Spanish Showers and Other Stories

Hola todos!

Well, the hot water we had in our apartment lasted for approximately five minutes, and now it's back to being freezing again. We have discovered that showering here is done in some very distinct steps:

1) Wet hair, turn off shower
2) Shampoo
3) Rinse hair, turn off shower
4) Condition (if you're feeling adventurous)
5) Rinse hair, turn off shower
6) Lather body
7) Rinse, turn off shower

Done. I haven't even attempted shaving my legs yet, that's going to be an experience.

Having the handheld shower-head is quite an experience, as well. It is not one of those handheld ones that you can attach to the wall and shower normally, oh no. The attachment is about shoulder height. But at least the shower is draining properly now, and I'm getting used to the technique.

In other news, today was my first day of classes. I had two: Spanish Advanced B (the highest level I could test into, wooo!) and Creative Writing: Travel and Essay. There are only two people in my Spanish class, which I think is going to be really nice. I'm basically guaranteed to learn and participate. My professor's name is Carmen and she is the same woman I took the placement test with. She said she was very impressed with my Spanish, which made me feel great!

I am in love with my Writing class already. My professor for this one is Colombian, and has been living in Barcelona for 6 years getting his PhD in Humanities. His name is Camilo. He explained travel writing using the Odyssey as an example (Deb, my Myth/Shakespeare professor back home, would LOVE him!). We also talked about the difference between travelers and tourists, which was really interesting. I was grateful for the Anthropology class I just took at RWU because I mentioned egocentrism and cultural bias and he ate it up!

Funny Side Note: During that class, there was a guy cleaning the windows of the classroom. Initially, he was singing, and Camilo had to tell him to be quiet because we were having class. Then, about 45 minutes later, he BROKE a window. He proceeded to yell to us, in Spanish, that we shouldn't worry, it would not be the only window he would break. He then laughed hysterically. Five minutes later, he was patching the hole up with masking tape. WHAT?!

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This past weekend was a lot of fun. We went out for tapas and drinks Friday night, then were planning to go to a club or something after. It started to pour, though, so a bunch of us came back to my apartment and hung out, which was nice. Saturday morning we ventured down to the water to go to the aquarium, which was really fun. Saturday night we went out for tapas again (delicious!) and then went to an Irish pub smack dab in the middle of Barcelona!

My Spanish is improving already, as well. I'm getting more and more comfortable speaking it. Today in the grocery/convenience store, I had a conversation with the cashier about olive oil, of all things. She asked where I was from and commented that my Spanish was very good! It's definitely nice to hear things like that from locals!


Keep reading, and I'll keep posting! Don't forget to check out the millions of pictures I've taken on Facebook (I've tried to post them on here, too, but it hasn't been working).

Hasta luego!