Time Flies…?

Let me begin with the reasoning behind the title. It is not meant as a criticism in any way, shape, or form of anyone who has ever said that phrase. Instead, I use the expression to represent how I felt while reading about 1,000 pages of el Guzmán de Alfarache—a picaresque novel and a required reading-- in the last week. The operative word here is “felt” because as I write these words, I have officially tackled that monstrous reading. The whole process seemed to drag on, partly because of its use of medieval Spanish vocabulary, but mostly because of the hundreds of moral digressions the narrator inserted at various points throughout the story. Now that it is finished, I can relax… oh, wait. I have two more books to read. Oh, well, never mind. J

Despite that little rant, everything is going so well in Madrid! In reality, I’m not drowning in schoolwork, but after I finish the required paper and presentation due on 16 November (which is why I need to get those other two books read—and I have not procrastinated either!), things should be pretty mellow until final exams.

One of my biggest apprehensions since arriving in Madrid has been how to go about making new, non-American friends. I figured the process would be easier once classes started, and after an initial hesitance to greet/talk to other students on my part, I can honestly say that I am finding a good mix (literally) of people to hang out with—Spaniards, Colombians, Peruvians, Mexicans, and even some French people. Don’t get me wrong—I really enjoy hanging out with my fellow program participants but it’s nice to start branching out, especially when the program participants would speak English to one another all the time.

On that point, however, I’m happy to report, that the situation has improved dramatically. Last week, we all had an individual meeting with Amy Olson, our student coordinator, who so kindly offered to be our scapegoat/excuse for why all WIP students had to speak Spanish to one another. The way it was, nobody wanted to be that “one person” speaking Spanish all the time while everyone else spoke English. It would have been odd. Nevertheless, now everyone is happy to be practicing Spanish with one another, even if it requires a little bit more effort. I finally feel as if I have achieved a fairly high level of immersion in the Spanish language, which can only be a good thing for me in terms of achieving the level of spoken Spanish I desire.

Other than that, life has been pretty normal lately. I have no real new adventures to share with all of you as of now (other than a couple of trips around Madrid, but we’ll save that for another day!). This week is what one would call a puente (literally “bridge” or three-day weekend). While some people are going out of Spain for those few days, I most unfortunately will not, mostly because of time restrictions on the above-mentioned presentation. Nevertheless, I do promise to bring you more exciting news in my next post, so stay tuned!