Dos Gatitas (Amanda)

HOLA chicos y chicas! So it has been a week and a half exactly since we've been here and I feel like I'm finally starting to getting acclimated to being here. Starting to is the key phrase... I still definitely feel like a foreigner (and people look at me like I am too) and always seem to be out of place. Except at the Irish Rover where I feel right at home! We went on Monday night for their international beer pong tournament and although it's known to be a very American bar (which it admittedly was, evidenced by the music and the setup... oh yeah and the giant beer pong tournament going on), I met a lot of people from Morocco, Brazil, Holland, New Jersey (frat stars, but exotic in their own ways), and Spain, claro. Evelyn and I were partners and our team, Dos Gatitas, dominated. Not really, but we did win two matches which was pretty exciting! It was definitely a very crazy, adventure-filled night, but the next day classes were ROUGH. We have class all morning and as much as I love little gremlin Enrique, sitting through his class hungover was pretty close to torture. It would have been worse if the gremlin gods hadn't bestowed him with great gremlin looks. Gremlin.

Since I'm on the subject of classes, I am happy to say that I really enjoy every single one of my classes which has never happened before. Grammar tends to get a little tedious, especially because it's two hours every morning, but I'm definitely learning a lot about the language and the culture in general. I am really trying to not sit with the American kids because we have all been sitting together, but there are students from China, Ireland, and Korea in my class and they are all really great. I'm also learning a lot about their cultures and am constantly surprised by how much I'm learning how different our lives are. Yesterday our teacher started talking about how hitting kids used to be ok in schools, etc, and then we went around the room and talked about how much/how hard our parents hit us. HA. It was so strange... all of the Chinese students were talking about how bad they are and how much their parents hit them, and all of the American students were just frozen in our seats. Very different cultures. And then my Emory classes are just great because they are so small, we are all so comfortable with each other, and the teachers are GREAT. Anyways, enough about that.

My señora and I had our first looong conversation tonight during dinner and I am so glad it happened... she's really great and has made me feel at home as best she can, AND when I came back at 4:30 the other night on a school night she asked why I came home so early. And then when I came home at 6:30 a few nights later, knocking over everything in my path and very obviously waking her up, she nonchalantly said she was happy I was enjoying the Salamanca night life. AND she makes dank (Corey) food.

I must say that I think our Emory crew is great which is obviously a blessing, but also a curse at the same time. I am perfectly happy hanging out with them all the time which can get dangerous because sometimes I feel like I'm not stepping out of my comfort zone at all. I did buy two pairs of shoes in the last two days though. Relevant. Anyways, this weekend we're going to Segovia and Avila, I just bought a ticket for Morocco for two weeks, and then the second weekend in February we are hopefully going to Cadiz for Carnival (apparently the European Mardis Gras). I can't wait to start traveling! Ok, I'm getting a little bit drunk and I'm rambling so adios for now, hasta luego!

Amanda