Los nuevos estudiantes y el trabajo antiguo (New Students and Old Work)

So, first and foremost, the new students arrived Sunday. Liliana and I picked them up at the hotel and brought them to the center for the first time. It was kind of fun but also kind of weird. I know, descriptive. Fun because most of them seem nice and I'm excited to have more people around, to have a new person in the house, etc. Weird because it feels like such a long time ago since I was at the same hotel doing the same things and being equally confused. It's definitely one way of rubbing in the progress I've made and how much the newbies have to learn. It's going to be frustrating at times, I think -- especially once people move into their homestays and are trying to figure everything out about the neighborhood and public transportation that I already know. Ah, well. Such is the life of being here for a year.

What's weird, though, is that for them, second semester is in full force, but I'm still finishing up first semester (exams start Monday, gulp, trying to crank out a 15-pager on time and progress). They haven't entered into the world of obligations here yet, whereas I'm working my hardest to get out of it and have a little break. It's two very different ways of being, that's for sure. It's like taking someone at Cornell who just got there a few days before the semester started and putting him with someone in the thick of finals at Cornell. The two do just not work together. It's two completely different modes.

I also already know who my new roommate will be, and she's moving in on Thursday. Her name is Austin and she's from Cornell. I had a Spanish class with her sophomore year and she's buena gente (Spanish saying for a good person, a person you like, etc... literally means 'good people'). She's one of two vegetarians who came and the only one from Cornell, so it makes sense that we would live together. She came out of her meeting with Luisa today and told me that it was official and that she was going to live with me, so there we go! And ya esta! I'm excited. I'm also ready to have reliable internet in my room, and Austin's down with buying it, so that we shall do.

In other news, I cut my bangs a few nights ago. That was a mistake. Normally it's fine and I'm careful and take my time, but this time my bangs were super long and by the time I finally cut them they were just really irritating me, so I might've... uh... overreacted a bit. Now I have super short bangs. I don't think they really look that genuinely awful, more just bad, and I'm not a fan of shorter bangs generally speaking. Oh well. They'll grow. Luisa keeps coming over and fussing with my hear and clicking her tongue. It's kind of funny, kind of insulting. But mostly funny. She also gave me the address of some good hair places. Ha, I can take a hint! I probably will go at the end of the month to get a trim, though. Gotta keep the hair in tip top shape for locks of love!

There was a bit of snow in Madrid--maybe 5 or 6 inches, max--and the everyone is acting like the world is going to end. The highways in Madrid were backed up for hours and the airport shut down (mom and dad, good thing you left when you did because the reports after said Iberia was in the most trouble out of all the cancellations and that Madrid was filled for two days and two nights with people sleeping on the floor). The news was showing pictures of what I consider normal for an airport in winter and Mayte and Nando were gasping and talking about how much snow it was and how it must be impossible to fly in that. I understand that I should be comparing Madrid's snow to the snow somewhere in the south in the US, but I can't help but not... it's just a little bit of snow, people! Come on!

Ok, so saving probably the most important piece of information for last... don't worry, it's still not that important, but I think I might've come across what I want to write my senior thesis on. I think it would be really interesting to do an ethnography of cafe behavioral tendencies among students in Sevilla, Ann Arbor, and Ithaca and use the differences as a way to underline the main differences in the way the two cultures (US and Spain) experience time. It sounds a bit fluffy at first, I know, but there are a ton of differences in cafe culture and etiquette. There's a plethera of information and a lot that I know I could already talk about and have fun talking about. There are also 2-3 cafes in each city that are completely made for and taken over by students, so that makes the sample size easy. I could do interviews if I want, but it wouldn't be necessary; I could base everything strictly on my observations. For example, I have never seen any student do any work in a cafe in my almost 5 months here. Can you imagine walking into Espresso Royal on State Street in Ann Arbor or stopping by Stella's in Collegetown and just finding large groups of students talking and laughing together for hours on end? ...Nope. Not our way of life, not our work ethic, not how we think. Lots to be said about that, about notions of day and night, and about indoor and outdoor as representations of time. Yep. I'm telling you. It's dynamite. My dad gave me the idea at first and I said no immediately, but after thinking about it more... yes, it's a good idea. Thank you, dear payder.

Ok, that's all for now. This 15-page paper is calling me and I better answer... hasta pronto!