This week was full of highs and lows. I got this really bad
cold on Monday and I’ve been fighting it ever since. Every minute I didn’t have
class I slept. It was pretty crappy because I didn’t want to risk getting any
of my friends sick so I pretty much stayed to myself. I’ve been very homesick
this week and frustrated with the distance and lack of communication due to
internet and time differences. Richael and I got Whatsapp working so getting to
text her was exactly what I needed. By Thursday I was feeling way better and
this weekend has been excellent.
Thursday night the Center (my school) threw a party for its
students and their intercambios so we could meet each other. The Center places
us with intercambios, or natives who wants to learn English and so we can
practice our Spanish. It’s a great way to not only improve your Spanish but
also to meet Spaniards. I’ve been trying to get in touch with the woman I was
paired with but she hasn’t responded and I’m working on getting another one.
However, I met a ton of my friend’s intercambios at this party. There were
plenty of tapas, wine and beer to get us talking to people and we ended up
meeting a bunch of new people. A few Spaniards took us out to some super fun
local bars afterwards and we had a great night.
Friday was nice and relaxing. A bunch of us sat on the river
and did homework and chatted all afternoon in the sun. After dinner I went with
my friend Mia to meet up with her intercambio and her friends. This woman is 27
and she and her seven friends were what we would consider typical Spaniards.
They’re sophisticated, stylish, elegant, intelligent, gorgeous people and Mia
and I, almost a decade younger than some of them, were a bit intimidated at
first. They welcomed us and made us feel so comfortable, however, that before
long we were all laughing and getting along really well. I was proud of myself
for holding actual conversations in Spanish and they taught me all sorts of
local phrases. Mia told them I sang and so they made me sing for them, which was
hilarious. A few of them sang along and then started singing some Sevillana
(flamenco type music intended for the dance, Sevillana). I think it was one of
my favorite nights here so far. Despite the fact that we are super young and
American, they genuinely enjoyed our company and want to go out again soon.
See, Dad, I’m meeting some non-gringos!
Saturday I dragged myself out of bed at 7am and rode a bus for
three hours. Why? Gibraltar. That’s why! The Center offered a viaje to
Gibraltar for a great price and about half of our group went. This place is so
cool.
I knew I would love it and all of my friends were cracking
up when I started geeking out about all the naval history. Yeah I was happy:
Then we went to a huge natural cave within the rock. It’s
pretty impressive what water and millions of years can do. It honestly looked
like a gothic cathedral. I couldn’t get a picture that even kind of captured
the beauty of this place but here’s the jist:
From there we walked down a little ways to play with more
monkeys and see the view.
In short, Gibraltar was super cool. I could just imagine the
port two hundred years ago filled with ships of the line… Guys, I might have
been born in the wrong time. With all the history, just being there was great
but then add the monkeys and the cave and we had a grand old time.
I took Saturday night off to read. I'm twenty pages away from finishing my third O'Brian novel since I left Portland... That makes eight in four months. It turns out that I've replaced hanging out with Joseph and Janel with a sea captain and an Irish naval surgeon.
Well there you have it. Now time for homework and another week of classes. Another post next week!
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