School and Such

I think the last time i posted was Sunday before lunch...We had barbecue like I said, pancetta (big bacon/really good), chorizo (also really good), chicken (I looked retarted because I didn't know how to cut chicken off of a bone), morcilla (like a black sausage that wasnt really good but you can put anything with a piece of bread and your mouth and it will taste good). Then we had salad and straweberries for dessert!

After that Jano and I watched some documentary called Capturing the Friedmans about some pedophiles in New York in the 80's. It was really reallly weird. You could tell these people were really messed up. And I don't know if I already put this, but we watched our home videos from our trip to Mexico too. Then Jano argued with his mom for awhile about I don't know what and we left at like 730 to come back to Madrid. He came to Emi's house and we had leftover pasta for dinner and then I slept there on Sunday night.

Then Monday morning! class! I got up at 7 and was at the bus stop by 730. (my class starts at 830-Literatura Hispanoamericana II). Then I took the 160 bus to Moncola got on the G bus and went to Ciudad Universitaria (like University City). I found the classroom and everything at like 815. There was one other boy there at that time. The doors werent even unlocked to the classrooms until like 825. Then I went in and sat there until like 845 when the teacher showed up. People continued straggling in throughout the class. She basically just gave us the syllabus and talked about it a little. Im with Cara on being kind of confused about where to buy the readings and stuff like that but I talked to the teacher after and she said I didn't need to buy anything for a little while, that at the beginning it would just be copies. Then she asked who had never taken Literatura Hispanoamericana I. One other foreign girl raised my hand but I was too nervous so I didn't. Then she gave us a quick review (like 15 min) of that class talking about humanism and how logic and reason were valued in the 18th century, but in our class were going to stuy romanticism. I could follow her pretty well but her accent was definitely not spanish. She doesn't say any of the s's in any word. EX. Mas o menos is ma o meno. literally. She also told us we were going to have to do a presentation about one of the authors later in the semester, either in partners or alone, and I dont really see anyone wanting to be partners with me plus everyone already knows everybody so woooo. that should be super fun

So I got out of that class at like 930. and my next one Literatura Hispanoamericana III didnt start until 1130. I browsed through the bookstore a little bit and was really impressed! They had all kinds of books that I had read or would want to read and though I didn't see any of my required texts I wasn't realy looking since she said I didn't need to worry about it yet. Then I went to the cafeteria and bought a croissant napoleteana, like a chocolate pastry thing. yumm and orange juice. Then right outside the cafeteria, like inside the building right in a main area there is a smoking section (weird i know). Then I just read my book (Uncle Tom's Cabin) until like 1105. Then I found the classroom for my next class and saw a girl with a Vera Bradley bag and figured she was american. Turns out shes from Oklahoma State and she has that class with me. She was pretty nice. Then we went in that class but our professor wasnt there, a sub came and gave us the syllabi and then proceeded to talk for an hour about each of the author's listed. I seriously wanted to stab her.

Then I took the bus home at like 1 and made lunch for me and jano, mashed potatoes vegetables and shrimp, then later grapes. He has a night class on Monday's at 6 so he left after that. Then he called me during a break in his 3 hour class and said that they had put up his grades and that he had passed physics!

That night I slept at Emi's and tuesday morning I got up at 645 so I could go to starbucks before class. When the guy asked me for my name, I decided I would try and I just said Lauren how I pronounce it in English and he said okay Lauren, very well! but he spelled it Lauron. then in my first class we jumped right into material. She broke down the 19th century into periods of literary movements as well as phases of revolutions in hispanoamerica. She also talked about the state of South America at that time and how it would affect the literature we studied. and I answered a question! She said what does the date 1776 signify. I was all over that shit...Oh also I noticed the Spanish students take notes like in paragraphs, they just write down almost every single word she says in their notebook. It's really weird. I hope there tests arent like insanely specific. She assigned us our first homework, to read La Carta de Jamaica by Simon Bolivar.

Then we got out at 10 and I went to the library to get a library card. That took 10 years because the girl in front of me was from Romania and didn't know her address or phone number or anything. but now I have a library card!! ohhh back up! before I got to te library, I wasnt exactly sure where it was, so I was looking at like the directory in the main entrance to the building and this Spanish girl asks me what Im looking for and I show her my paper and she tells me that she can't read and I said the library for the college of filologia and she said, oh its right down that hall. Do you want me to tell you where the other libraries are? and I was like no. and she asked me where I was from and i told her the United States and she said wow there are so many Erasmus students here (exchange students) and i was like yea Im gonna go..and she was like do you want some of my sandwich? and I just said no thanks. It was a really awkward conversation. Then I went to the cafeteria again and got my napoleteana. and bought a hiliter at the bookstore. I read a little bit more then went to my next class. The teacher wasn't there again so we left pretty much right after class started.

I went home and bought some milk and strawberries at the grocery store and then Jano came and picked me up to go eat lunch at his house. We had salad, fries and menestra or something like that which is like meat with vegetables, It was pretty good. Then I took a nap while he did some homework and at 630 we went out. First we went to buy me a cell phone. I have like the original Nokia phone for 20 euros. Then we bought a chocolate thing in a bakery. Then I went to a Barclay's ATM to get money out. Then we went to Corte Ingles because we needed to buy chicken for the curry I was going to make for dinner. Then we went to the corte inges electronics which is like across the street to buy a microphone so I can skype with my mom on Sundays.

After that we came home and I made green curry and rice for dinner. We also had chips salsa and queso...haha. At the beginning we had a setback though because when I tried to open the rice the bag burst and I spilled rice all over the kitchen..But thankfully we had more rice and everything turned out just wonderful...It reminded me of getting thai food with you guys in Norman..then I had to hang up the clothes that were in the washer in random places around the house (They dont have dryers and its really cold outside at night). Then I started the dishwasher and went to bad. Jano spent the night here because Emi stayed at her sisters house because it was her brother-in-law's birthday yesterday.

Then today is Wednesday and I don't have any classes on Wednesday so I woke up at like 1030 and had some cereal took a shower and thats pretty much it. I think tonight Jano and i are going to go to dinner at VIP's which is a restaurant he really likes to celebrate our Valentine's Day since we were in Toledo with his parents on Saturday.