Ups and Downs

So it's been a while since I've updated. Life here has kind of taken over, as it should. I always feel badly when people ask me what kind of time I'm having in Spain, because depending on the day and the uncontrollable factors that affect my life, like rain, it could change. I had a rough day this week, especially with managing the composition part of my classes. It's very frustrating to go from having absolute command of a language to writing on basically a fourth grade level (I always look up harder words and use them, but you should have seen the look on my professor's face when he was reading it. I guess I didn't pick the right word...). Other days it's great here, and I can't believe I'm here. Like yesterday. Even though I think my beloved headphones for my trusty iPod finally gave (I'm only getting sound out of one ear) and I burnt my toast at breakfast (I'm seriously addicted to bread it's all we eat here - at every meal, more bread, and at breakfast, we get to have chocolate milk and strawberry marmelade, which is the sweetest part of the day, literally and figuratively) it still wound up positive - I went out with my intercambio and he took me for a tour of the city and I might have possibly landed a dream internship for the summer in DC, working at a news radio station.

Ok, recognized that I need a paragraph break to break up the text. I have been having some trouble sleeping, and I've also had some crazy dreams. Who knows what this means. Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention that I'm in a dance class here! We're learning the four types of baile sevillano. It's really hard to coordinate the arms and the legs, it's much more expressive than ballroom dancing. But seriously, where's creepy Joe when you need him?

Sociologically, there are a lot of differences here. For example, most kids live with their parents until they get married, which is now later than it was 30 years ago. So it's not uncommon, actually it's perfectly normal, for a 30+ year old to still live at home. There are less divorces, than the US, although the people who want a divorce are the men, so they can remarry. Most people just separate if they no longer wish to be married. Abortion here is legal, and the state pays for it if you meet certain criteria. And my professor said that it is commonly accepted, more or less, not like the current debate in the US.

Also, Spain has the second longest life span in the world, behind Japan. People here eat better, walk more, and there is so much less stress! Janelle and I wonder how things ever get done. Quite frankly, I don't think they care. Rush hour is at 10am, everyone goes home for lunch and a nap, and stores and businesses reopen at 5pm until about 9pm.

I could go on and on with some boring statistics, I'm taking a sociology class and most days it's ok (although I have three solid hours of class with the same professor and it's torture). In other news, Janelle and I are going to Barcelona this weekend where we are hoping to run into my friend Drew from Ithaca. We also might possibly be getting a visit from a one Kevin Kirner next week, so will be fun. Otherwise, I will continue eating bread and taking siestas.