Una mezcla de cosas (A Mix of Things)

So normally I keep a list going during the week in my planner (one of many lists, that is) of what to add to my blog as I think of things, but I *gasp* haven't done that this week. I just haven't had time. I'm home for four days with papers and exams to crank out before leaving at the crack of dawn on Friday morning for some more weekend shenanigans with Austin in Santiago de Compostela. Actually, what we do is hardly shenanigans, but I just like that word. So, folks, you will have to bear with me as I tell you disorganized, random things about this week in Sevilla that are not pre-thought-out and organized. Oh, woe is me.

This week has been pretty crazy. I now get done at 10pm on Mondays and Tuesdays (as in, do not get home for the day before 10:30pm), which makes budgeting time rather difficult. I don't start class till around noon or 1pm usually, but I often have appointments and other errands I have to do (ok, and want to do) in the morning. Yesterday morning, for example, I met up with Cristina and we went to the Archivo de Indias--a really famous collection of discovering America documents that Spain has that are housed right next to the Catedral. Neither one of us had been there (even though Cristina is Sevillana!) and we had a good time. There was an exposition of a lot of the founding journals and maps of Spanish explorers when they went over to the New World and the exhibit showed the progress of starting in South America and then leading up north into the south of the now United States. It was definitely interesting and fun to look at with Cristina. I always have a really, really good time hanging out with her.

I had a paper due today and I have an in class "comentario" (aka commentary aka test) tomorrow in my Iberoamerican History class. It is going to be hard. A lot of information, a lot of material, a lot of dates, a lot of statistics, and a lot of comments. It is supposed to test both what we have covered in class and what we have 'read on our own'. He said that we have to cite at least one other country that we have not covered in class when we write our argument on the to-be-announced topic that we will find out tomorrow. It's alright, I can prepare for this (and a part of me likes the challenge), but on the other hand it's a lot, especially because I have never learned about Latin America before.

Pause. This is a new major flaw I have discovered in the US educational system. We are never required to learn about Latin America. Ever. You can take classes, especially in college, if you want, but it is never an absolute requirement. This is bad. The US is so close to Latin America and we have exploited those countries in uncountable ways and been elemental to their interior development. Shouldn't our school system teach that to kids? Yes. Yes, I think so. But it's not a pretty history, and so I suppose that kind of history is often left out of school agenda.

Ok, so today I went to the office hours of my Iberoamerican professor to ask him some questions. It was phenomenal. I was done with my questions in maybe 15 or 20 minutes, but I ended up staying for another half hour and we just talked about random stuff. He's a fantastically nice guy and was very warm. It's funny because he's older and insists on always using 'usted', the formal 'you' tense, but then on the other hand he's extremely friendly and approachable. Those two normally don't go together. Anyway, we got to talking about the sociological aspects of Semana Santa as a tradition and as a ritual and the role of Catholicism in Spain. He was gesticulating like nobody's business and making a lot of jokes. Like I said, friendly and approachable. As you can imagine, I was a very, very happy camper.

So now here I am, home from office hours, having showered, eaten dinner, and watched an episode (or two) of The Office. And rather than writing this blog entry, I should really be studying. Yep.