Day 9

Monday, February 2, 2009

I got to sleep in until 8:30 today. This is funny to be because normally I’d be mortified at the idea of getting up so early.
It was rainy and cold again, all day long – no snow today though. I underestimated how cold it was going to be too and didn’t dress right. Then I lost my glove in the Renfe station… really I could’ve predicted that would happen sooner or later – I’m just not used to wearing them so I forget when I’ve taken them off and am holding them… I’m just not happy it happened sooner rather than later. When I got to UC3, I realized I was wearing my scarf from Sat night, which smells like smoke, so I took that off. Plus my snap on my trench coat came off sometime during the day, so it really was not my day as far as clothing was concerned. Thankfully, I spent most of the day inside.

I arrived at UC3 around 10:15 to use the internet for a bit, but I had to be up at Isabel’s office around 10:30 – so really just a bit. While I’ve definitely been handling the no internet situation better than others, it’s still annoying to only be on for a couple minutes here and there.
My left ring finger just cramped up… is that a sign? Haha.

From Isabel’s office we walked over to the main part of campus where we separated to go to our respective classrooms to take our written Spanish placement exams. I thought I did alright, some of the questions were really hard, but hopefully it will place me in the correct level. Last week, we were lucky to have Monica and Fatima as teachers, because they know us now, and also they administered our oral exams in our class breaks. Everyone else has to go to UC3 tomorrow and Thursday to take theirs, and they only take like 5-10 minutes since it’s just a conversation.

After the exams, we all convened in the cafeteria for a café and maybe a bocadillo, and then traversed over to a big classroom where we had a welcome/orientation session. This was boring except for the fact that we got to meet the directors of the Estudios Hispanicos Program… and we got to scope everyone else in the program out. To me it seems like everyone is American. I also organized my planner while the lady was talking, since it was pretty much the exact same things that Isabel has told us more than once.

A copa or cocktail style lunch ensued, where I ate mostly cheese and potatoes… cheese sandwich, cheese croquette, and a potato tortilla. I also enjoyed a nice glass of white wine and sipped Dan’s red, which was good too. Later this lunch came back to haunt me in the form of indigestion, ugh. I think I should moderate my intake of cheese from now on. We kind of mingled with the other students, I met mostly girls from California and a couple from DC, and exchanged numbers with Sierra and Emily from UC Davis.

After lunch, we went to a big auditorium where the EH professors gave us presentations on their specific class… this lasted for over 2 hours. I knew already that I didn’t want to take a lot of the classes, so after a bit, Dan, Jaime, Stef, Chris, and I decided to head over to use the internet for a bit. This is when I started feeling bad. Dan and I headed back to hear the last two presentations, which might have been a mistake considering the last one (Medioambiente) was like a half hour and I already knew I wanted to take it.

We walked to the bus with our new UC Davis friends and I headed home. Back in Madrid, Natasha and I hung out for a bit watching the Guardian and Will & Grace, talking about her trip to Lisbon tomorrow, and then we took a walk to get money from the ATM. Sue and Teresa were mysteriously missing until late. She also told me about how one of her exes just got engaged to the girl he broke up with her for, always a weird situation. I still feel like I’m too young to know people who are getting engaged and married, even my sister. We ate dinner and then she left to spend the night at Lucas’ apt. And well, after she left I started writing this… with an interruption when Teresa got home… so now that I’m done I’m going to sleep.