After returning from Barcelona I realized my Spanish had gotton worse. I think it is because most of the people in Barcelona are "stuck up" and only like to speak in their language "Catalan" which is different than castellano (spanish) and if you don't speak catalan then they talk to you in English. So obviously we don't speak catalan and we look American, therefore people would refuse to talk to us in Spanish and would say "just speak english". I was a little dissapointed that they wouldn't even let us try to speak spanish. My madre here says that when she visits Barcelona they also speak to her in English and she doesn't even speak English. They are very proud of their language and don't even like using spanish that much. Also when all six of us where together in Barcelona we obviously spoke in English. It's like the only time we can and boy it is so much easier to communicate in our natural language! So with that said it was difficult to return to Valencia and walk straight into speaking and comprehending spanish 24/7.
Monday was the worst day, Tuesday was just a little better, and today (Thank goodness) is a lot better. Walking into classes Monday was like hitting a brick wall, it was so hard and frustrating attempting to learn, speak and comprehend Spanish. It's not necessary the Spanish that is hard per say, but discussing abstract things in English is hard for me let alone Spanish. It's almost impossible. I felt like I failed in all 3 of my classes Monday because I didn't fully understand the professors. And my madre could tell that I didn't use my spanish the whole weekend, because it wasn't as "good" as it normally is (whatever that means). Oh and we had to stay at school to watch a movie for my cinema class and it was TERRIBLE. Well, not terrible, just not my favorite. It was called Pan's Laborynth and it was also like 2 hours long. So after a rough Monday, I prayed for a better Tuesday, but it too was crazy.
Tuesdays are nice because I get to sleep in a little longer (aka I don't have class until 10:40 as opposed to 9 AM). So the day started off nice and my favorite class is on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I headed to class happy. The class went well, a little confusing because we started talking about the spanish government and it in itself is very confusing. They have a King (who is mainly symbolic) and also a President and Parliament, senate, etc. So I decided I was just going to go home and do some research on the government in Spain. Then the professor starts shouting out homework questions extremely fast and is expecting us to remember them and write them all down. Wow... that is frustrating! Luckily my friends and I combined our notes and were able to get most of the questions.
I also have a huge break during Tuesdays, so I usually go home and eat lunch and take a siesta. But I did not have time to take a siesta yesterday, instead I needed to buy a adapter, so I headed out after lunch to Corte Ingles (the big department store in Spain). At this point I haven't used a map in days and Corte Ingles is in the center of the city where I have been lots of times. I thought I had the route down, however I took the wrong road and once again had to use that stupid map. I went about 30 minutes in the wrong direction. So yea, can't throw away the maps yet. Needless to say, I got there got the adapter and headed back to school so my friends and I could book our flights to Sevilla next weekend. Well the stupid website wouldn't take either one of my charge cards so there again I got frustrated. After trying and trying, I finally booked them through another website for the same price. So that sums up Tuesday...
So yea, this week has been one of those debbie downer weeks, where I am just like I would give anything for one class, just one in English. I also got really homesick too and I am missing my close friends from YoungLife camp a whole lot, but I get to talk to them on email and facebook so that's nice. I know eventually my spanish is going to pay off. I can't wait until that feeling in December when I realize just how much I have learned here in Spain! I know it will be so rewarding. And apparently school gets easier too because you use what you've learned in the classroom outside in the real spanish speaking world. haha! It is so worth it learning Spanish over here as opposed to the U.S. since we not only speak it in class, but everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE!
Today, well, I am glad to report that today is much better. Classes went well and I think I understood most of them. Tonight some of us are going to the movies to see a new spanish movie called "gordos" it's apparently about dieting in Europe and our teachers told us it was so great so we are going to check it out. And it's good to help learn spanish too. So yea, I am having a great day and although classes in English would be nice it is paying off so much to be speaking spanish 24/7. I have already learned so much vocabulary just in 2 weeks. That's all for now, I will be back sooner than later!
- Mo
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