Clases at the University

This week started classes at the Universidad de Burgos. I picked out about 8 classes that I wanted to try out but I will only register for 3. In the morning there was a meeting for the new international students so I was unable to attend my first class (but in Spain this apparently really does not matter). The first class I attend was Creacion Lexica en el Espanol actual which is taught by one of my professors from my seminar class. This class about the formation of words. So I will learn what different parts of words mean and I think it will be very useful for understand Spanish better. I really liked this class and have decided that I will definitely be taking it. The next class I attended was Historia de America Latina. I think the material in this class is interesting and I can understand the professor fairly well (although taking notes definitely complicates my comprehension). I still have another history class to try out which is not meeting until next Monday, La Monarquia Hispanica y su proyeccion Exterior, which is more of a Spanish history class. After I attend that class, I will decided between it and Historia de America Latina. On Tuesday I attended La Educacion de Intercultural which I LOVE, the professor is amazing, very hippy like. The class basically consists of reading three books and discussing them in class. That is it, no final, no papers, SO SWEET :D So obviously I have decided to take that class. After 5pm today, I am done with classes for the week because none of my classes or class options meet on Thursday or Friday. I am hoping to know my schedule by the end of the day next Monday. The next big event in my life is my trip to Morocco at the end of this month!

Madrid and Sevilla

On Wednesday the 11th I left for Madrid at 2:30 and it was unfortunately the bus ride from hell. Normally it takes between 2 1/2 to 3 hours to travel from Madrid to Burgos...it took more than 6 HOURS!! There was this huge accident on the way and we sat on the bus for like EVER waiting for everything to be cleared. It must have been pretty bad cause like three helicopters came to airlift people out. So when I got to Madrid and had dropped my stuff off at the hotel. Jill, Michelle, Amanda (the assistant for the BU program in Madrid), and I went to a Flamingo show. It was pretty amazing, the violinist and the singers were unbelievable. The Thursday we went to the Royal Palace, Plaza de la Villa, Plaza Mayor, and the Prado with Amalia the director of the BU program in Burgos. After that I went to the park, people watched, and basically sat in the sun. While I was in the park, some guys were walking around with rafts and they gave us a flyer for a match.com valentines day event. It was a very bizarre site. That night, we failed miserably at going out in Madrid but that was okay because the train to Sevilla was super early the next day. On Friday we left Madrid at 9:00 to go to Sevilla, I traveled not only with the other two girls in my program but also with the entire BU Madrid program which as 80plus students in it. In Sevilla we saw the Cathedral and Los Reales Alcazares. That night I went to the BEST tapas restaurants I have been to in Spain and then I went to a local bar which was super crowded and basically just walked around Sevilla a little bit. On Saturday I visited el mueso de Bellas Artes which is the second most important art museums in Spain. Then in the afternoon I went to the river and to el Plazo de torros (a bullfighting ring). We left Sevilla in the evening and left Madrid the following afternoon after visiting the museum de Reina Sofia. The bus ride back was uneventful and I was very happy to be back in Burgos and away from sooo many Americans :)

The Second week

I just finished my second week of class and I only have three more to go. Ohh and a 2,000 word essay but not thinking about that yet. It snowed today which was pretty but sucked to walk in, I almost fell like a million times. Next Wednesday I am going to Madrid and Sevilla for 5 days which I am very excited about. Also classes at the UBU (the university of Burgos) will be starting the 16th. I have it narrowed down to 8 classes that I am interested in and I will be attending those for the first week and then narrowing it down to 3 for the semester. It is looking like at the most I will have 1 class on Thursday and no classes on Friday, making traveling during the semester super easy.

Going out

This weekend, I went out both Friday and Saturday night. Going out in Spain is quite different from back home. Nobody goes out before midnight and even that is still on the early side. On Friday, the other two girls in the program, Jill and Michelle, and I went to a bar behind the cathedral at about 11:30. We had a round of callimocho and then left to go met up with some other international students at a bar called Twenty at about 1am. After about a half hour we left to go to another bar 7'70 and stayed out til 3:30 which was going home early (because we had class the next day). Last night we went out with the same international students and met even more of them. We got to Twenty at about 1:45am and stayed out til the bar closed at 4:30am. Then we walked to another party of the city which has after hours clubs but it was either closed or too crowded so we left. The second day we pre-gamed the bar which I definetly think is essential because other wise I'll spend way to much at the bars. Although we are not suppose to drink in the dorms here so I had to sneak in the bottle of rum, which reminded me of the dorms at AU. Here though they are not nearly as strict because no one is All things considered it was a very fun two days. At both bars they played an interesting mix of American and spanish music. At twenty both nights we were there they played a Grease mix. Although 7'70 plays house music which I find impossible to dance. On Saturday Jill, Michelle, and I also went out to dinner which was only slightly successful. I have decided that next time I need to bring my spanish-english dictionary. I only knew a few words on the menu so I ended up ordering something that said ham and then another word. It turned out to be a plate of thinnly sliced ham which is fine, since I actually like that. That fact that we had a bowl of bread helped a lot because then I could eat the ham and bread together. Although considering how picky of an eater I am, I think it was a good dish.