"Pobre México: tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los Estados Unidos.” – Porfirio Diaz.

The title of this entry is a tribute to my History of Contemporary Iberoamerica professor. Porfirio Diaz, ex-president of Mexico, said that, apparently. It translates to: "Poor Mexico: so far from God and so close to the United States." Yep. I love it.

Ok, so on the note of my dear IberAm professor, funny story. Last Thursday, for the first time in my experience in Spain, I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open in class. It was bad. Drowsy, kind of falling asleep. Really bad. I tried hard to stay awake, but every so often there was a nod or two. I remember physically shaking my head to try to get myself to snap out of it. Bad news, man. Bad. NO ONE sleeps in class here. No one. Ok, so that happened on Thursday, Beth came (more on that later), I slept a bit more, etc. Then comes Monday (today). IberAm class again. Antonio walks in, puts his stuff down, and we make eye contact. He starts talking to me from the front of the class, others are quieting down for class. Ahem:
Antonio: Are you tired?
me: umm... no, not really...
Antonio: Do you need to sleep? (starts to smile)
me: um... no? (thinking: what?! I did not remember the Thursday incident at this point)
*pause, Antonio is smiling really big*
Antonio: No no, are you sure? Sleep if you need to. I can bring in a little bed for you if you want.
me: *realize what's going on, remember last Thursday, am mortified that he not only remembers but brings it up first thing* Ahh, Professor, I'm really sorry about that. I tried really hard, but I just couldn't stay awake. It has happened before in the US, but that was the first time I've had problems in Spain... I'm sorry!
Antonio: *still smiling* No no, don't worry, don't worry. You are always invited to sleep in my class.
Ok, so that's how the dialogue went, more or less (translated, of course). It was half funny, because clearly he found it funny and wasn't mad, but it was also mortifying. I felt badly, so at the end of class I went over to him and apologized in person. He started smiling again and told me that I had looked like a zombie and he talked quieter so as not to disturb my sleep. I told him that was absurd and next time he should be my alarm. He said he would never do such a thing. And so it goes.

On to the more important note that has nothing to do with that or with the title of this entry: BETH was here! It was phenomenal. Really good to see her and spend time just walking and talking and looking and eating (of course). I picked her up from the airport on Saturday and the lines for places were HUGE so we spent the morning walking all over. She saw some of the different neighborhoods, the river, and we stopped for a tinto de verano (red wine and lemon soda) in plaza El Salvador, Beth tried some churros, and other good stuff like that. We both went home to take a siesta in the middle of the day -- B hadn't slept the night before, as she had to get to Pisa in the middle of the night to make her early plane -- and later went to Plaza de Espana and Parque Maria Luisa. After, we met up with Liliana and my Spanish friend, Cristina, for some tapas at a new delicious tapas place called Los Coloniales. Easily my new favorite tapas place. No question. Cheap, incredibly good, big portions, awesome atmosphere. We had a great time. Then we left Cristina and the three of us went to the Sevilla / Valladolid soccer game. It was SO FUN. Score was 4 - 1, Sevilla. For your enjoyment, here are some pictures:

Beth, being the TXA major that she is, always looks fabulous. I, on the other hand, was actually going for the obese trucker look. (Sevilla's colors are red and white, hence B's scarves and my sweatshirt.)

I was really embracing the role play that I made for myself.

Yay! The three of us! College meets high school, etc, etc!

Sunday morning Beth went to the Alcazar and then we met up, had a little lunch, and did more sightseeing. At night we went to a Flamenco performance, which was good, but the dancer was very... all over the place? There's a word to describe what I'm thinking but I can't remember what it is. Awesome. Lack of English, here I come. After, Beth and I parted, and now she's in Granada for the day, later to Barcelona and Ireland (it's her spring break)!

Like I said, I'm very happy I saw her this weekend. She connected me to life at Cornell last semester, what had happened with our friends that I hadn't heard about, and just generally other things that I've been missing out on. We talked about our summers, about our experiences abroad, about thoughts about going back. I'm living with Beth and her friends next year on College Ave, but I don't know any of them nor have I ever seen the house, so she told me all about the other people and the layout of the house. It sounds great. It made me excited.

Ending here will definitely bittersweet, but spending this past weekend with Beth just confirms how excited I am to live with her and have her in my daily life again.

Less than 3 months until the end of the semester. I cannot believe it.