"Viva en el momento y serás muy contento" (Live in the Moment and You Will Be Very Content)

There's some bathroom wisdom from the University of Sevilla History wing bathroom door for you.

Also, my friend Sam (she was on the English in China program I went on) studied abroad a few years ago in Argentina and she told me to try to soak every moment up, but then said to recognize that that's impossible to do because studying abroad and experiencing another culture is like "drinking water from a fire hydrant." Oh, how right she is. I like those words of wisdom a lot.

This week was really busy, and life will get busier. I'm now teaching English on Monday and Tuesday until 10pm to the parents whose kids I nanny (in English). It's good -- easy money, fun, they're nice, etc -- but it means that I have a crazy full schedule. I don't end any day before 7pm, except for Fridays. This is good, I like it this way (see above, water and fire hydrant), but it means my blog posting might be a bit less frequent. I know, whatever will you do?

Time for the list!
1) At the beginning of the week, Austin and I came home to find our rooms cleaned. Austin was missing the empty plastic bags (with English writing, from home) that she kept under her bed. Mayte came in to say that while she was cleaning she found the bags and then Fernando saw them and took them. We went over to Fernando, who was in the computer room, and he written in Spanish the translations for what the English said. He was learning from Austin's bags! It was pretty endearing.

2) I started my thesis research, which is another reason I've been busier. I try to do it for at least one hour every day. Sitting in the cafe, observing behavior and atmosphere... yeah. It's hard. I know I'll create a book of notes and I probably won't end up using most of them, but I still want to have them just in case. That's the problem with my idea -- if I miss something here, I can't just come back to observe it next year. I have to have detailed notes on a lot so that later I can pick and choose. But, although it's intimidating and sometimes I feel like a creeper, I'm enjoying myself with it nonetheless.

3) My friend Liz who is also from Cornell and on my program here is a news reporter for the Cornell Daily Sun. She wrote an interesting article for them on how Sevillian students understand the Israel/Palestine conflict. There is a lot of commotion about it at Cornell, so the Sun asked their reporters abroad to write about what other university dynamics around the world are. Spain definitely leans pro-Palestine, but figuring out the university dynamic is hard because we don't have a set campus space like Cornell does. The university is scattered all over the city, so we don't have signs put out on a quad or anything like that. Figuring out what most students believe and who they side with is harder. But, that said, Liz was really bold and awesome and just went up to random groups of Spanish students sitting out on the grass (Spanish students are cliquey; this is no walk in the park) and asked them questions. I was impressed. And the article is worth a glance, for sure. http://cornellsun.com/section/news/content/2009/02/25/spanish-students-fault-israel-recent-violence

4) I got my first Spanish grade back and I got a 9.25!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The scale is out of 10, passing is a 5. There isn't grade inflation here in the same way there is in the US, so a 9 and above is really rare. It's not like in the US -- most kids go home with a 6 or 7 and are perfectly happy with that. The class was Local and Sustainable Development: The Andalucian Case. There were over 50 kids in the class, and I tied with four other students for the third highest grade!!! One girl got a 9.75 and another got a 9.25. A 9 and above is a "sobresaliente" or "outstanding." It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, for sure. It was a joke of a class and a lot of people didn't show up, but still. I beat out the Spanish in a class that's in my second language! It doesn't count for anything because all I have to do for Cornell is pass, but still. Maybe my Spanish has improved more than I thought it has, after all!

5) Yesterday Liliana and I went to Carmona, a little town about 40 minutes away, for a day trip. It was phenomenal. Cute, little, very old city center (built by the Romans in the 4th century) with interesting things to see, but also not enough where the day was stressful in any way. We spent time overlooking the views of the countryside, talking, drinking cafe, and wandering. It was phenomenal to spend time with her. We went into a church that was built on top of an old mosque (the courtyard for the mosque was still there and we had to enter through it to get to the cathedral, very pretty) and there was literally no one else in there. The church was huge, tall, Gothic, and quite dark except for the flickering candles around the Jesus art. It creeped me out. Definitely an experience I will not forget... I thought something was going to jump out at me. It was also deadly silent. You could hear a pin drop. I have never been in an old Gothic church with very little lighting and no other people before. It is not an experience I would recommend to those who are not used to churches.

Liliana at the old Roman entrance to the old part of Carmona.

A beautiful view and my beautiful friend. :o) Awww, shucks.

In a park. Pretty tile bench, Liliana, empty Cruzcampo beer bottle. Yep. That about covers it.

My view when we sat and got our first coffee. It was on the old town square. Very cute, very old buildings. Just a really nice break from the hustle and bustle from Sevilla. We communed with nature, walked around a sleepy, older town, and had great conversation. All in all, a very well-spent day.

There's more I'm missing, I'm sure. But more to do, not much time to spare, and I needed to get these few things written on the blog before they became totally irrelevant! Hope everyone has a good Sunday!