1 Month!

I have now been in Spain for a little over a month! It's crazy to think that a month has already gone by! Though not quite as hard to believe as I sit here attempting to study for my intensive month final tomorrow and I realize how much stuff we have learned/how much I material I should be reviewing.

Next week I start the classes that I will be taking for the next three months! I am taking the next level Spanish class (assuming I pass my exam tomorrow...), a contemporary art history class, a history of flamenco class, doing an internship in a school, and also taking German! I told them that I wanted to take German 1, but they told me I should take the placement test anyway since I've already had some German. So I went to take the placement test... and me oh my. I didn't review at all because I figured that would be cheating, I get there and I'm like "wow all I remember how to say is 'I speak no german" and 'I'm thirsty'." Two very important phrases, but not going to get me very far... Then I get the test and understood some of it, but had no idea what to put in the blanks for the multiple choice because all of the answer choices were like "ein, eine, einen, der, dein, diene, die, etc." all things that I never really bothered to try to put in my long term memory back when I was actually in German 1 because I didn't think any of that was important... On the essay I basically wrote that I didn't know how to answer the question because I took german for 1 year but don't remember very much (all in probably very broken german...) Then for the grand finale was the oral part. I forgot how to say numbers when he asked how old I am. I never thought this would happen, but after that embarrassment, speaking spanish to the guy was a relief... I'm really not sure if I should take this as a good thing or a bad thing. Anyway, there are only like 4 levels of the other language classes, so he put me in 1B.

I met another fellow victim of german memory loss (she's from Granada though!), and she said he put her in 1B also but it didn't work with her schedule so now she's in 2A and was told to study study study before classes start. Anyway, I'm actually looking forward to brushing up on German and then I can impress Anna and her family when I stay in Germany for 2 months. Though it should be interesting to learn German in Spanish... but then again, I have been learning Spanish in Spanish for the past month, so maybe it won't be so bad.

I'm excited to start my new classes, but also kind of sad because I've come to really like all of my level 8 class mates and I'm not sure how often I will end up seeing them now. The Iraqi woman in my class has been really interesting to talk to and hear her perspective on different issues that we discuss. One thing that she sort of reluctantly admitted is that women in Iraq have had much less freedom since the war with the U.S. She also talked about how although Iraq is now a "Democracy" it is only so in name.  For a Muslim Iraqi woman, she really has a lot of freedom. The social system there is basically set up so that if a woman dates someone and then doesn't marry the man/they break up for some reason, it is always the woman's fault and she is ostracized. Homosexuality is also illegal, and if someone is proven to be homosexual, they are killed (Whereas I learned today that in all of Spain gay marriage is allowed and in Andalucia, getting a sex change is free!). In her particular case, she met her husband while studying Spanish at the same University and they knew each other for a year before they started dating, and eventually got married.

But enough of school stuff, last Saturday I went on a CLM excursion to Almuñecar and walked around a castle, then to the Nerja Caves which were spectacular, and then to a beach in Nerja which was also amazing! I had never seen water so clear and blue and beautiful. I also recently booked my flight to Barcelona to go stay with Emma for a weekend, as well as a flight to Paris to go stay with Francois! These are probably the two "biggest" excursions I will be making, but Liz and I may end up going to Cadiz or Seville at some point too! So basically I am very excited to be travelling a little bit around Spain and Europe! Instead of YOLO, we use YOIGO here (You're [maybe] Only In Granada Once). My mom, sisters, and grandparents will also be coming over thanksgiving, so I have a lot to look forward to!

I really do like my host family a lot, but I'm glad Liz is here to be just as confused as I am. For example, this past week and a half, we have only seen our host dad maybe twice. We considered asking where he's been, but since neither of them mentioned it, we figured it's best not to ask just in case they are having marital problems or something (though the two times we have seen both of them together they have seemed very happy so really we have no idea what the situation is).

Now briefly, there is not much to report on Luna and Tortuga, but Luna has basically been the same little weirdo as always, and Tortuga has been hiding from the rain we have had the past two days (a little bit contrary to how you might think a turtle would behave in the rain). The facebook page "Turtles Eating Things" also "shared" my photo of Tortuga eating some lettuce, so that was definitely a high point of my day hehe. Also, for those very few of you who don't have facebook, I will post some of the photos I have been taking so that you can see some of what I have been talking about!