a bit tight for my head so when I tried it on it stretched the pattern a bit (and fit a bit snug for my taste) but overall it's not too bad for a first try!






Unfortunately where I sewed it up in the back I sort of got things out of alignment a bit so the pattern doesn't match up exactly, but hey, it works!