classes, classes and more classes. frustration setting in.

well, since i havent written for a few days, perhaps you can guess why- school tends to take over ones life. and thats whats happened to me, and i dont like it very much.
i sit here in our little kitchen typing away so i dont wake up monica. its 1:35 a.m. here and i got out of class 3 and a half hours ago and have class in 7 and a half hours due to a change in my schedule tomorrow because of the spain soccer game. ugh, i dont like that very much....
i woke up monday morning a little uneasy knowing that it was the first day of classes. monica was already gone because she has morning classes and i had to wait around for my class which started at 4. i go from 4 to 9 with an hour break monday through friday. its quite a bit and i know i will get worn out. nevertheless, im excited.
i left the room and started walking to class and i started to get reeeeeeal nervous. not only am i going to have to be on top of my spanish game, but now i will be having to retain information such as spain´s geography and spanish art history on top of all that. gosh what have i gotten myself into? :/
my first class was geography. ¨gosh this guy talks fast....¨ is the first thing that came to my mind. im going to be honest... its a bit frustrating because they know spanish is our second language, but they dont seem to cater to that by speaking AT LEAST a LITTLE slower and not cutting off their s's when it is a primary part of the word. thanks a lot southern spain spanish speakers. :/
so i sat there for an hour trying to retain what the heck he was talking about about spains rivers and mountain ranges and autonomies and provinces, etc. i sure LOVE geography.... but when its being thrown at me in another language, my head starts to spin.
luckily i had an hour break after that where i calmed myself down by writing in the travel journal maddie got me for my trip ;)
i then went to my second class of the day, my language class. the professor was really nice and she definately spoke slower for us and ahhhhh it was SO MUCH BETTER.
the class consists of 6 girls and then the female teacher. my ideal classroom setting if you ask me ;)
basically in this class, we just speak spanish the whole time. not one word of english has been spoken yet in any of my classes, mostly cuz none of the professors know how to speak english!
the professor was asking us if we had boyfriends, and most of us were responding "no" and one girl responded "no. especially not while im in spain!" hahahaha! i then responded, "si, si!" in agreement. we all laughed at that for a little while knowing that "what happens in spain stays in spain...." ;)
after 2 straight hours of that class, i got no break for my last class of the day which goes from 8 - 9. now this prof was INTERESTING. he walks into the classrom BELTING out some spanish opera song. he started the class by playing some song about Granada and singing and dancing along with it. he said that there are 4 very good baratone opera singers in spain. he showed pictures of 3 well known ones then showed a picture of himself and said that he was the fourth. haha. he was so into his presentation about himself that we all kinda looked around the classroom and didnt know if we should laugh with him or be freaked out.
turned out he was pretty cool. he went on to show us a biography about himself (but all in pictures). there were several of him naked as a young boy, then him at his first communion in his little priest outfit, then him with his "primer novia" (first girlfriend) and so on. none of it was relevant at all as most of it just talked about random things that have happened in his life. aileen and i have that class together and we just laughed the whole time cuz this guy was crazy. literally. he also kept striking random poses then pausing and looking at us as if he was seeking our approval. i just kept smiling at him.....i give him credit cuz the things he was doing sure take a high level of self esteem and a positive self concept. ;)
finally classes were over, and by the first day, i had plenty of homework to do, plenty to worry about and i was already exhausted. ay, this will be a long month.
came home and wanted to sit down for a minute but monica (literally) pushed me out the door to join her and the group for tappas and drinks. we walked around and heard noises of drumming in the distance. we walked toward the noise and saw some kind of dance going on in the middle of one of the squares. there were 2 ladies wearing i dont know what prancing around this space literally acting out the movements of different animals (at least thats how i saw it). it was the strangest thing i have ever seen in my life. what the heck are they doing??? i kept asking myself. then all the sudden one of them got into this plastic wrap and the other got this hose that blew air (where did she get it from? who knows) and started blowing air into this plasic wrap and it started blowing up into a ball and as it rose, the woman inside starting dancing around again. suddenly there was this huge plastic ball on the stage and this woman was literally rolling around in it like a hamster. i cant explain it in any other way. and they call this dancing? gosh, if i lived in spain, i could easily be considered a professional dancer, too. just give me a weird outfit and a blow up ball and i'll prance around like an animal any day.
today was another long day of classes. it was a long day in particular. nothing was working for me. the printer at school didnt work, the keyboards in spain are WAY different than in the u.s. which meant i couldnt type anything at school, my password wouldnt work, i couldnt find scissors, the bookstore was closed whenever i checked because of stupid siesta (sometimes siesta is a real annoyance!), etc. nothing was going my way today and i really realized that i was experiencing what you would call, "culture shock." im not used to the laid back lifestyle here and i am used to stores being open and people being more available and.... of course, im used to learning primarily in english. ***woooooooooooo, deep breaths katie** this has been an awesome trip, but i will admit, it has also been extremely challenging to adjust to how much different spanish sounds here than it does in the u.s.
ok so this has been more of a serious, vent my emotions post, so, let me end with a funny story that happened when aileen and i were walking home tonight. we were talking about birthdays and how her and her brother share a birthday and how my dad and i do too. then, suddenly, out of no where, this old, very unattractive (sorry, but seriously) man jumps in front of us and goes, "hevlo...!" (attempting to say "hello" in english), gives us this creepy smile and then runs off!! we look at each other like, "what the heck!?" and then we both just LAUGH.
i mean, common dude, if your going to try and pick up a few american girls, step up your game and at least: 1. try and look presentable 2. know how to say hello in english and 3. dont run off after you try and make a move! sheesh.
men these days, i tell ya.