Mojitos y Intercambios

Tuesday and Wednesday ended up being decent weather days, making up for the wash out that was most of my weekend. It rained at really odd intervals, and a couple of times when the sun was completely shining, but we got enough of a break that I could actually go outside with some confidence that I wouldn’t need a canoe to get back home (I’m looking at you, Monday.)

During my siesta on Tuesday I dreamed that I “visited” home again, this is at least the second dream I’ve had of this nature. I just drop by back home like I would if I was still at Clemson, get a bunch of things that I need, talk to my family, and then go back to Spain, like “Oh no big deal, just visiting for the weekend.” A couple of people in my program have said they’ve had similar dreams. Its always a weird experience waking up and realizing I won’t be going home again for over 3 months. Not that I’m sad about that, its just weird to realize it.

At dinner on Tuesday, the two girls that are staying with us for a little while said they were going out and extended an invitation. We went to a place called “Azucar de Cuba” to watch/dance salsa, buutt there wasn’t any salsa dancing going on, probably because it was a Tuesday, but regardless we ordered drinks and I got to know them a little better. They are really nice and both in their last year of med school, so I got to compare how I pass out when I get my blood drawn to their stories about being in operating rooms when organs are gushing blood. They also had a lot of horror stories about poop. Sorry to my friends in the health science majors…

Azucar de Cuba has really delicious mojitos, but its also expensive as hell. I would go back to see the salsa, and a sign said they have salsa lessons on Fridays, but I will not be buying anything from them again.

After class on Wednesday was an intercambio event, so I asked for a packed lunch and stayed at the school the entire afternoon. The intercambio was a fun experience, even though it did get really awkward at times. It was just a room full of American students and Spanish students, and then we were asked to find someone to talk to, and then told to switch around after a while. All of the Spanish students spoke English and were majoring in translation, which is why they were there, but it was fun to go back and forth between English and Spanish. Some conversations went so much more easily than others, but I enjoyed it, overall.

One Spaniard told me that I spoke Spanish very well, which I’ll take as my accomplishment for the week. That makes up for the last group of girls I talked to that stared blankly at me for 90% of the conversation.

Tomorrow I leave for Madrid! I'm really excited to see the city but not looking forward to the freezing temperatures!