October 22nd
Today was a busy, productive, fun day.
Talking to my professors had really paid off, as I felt more engaged with the classes and material. I felt that I understood a lot more and found it really interesting when my professor descried how the History of International Relations could be divided into 4 parts.
Unlike UCSD where I normally purchase a couple hundred dollars worth of books each quarter, here at UGR, the professors recommend books that are included in the syllabus, but none are required for the class. Instead, all of our reading material is found in the "fotocopiadora," or copy center where the professor leaves readers, or excerpts from books and magazines. The questions for the final will be drawn from lecture and these packets. Granted I have to be vigilant in making sure to check the listing of new prints outside the fotocopiadora but I'm glad to save some cost and paper on purchasing many books.
Day two of Salsa was great as we did our first dancing with partners and learned a lot of new, flashy moves. I mostly danced with the one other American, Ashley, who is also from my EAP program. A few more guys had enrolled and we rotated between partners. The moves were complex, but fun and I felt that I improved a little even from the first day. Our class is only supposed to go for an hour but instead it went for two as were all having such a good time that Nelson forgot to stop.
After class, I introduced myself to the other students and one of the guys, Javi, invited Ashley and me to join him for lunch. We went to chinese restaurant near by for the cheap and good menu of the day. He had studied abroad in France last year and we had a good conversation about studying abroad and trying new things.
My afternoon classes were good although I was a little confused. The professors are big fans of the Socratic method as they pace up and down the aisle and engage in one on one debates with the students. This gets the class involved but I think we go on a lot of tangents which I have a difficult time keeping organized.
It was starting to rain, but as soon as my last class finished, I started walking in the direction of the bus station. Its pretty far and I was getting wet as I always forget to wear my rain coat and refuse to buy an umbrella. I bought a baguette at a supermarket and then walked a little farther to the bus station.
The girls' bus was supposed to come at 8pm but the arrival sign showed that it had been delayed until 8:45pm. I had an hour to kill but had a lot of reading to do so I didn't mind.
At some point, Michael, my EAP friend Jenna's Puerto Rican roommate, recognized me and sat down. He was waiting for someone on the same bus. We started talking and I asked him the difference he found between Puerto Rican Spanish and Spanish Castellaño. I then asked him about the "51st State" question and we had a lively discussion about the different politics on both sides. He joked that the main reason that Puerto Rico would never become a state was because "you can't fit another star in the flag."
Rochelle and Emily's bus finally came in and I gave them each a big hug and listed the activites that we could do right away. They were really excited to be in Granada and ready for anything and everything.
We took a taxi back to my apartment and they got settled in. Around 9:45 we met up with my EAP friends Ryan and Ashley who Rochelle and Emily had met in Paris. We walked up to "the Upsetter" flamenco bar and got seats right next to the stage. The star of the flamenco show was the female dancer who moved her feet so fast that I was tired just watching. After the show we went to a couple bars and then rolled the 80's themed Erasmus party at the "Vogue" around 3:00am. It was packed and I saw a lot of my American and International friends. We stayed until 5:30 and then came back to my piso.
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