yeah yeah
Who was I to say what I wanted to get out of studying abroad, or what I will even get out of this experience. I think that I was so naive before coming here that my preconceptions about studying abroad don't even matter anymore. I did want to come here to learn....to better my Spanish, and even to experience a culture that wasn't American. But here I am in Spain, and having been here for three weeks, and it seems to me that I have been here forever already. Today I was walking to school mumbling to myself that I had wished there weren't so many tourists because I was in a hurry to get to school.
Because I am here to study, I guess I should have some academic expectations. AND, certainly my greatest academic expectation is to become more fluent in Spanish, which I am quite surprised at my confidence to approach people in the streets, mostly to ask for directions because this city is so confusing. Besides, I am certainly not hesitant to approach people in the bars...mostly because on Calle Betis the beers are 1 Euro...and enough said. I have an intercambio, with whom I practice my Spanish and his English. He has even noticed the rate at which I have caught on to Spanish usage. I guess these classes are paying off.
The greatest personal experiences I have learned so far is that America is just another country...and Yet!, "America" is just a country on one of the American Continents. I hate seeing so many Americans in this city, and I hate all the stupid American tee shirts here that Spainards are wearing: You're Lucky in Kentucky. If this is our greatest contribution to Spanish society, I wish I were German. Which brings me to - every time I meet a Spainard in a club, they think i am from Germany. It is great. I don't have to lie that I come from a country that enjoys invading foreign countries (all politics aside...yeah yeah). After this happened about 6 times, I had the chance to tell the director of my program how amused I was. She told me that I have a very European accent when I speak Spanish. Good for me, right? Back to personal experiences, by the time I leave here, I will have met numerous Spanish people, had a great time in Europe, met Americans with similar interests (Spanish of course), traveled all over Europe, and spent thousands of dollars (which are significanlty less that the Euro). Who could ask for more?
But I am asking for more. It will be interesting to see how my opinions and impressions about studyin abroad change as I continue through this semester. In Spanish, they say "vamos a ver."