TO SEE IT ALL OR TO SEE IT ALONG THE WAY

¡Mis amigos!

Hola and bienvenidos to the third post. Not gonna lie, I'm pretty amazed I made it this far too. Let's get to business. (We'll start with the boring stuff but I promise if you stick around tales of kissing contests and poppin' bottles are to follow)

The test results came back positive (or it looks so at least on paper - in vida real I'm not sure if this is a good thing or if I should be very, very scared. Anyway) and I am placed in all Advanced level classes. This is the second to highest level right under Superior, and let's be real, I am no Superior Estudiante de Español. In fact, right now I'm even questioning if I am truly advanced or just highly skilled at fooling people.

If I could insert a selfie right here of my face during all of my classes it would be hideous, so I'm not going to actually do that, but imagine a little something between a pathetic lost child and a studious grimace, paired with blue eyes and fair (sunkissed) skin, of course. If only this image could be sufficient to describe to you the curriculum that lies ahead for the next month.

We go to classes at the University from 9 a.m. - 2:20 p.m. That, if you can do math, double check me because I definitely can't, rounds out to about JUST enough time to turn my English-dominant brain into a nice pile of Spanglish-reeking mush. So I have four professors, and am in classes of 15-20 people from all around the world. In one of my classes I am the only American. Match this up with extremely fast-speaking professors, classrooms that have never seen an air conditioner, and a necessity for 85% attendance and it looks like I have quite the desafío (challenge) on my hands!

To be honest I am mind blown by the intensity but invigorated by the challenge. In most situations it is that I either speak Spanish and speak it well or no one will understand me whatsoever. I have jumped in and now I have to swim whether I know how to the best of my abilities or not! What is so interesting, however, is the ability to communicate with people from every part of the world because we share a common tongue. I've chatted with several Brazilians even though I know absolutely no Portuguese. There are people from China, England, France, Germany, everywhere. And we can't forget the guy who sits next to me in my first class and talks to himself in Spanish. ¿Que melting pot, no?

This is the casual view from my first class. Not bad, sí?

The classes may be overwhelming but the host home situation makes it so much easier to live in such a learning environment. Mi house madre told me, "Hablas muy bellisimo chica" the other day, which means that she thinks I speak beautifully, and it was so encouraging. Me encanta our meal conversations--tonight we three students and she sat around the table discussing locals and customs and boys over juevos fritos y pescado (fried eggs and fish. The food I've been eating here is a story for a different day!)

I have been walking miles a day and exploring the city a bit. We have our walk to the Plaza and University area and back down, it's just finding other places like a supermarket or telephone store that sometimes trip us up. The city is a lot larger than I originally thought but I really love city living. It is very safe here and so fun to observe the locals in their element. It is amazing to me how relaxed they can be but still in a bustling city environment. They walk slowly and every restaurant has outdoor shaded seating where you'll see muchos friends and families hanging out, simply enjoying time together. Spanish culture knows what's up.

I'm not going to lie and say that culture shock has not set in, though. It actually hit me pretty hard today after the adrenaline of the past two days wore off, classes became a real life occurrence, and my body is still physically adjusting to such a different environment. After a 30-minute discussion with our madre we finally got a small amount of caffeine in our coffee this morning, but breakfast is still so small that it is nearly impossible to go from 8:30-2:45 without food or water. Walking so much we are nearly famished by the time we eat, so we eat everything served to us, no questions asked. So my body's being weird and my head's being even weirder with all the constant translating it's having to do. No bueno. But I absolutely love it here and am so positive about this experience. Never in my life would I have imagined myself smiling and sweating at the same time! Just the quirks alone make it all worth it - for instance, it is so amusing to me that they call Wi-Fi, "wee fee!" The shock is only temporary.

If there's one thing I've learned in Graphic Design it's that learning by doing is difficult and sometimes you want to pull your hair out but in the end, it's truly the best strategy. Right now, I have no doubt in my mind that this will be one of the most beneficial yet most challenging experiences of my life. In the end, it's empowering knowing that I can 100% get by living in a place where no one speaks my first language. Simply conversing with people in the store or on the street reminds me that this is real, and doable.

A quote I read recently and loved is, "A tourist goes to see something. A traveler sees it along the way." Taking that as una filosofía of sorts is helping a lot with this experience - I know that Spanish cultura is so full of intricacies and fascinations that there is no possible way I could ever learn all of it at once. But the act of trying, this month, is filling my brain with knowledge and my heart with appreciation.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE, here are some fun things I've been up to:

Today I stepped back a few humbling eras in mobile phones and got my Spanish cell phone para comunicar con mis amigos here. It's a Samsung. It's "Movistar". No "wee fee". Es el "más barato" (cheapest). Que bueno.

 Mis amigos y yo have hit the Plaza every night so far this week to meet up to go "fiesta" at the local bars. PERO not just any bars - bars that send promoters out to grab big groups of young folk like us and entice us with 5€ open bars and plenty of American dance music. Going out at night is completely different here, because of the siesta in the middle of the day many people stay up very, very late at night. Fun facto: the bar with the disco ball has a notorious "Auburn shot," which is orange, of course, and gave us free bottles of champagne which they promptly put on "Sweet Home Alabama" while we opened. Yep. They also held a kissing contest with a 30€ prize. Good to know if you're desperately low on funds? I did not go out again tonight in favor of catching up on rest and filling all of you people in on all this ridiculousness.

Today I went on a guided tour of the Palacios de Salamanca--and while all of these memories and photos are absolutely beautiful, my brain death means that I don't know if I could actually tell you what any of these are.

Díos mío, here is another novel of a post for you all. Hope you enjoy. Flipping the switch back to a more serious note, mi abuela (Grandmommy) passed away today. She has been sick and it is very sad. It's definitely very hard to not be able to join my family right now in person, but I will be celebrating her life from afar. I know she wanted me to be here and would love to know I am having the time of my life. 

Enjoy that sassy shorts and headband combo and please lift up a prayer for mi familia.

Hasta!

Lindsay