ILP Begins

August 25th

I didn't yet have an alarm clock (I'm writing these blog entries after they have occurred so now I have one on my cell phone) so I used my "internal clock" to get up on time.  Class was at 9:00 but I woke up early to eat breakfast at the dining hall.  It was a small breakfast of toasted bread with olive oil and tomato paste.  Breakfast is the least important meal of day here in Spain.  Lunch is the largest meal.

The ILP classes were great.  The first class was a grammar class that turned out to be a history lesson on the development and evolution of the Spanish language.  As you would hope, this professor spoke perfectly and I was able to understand everything he said.  The next class was a literature one that looks like it will be great.  The professor didn't believe that you could have "literature of a country" but rather believed in the literature "within a country."  An interesting point and one that will allow us to look at a wide variety of literature written by people of differing social classes, beliefs, etc during the course.

After class I took a siesta (I'm starting to get used to this schedule) and then checked my many happy birthday messages on facebook.  Much thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes before and during the trip.

I met with a group of students to go purchase a cell phone.  It a ridiculous long time to get it as there was only one person working at the store and many of the phones wouldn't work properly.  In the end I purchased an inexpensive but good  phone that is on pay as you go plan (most students here in Spain use the pay as you go cards).

Back in the residencia, I spoke to my friend Ryan who was talking about wanting to go to a festival that would be happening tomorrow known as "La Tomatina," in Buñol, Spain.  I had heard and read about this event before and I knew I wanted to go.  We would have to get permission to miss one day of class and then buy our tickets for a midnight bus ride to Valencia, Spain and from there somehow get to Buñol.  Just taking an approximate look at the time span, it would be a 36 hour non-stop trip.  We found two other guys, Alan and Blake, who wanted to go and we all agreed to try our best to make this spontaneous trip happen.