Week 4

Monday

                It was Concepción’s sixtieth birthday Monday so for breakfast I had a large piece of cake with my toast. Not a bad breakfast by my standards. Then it was off to begin another week of school. My second class of the day was a little unusual and we dealt with the theme of terror. We spent a lot of the class period discussing and creating endings to this little clip that was from some sort of exorcism horror film, at least that’s what we all believed it was from. Then at the very end of the class our professor played the very end for us and it was nothing like any of our created endings but instead on the comical side. I believe if anyone wants to watch it the title may be dirt devil commercial or something to that effect.

After classes, I spent a couple of hours using the internet in order to post my blog and put up photos from Granada and also to look into transportation options for possible weekend trips and to leave. Transportation is a college student’s worst enemy. While the food and lodging in the majority of places is quite affordable, it’s the act of getting there and back that really drains the monetary funds. It is taking forever to figure out what exactly we want to do with all our weekends and then after our program finishes. I haven’t bought my flight home yet because I’m still not sure how much time I can afford to spend in Europe afterwards. On the positive side, I found tickets to fly out of Dublin straight to Chicago and then on to Omaha, that were I believe four hundred and something, which is about two hundred cheaper than the flights here. I didn’t purchase them yet though because I don’t know my departure dates for certain, so hopefully within the next week, Paige and I can get everything planned out.

                Later Monday night I gave Concepción a chocolate bar as a gift for her birthday. It was a nice fancy and fairly large chocolate bar; however it was super dark chocolate because that seems to be the most popular type around, so I was a little worried that she might not like dark chocolate. She was super excited that I gave her a gift and then after supper she had some of it and shared some with me. Overall, she seemed touched by my little present and she even saved the sticky note that I had written Feliz Cumpleaños on.

                These are some pictures that I've been meaning to put up of the street that I live on. They are taken from my balcony!

Tuesday

                After breakfast Tuesday, which aside from the usual fare consisted of four cookies with chocolate fudge centers that were super good but also really filling, Concepción gave me another piece of her chocolate bar. I have a feeling that every time she eats it, I’ll also be getting some of it. These Spaniards are really good at sharing.

                After classes Tuesday, Paige and I went around to look at Mass times of various churches, because we want to try to get to Mass on a more daily basis. With so many churches in the city, we can basically choose a different church each time if we wanted. Plus all the churches here are super gorgeous and since most of them are only open during Mass, it is the best way to get to see a lot of them. After that adventure was successfully accomplished we decided it was time to have some American food. I think we have lasted a decent amount of time without succumbing to our desire to eat at an American fast-food place. We decided on Burger King and although it was a bit pricier than in the states, the onion rings were delicious. It was a pretty cool Burger King and it had a second level that could be accessed by stairs or by elevator. It was the first time I had ever seen an elevator in a fast-food place.

                After eating, we decided to find the movie theater that played movies in their original language and we knew of one that Paige had gone to on her first night with her fellow housemates, however Paige didn’t really remember where it was to be exact so we decided to find it so that we could see the schedule of times for various movies. We found it without any difficulties and prices aren’t too bad; I believe it costs 5.70€ for students normally and on Wednesdays it costs 4.90€.

                Then we went on a long walk across the bridge (over the Guadalquivir River) to visit a Pavilion called Pavilion of the Future. That was a joke and aside from an old rocket looking structure the Pavilion was basically grown over with weeds and deserted. I’d say it was more like a pavilion of the past. At least the weather was relatively warm so the walk was enjoyable anyway.   

Wednesday

                Well Wednesday I got a change at breakfast. Instead of the usual toast or cornflakes, it was a super sweet cereal consisting of chocolate squares filled with a rich chocolate center. Kind of like mini wheat’s but a very chocolaty version of it. They were good, but that combined with a huge mug of hot chocolate and six cookies with chocolate fudge centers seemed to be a bit overdoing it on the chocolate. I knew when I saw the full bowl of cereal plus the additional goodies that eating everything was going to be impossible. I told Concepción that I liked everything but that it was too much, so hopefully next time there will be less.

                After classes, Paige and I went to the same place we went last Wednesday which has a one euro menu on Wednesdays and is super amazing. This time I got a chocolate batido which is supposed to be a milkshake but it was more like chocolate milk. However it had been refrigerated and was served to me cold so I was grateful for that much at least. Then Paige and I went to see Moneyball at the movie theater we visited Tuesday that plays movies in their original language. It was overall relatively enjoyable, however I don’t watch baseball ever so I wasn’t a huge fan of it. 

Thursday

              Well so far nothing much has happened today, and instead of posting my blog Friday, I'm posting it a day early. The reason for this is that Paige and I are skipping our last class tomorrow and taking a train to Madrid for the weekend so I won't have another chance to post my blog until Monday. So I will probably have a fairly long blog full of pictures for Monday if the internet works as planned. Hasta luego. Y tenéis un buen fin de semana!