Sunday, October 23, 2011

Marching for a cause

Last Saturday I was able to participate in a political protest in Spain. Although this protest was held all over the world, the protest I witnessed and was a part of was truly amazing. It really was quite a humbling sight, seeing thousands and thousands of people marching for a solution. People had signs that said such amazing things.
                                           means of manipulation
                                              1 bank to govern them all
                                                       I want a future
                                               without a house, without a job, without fear
                                              "Thees hands" these are our arms

In Spain the economy crashed harder than it did in the US, all over you see construction sights abandoned because the funds to build whatever was meant to be built fell, so the construction stopped midway. Right across the street from my house you can actually see the skeletons of houses rotting away because no one will ever finish building the house, and no one will ever buy the house.In the US when the unemployment rate hit 12%, havoc and fear spreed out throughout the nation... In Spain about 20% of the working population is unemployed. So the sights of this protest were truly amazing.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

One Month

So official I have been here in Europe.... in Spain... in Granada for 1 whole month! It feels like its been forever, and yet at the exact same time it feels like it has been a short time. I have adopted this country as my own already. I remember the first week I got here a friend of mine took me to "El Centro" to check out the town, I remember being in such awe of how beautiful and antique it the city was... but now, since I go to town everyday, and because I live here, it doesn't give me that same vibe that it did the first time I went downtown. So I guess what I am trying to say is that I am no longer in the honeymoon/tourist faze of the program, but I can live with that because, tourists don't get to hang out and have a good time with the natives.

Spanish..... so I'm going to admit it right now, I thought my Spanish would be way WAY better living in Spain for a month... I guess I didn't meet my expectations because I feel like its just a little bit better than before I got here. I have my ups and downs, I feel like there are times where I could pass as a fluent Spanish speaker, when I'm talking to my friends, talking to the girls, having a good time, and then I come home and my mom asks me if I want to eat and I have no idea what she said! So I really don't get how that works out. I'm still not thinking in Spanish, and I still can't seem to understand a damn thing in class (sorry for the damn, but I just think its the best adjective that fits in that spot). I can only try to understand for so long until I just zone off. The professor will be talking about how philosophy is an important concept in history and I can only pick up blah bluh bloh bah! Okay, so its not that bad, depending on the lesson, or depending on the class, I can either understand a lot or a little. My economics class I would say is the most interesting class, therefore I can understand more and pay attention for longer in the class. Another class that I actually enjoy is my french class. WHAT? I think I like this class because it is French level 1, therefore I'm not the only one who can't speak a word of French. Surprisingly enough, I have learned a little bit a French, the basics, but enough that I can be satisfied with it. I think one thing that I love about my French class is when the teacher is teaching us how to pronounce a word. The whole class sounds like a zoo or some kind of place that has wild animals.

So school.... one thing I miss about school in the USA is of course, the longer breaks in between classes. Over here we have 3 classes in the morning; hour long classes, 5 minuet breaks in between, and than a 30 minuet lunch and then 3 more classes with 5 minuet breaks...
So I think I can guess what your thinking, "That is a lot of time in between classes"... am I right?
Well the thing is, I am used to classes that last an hour and a half long. So at my school in the US we have two large breaks, 1 break being 30 minuets, the other break being an hour long, AND it  includes the 5 minuet passing period. So I guess the structure of school is a lot more relaxed in the US than it is here.

So sadly, I didn't make the soccer team I tried out for. It was actually a crazy cool experience because these kids were so amazingly good. Their passes were amazing, the communication, I could go on but my point is that its just beautiful soccer, so beautiful that I could have shed a tear. While I was playing with them I thought I was playing for Real Madrid or Barcelona. They were just that good. A funny part of this tryout experience was the coach. The coach said before the tryouts that he was going to be a "hard headed" coach, so while he was yelling at his players he would get so into it and so upset, and what was even more crazy is that his players just shut up and did exactly what he said without any hesitation. I wanted to laugh so loud when in the middle of practice some of the players kept messing up the drill we were doing. So the coach stops everyone, tells the kids to give him the ball, and then screams a couple of "nice" words and then tells the players to continue the drill. Amazingly after the coach said what was on his mind the player executed the drill Perfectly! But at the end of the day I knew that I wasn't as good as these kids, so when the coach told me I didn't make the team I didn't really feel that bad about it.
But now I am on a basketball team! So after I told my friends that I didn't make the soccer team, immediately  they asked me if I wanted to join their basketball team. Me, with nothing better to do said yes! I actually really like this basketball team and I happy that I'll be playing with these guys!

I am really excited to start this next month, because If it was anything like this last month I am going to love it! One thing I realize is that for every one thing I miss about the USA, I can find 1 thing that I like better about Spain. And that is just the strait up truth.

So... to conclude, looking foreword to October!!!