Once Begun is Half Done

Another week has gone by, so I daresay it’s blogging time once again!

I can’t believe this is the last day of February. Seriously. Where on Earth did it go? I’ve decided that February went much faster than January - which, in some ways, is sort of nice. I’ve had a number of very homesick moments this month. I want to have good talks with my parents. I want to tell traveling stories to and play Rock Band with my brother. I want to hug and laugh hysterically with my friends from home. I want to eat peanut butter! And mashed potatoes! And ketchup! Not at the same time, though. But really, it gets better when I remember that I only have about two more months here, and I know they’re going to fly by, so I need to enjoy them to the fullest. I mean, I’m in Spain, for pity’s sake. I only have a short time to enjoy being here (and I am enjoying it deeply!) before I have to go back to familiar things. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and home will still be waiting for me when I get back. Not that I know where home is anymore…I sometimes think that if I clicked my heels together like Dorothy, I have no idea whether I’d end up in Pamplona, Moorhead, or Wahpeton. But I guess I’m okay with being a nomad a little while longer.

Anyway, despite home sickness and random food cravings, this week has had a great deal of fun moments. And gosh, Monday seems like ages ago. The beginning of the week was fairly boring, but that’s usually how it goes. I think I’m going to have to make an effort to change that – there’s got to be something else that us Concordia girls (and perhaps some not-Concordia people) can do together during the week besides going to bars and discotecas, though that’s fun to do sometimes. At any rate, the early part of the week had its good points – I got to watch a cool show with my host mom that reminded me of a glorified version of American Idol (a bunch of different singers, with a band and sometimes even props and backup singers! It was slightly epic). It was the final episode, and they were selecting the best singer from a group of Spanish performers. The winner gets to go to Oslo to represent Spain and Eurovision in a worldwide competition, apparently. The guy who won was a cutie named Daniel Diges (I think that’s the right spelling) who sang a really pretty waltz song. And my host mom and I both wanted him to win, so we were happy! I encourage you to look up the YouTube video of the song (called “Algo Pequeñito”...I'm not sure what you'll find it under on YouTube, but I don't think it'd be tough to locate) if you feel so moved. It’s some fun stuff :-)

On Tuesday, I finally got to see a little Olympic skating, which I was pretty excited about. My Olympic-Games-watching skills this time around = Fail. To be honest, though, watching some of the other sports is fun too, but skating is really the only thing I care that much about as far as the Winter Games are concerned. They show some pretty weird sports, in my opinion…I mean really – what is the point of curling? And after a while, the ski jumps and luge runs all look the same to me. So I guess I’m not heartbroken that I’ve missed a lot of it. I think I'd rather watch futbol...mostly because ugly futbolistas do. not. exist. For real.

Also on Tuesday, we had one of the most fun dance classes yet – only five of us showed up so it was really chill, and for the first hour we learned more cha-cha moves. It’s so satisfying to finally be getting it down – dancing gets more and more enjoyable as we continue to improve! Then, for the second hour, when we were technically all supposed to be practicing the tango, all of us ended up sitting on the floor and talking! It was so much fun. And it was great speaking practice, which I never seem to get enough of. Kristen M., Lauren, and I ended up talking with Ruben for most of the time – he’s essentially the only guy in the class (there’s one other, but he hardly ever comes), and he’s really cool. He asked us about the differences between Spain and the U.S. and what we liked better in both. I was glad he did, because I really love those questions; they get me thinking about the comparisons and what I’m learning from the differences, more than I usually think about them. We also talked a bit about the different foods in Spain, and he told us how to make some of the desserts. Such fun! We may have missed out on an hour of dancing, but we didn’t care because we’d had just as good a time and learned a lot anyway!

On Wednesday night, things started to pick up a bit. We girls decided that we were all in desperate need of getting out of our respective houses and doing something fun together. We ended up going to a bar called Singular, right by the Ciudadela. It was so much fun! We all loved the atmosphere, and the fact that there was enough room to dance, which we all did with gusto. It was just so nice to have a great time with the gals and loosen up a bit (without the aid of alcohol, even :-P). I think that Singular is my favorite of the bars I’ve been to here! Definitely planning to go back at some point.

Of course, I was reeeeally tired the next morning, but I wasn’t too worried about it since I always have ample time for a nap here (not to brag or anything…haha), which I took full advantage of. I went out on Thursday night for a couple hours as well – nowhere near as late as on Wednesday, thankfully. That would’ve been a little ridiculous. It was fun, though – there was an open mic night/talent show for the intercambios at a bar called Long Island, and it was so cool to watch Lise play the fiddle song “Orange Blossom Special” on her violin and to see Ellen play guitar and sing with one of her Spanish roommates. They both did a great job!

Friday was simply lovely in many ways. The weather was amazing, for one - nearly 60 degrees, for those of you in Fahrenheit-land :-P. On my walk home, I was too warm! The fact that this happened in February is nearly unfathomable to me. I even went to the middle of the Ciudadela to study for a while by the fountain. It’s so much quieter in there – the big stone walls block out a lot of the traffic noise. And it was so peaceful to sit in the sun and look at the gorgeous old buildings. Gosh, I love that place! Later on that evening, I went to see Valentine’s Day (Historias de San Valentín) with Kristen and Lise. What a great movie! And we even understood what was going on…granted, the dubbed-over voices talked fairly slow, but it was still an ego boost to know that we could understand a movie that’s not in our own language and that we've never seen before! Woot. I guess I am learning, though it feels like I’m doing so very slowly sometimes. Oh, and Kristen and I bought popcorn, which tasted sooo great after not having had it for a couple of months.

This weekend has been low-key, as per usual. Which is just fine with me :-). I went to the mall, La Morea, with the girls yesterday to explore a bit. We found a couple fun little things (there was a jewelry store where everything was super cute and we were powerless to resist…), and then went to the grocery store (or rather, department store…there’s this huge, Wal-Mart-esque place inside the mall. The size of that place is staggering!) to get some much-needed sweets…we eat healthily here, which means that our sweet tooth (teeth?) are always clamoring to be satisfied. Kristen and I split a package of mini Haagen-Dasz ice creams…oh man. That was an excellent decision, let me tell you. Haagen and Dasz may replace Ben and Jerry as my boyfriends...lol!

Today has been mostly filled with homework and a good deal of putzing around. I’ve got a grammar test on Thursday that has me worried, so you can bet I’ll be hitting the books a great deal. Just as soon as I can get myself motivated. Really though, I’ve got to do my best! Now that I have only four classes, I can’t afford to do poorly in any of them. But if I get going on it, I should be okay. It would be a lot easier, though, if Spanish pronouns weren’t the devil’s children…ugh.

The weekend has raced by, but I think I’m ready to tackle a new month in Spain. As ready as I’ll ever be, anyway!