Soap opera in my Spanish class

Hola!
So, mom and Jocke left yesterday. Therefore I thought that it was about time to update the blog a bit.

Last Monday I was supposed to hand in my course plan at the international relations office. Was it possible? Of course not. Apparently it is impossible to do that if you don’t have your professor’s signature on your learning agreement. And Sol’s and my professor is not in Spain so now we have to go and chase him or someone else to get the signature. Brilliant!

Instead I went to another course that we are taking, English for scientific and technical purposes and oh my that was crazy. The teacher is like a military and she acknowledges herself each time she has said anything. The actual course seem to consist of things that Sol and I already have studied so it shouldn’t be a problem.

I also had my first Spanish lesson and the teacher refuses to speak any other language than Spanish. One guy, who apparently didn’t know any Spanish at all, tried to ask a question in English and then the teacher just told him he had to ask in Spanish because she didn’t understand any other language. ‘Solo español’, she said. It freaked me out a little, but then, as the lesson continued, it was apparent that she was fully able to explain things in a way that I could at least understand.

My Spanish group consists of a majority of Italians, some Germans, a few Eastern Europeans (nationality unknown for me at this point, although there is one girl from Hungary and one from Lithuania) and me. I really am angry at the Italians at the moment, seeing as they already know so many more words than I. I asked one Italian guy why he was in the initial Spanish group if he was Italian, and he said it was because he didn’t know the verbs and stuff. Oh well, they’re all quite funny.

Also there is a soap opera going on in my Spanish classes. Let me explain, that Italian guy that I had talked to, he seems to have a crush on a German girl in the group. And he was rather disappointed being stuck working with me instead of with her. He took every opportunity given to him to talk to her anyway. Next class he found himself not even able to sit next to her and was rather upset about it (although he tried to hide it, no one can trick me though! ;-). And then at the end of the class another Italian guy talked to ‘his’ girl and the first guy rushed over to get an opportunity as well. Now I have decided to keep a close eye on future happenings. Something in the midst of being confused in general that brings me some joy…

Otherwise this week has meant further holidays for me. I decided it was more important to be with my family and show them around then going to classes. But we all went to celebrate Sabine’s birthday with good food and drinks, watched 2 champion’s league games (Real Madrid-Bayern München and Barcelona-Liverpool). It seems my dream about Arsenal-Roma in the final is becoming further and further from reality. Jocke believes in Valencia. I still believe that both Arsenal and Barcelona has a chance. Otherwise I don’t really know.

Harlem Café was one of the few places I had time to show to my guests, and they both enjoyed it and understood my liking of the place, although mom thought the beers were a bit too small. But that’s the way it is here in Spain, things are small, the coffee is small, the sandwiches in cafés are small, the people are small… etc…

We have now met and talked to some more Erasmus-students; one English girl, a few Irish people, a Lithuanian girl and some Germans. The Irish are rather appreciated as one might understand – Paddy’s day is coming soon and since I have adopted the Irish holiday as my own, I will need some to celebrate it with. Am thinking that the Dublin Bay can be a good place to do it at, even though the waiters working there never have heard of Sambuca. Crazy one, offering us free shots and not having the best one!! It’s a disgrace.

Now it’s anyway weekend again, and in an attempt of not being so disturbed by the noise in our street, we are planning to go out for a round or two. Spanish people don’t believe in having the weekend as a recreational oasis, they believe that the weekend (from Thursday night) is there only for drinking and screaming and other weird things! ;-) And I, who am a bit tired after the intense week with Spanish class starting and meeting new people and having my family over, would actually prefer to stay in tonight and relax with my newest issue of ‘Offside’ that Jocke brought for me. It has an article about the best Larsson ever existing, Bosse Larsson. Am looking forward to reading it, but there will be time for everything I am sure.

‘Til next time, hasta luego!
/k