I woke up at 8:30am giving me a quick 20 minutes to get ready for my last class for the semester of Relaciones Internacionales. The last class was good although I will unfortunately have to take the exam a day earlier and in the form of an oral exam instead of a written one as I have a finals conflict with Historía Política Social Contemporánea. I'm a little worried about an oral exam as I start to cough a lot when I talk.
In the last class of Historia Política Social Contemporánea it was almost an empty class. We first talked about the United States and President Obama's inauguration. After I asked him what he thought of Obama's election, the professor made the point that Nathalie and Antonio would echo later on, in that Obama is the President of the United States and not the world. Because of that, he will work in the interests of the United States. Its obvious, but a good point, and one that I feel sums up many European attitudes about the United States. Bush or Obama, we will do what we want and maintain American hegemony to insure our best interests.
After class, I went home, deciding to not go to the last day of Salsa. I stopped by a newsstand and picked up a copy of "El País" Spanish newspaper and read it in the sun by the large fountain across the street from my apartment building (The weather here has been so fickle. Every other day it has been sunny and warm with the next day bringing the cold and rain). I got a little too cold and came back to the apartment where I finished all of the articles about Obama and the United States.
Rather than studying in my room after lunch, I went with Antonio to the 16th century "Hospital Real" to study in the amazing library. We had to scan our bags through security, and then after walking up a few flights of marble stairs, we entered the 500 year old library with beautiful wood ceilings and racks and racks of old bookshelves with ancient books. It had a great ambiance. We found seats at the long wooden table at the end of the great hall. The sun was pouring in through the window as I began to study for Relaciones Internacionales. I don't know what it was, but reading in a centuries old library helped galvanize my interest to really focus on my notes. I think its the age as time is allowed to be slow and I can take time with my reading. Different than studying in a library surrounded my computers. I left at 4:45 to walk back to the Poli Sci College for my last class of Estructura Social Contemporánea.
Contemporary Social Structure was good although I will have a lot to study for the final. I thanked the Professor at the end of the class and he told me to swing by his office next semester to go for lunch. This was the first sociology class I've ever taken and I enjoyed it a lot.
On the way back home I passed all of the stores with their "REBAJAS," or savings!, signs advertising post Christmas sales. I stopped in the normally expensive store "Cortefiel" and bought two very nice wool scarves for 10 euros. I had lost my one good one in Dublin and its been consistently cold in Granada. I had missed having a scarf in Prague and Poland.
I wasn't home for long as I went back out to meet up with my friend Peter from England from Relaciones Internacionales to discuss the final. It was very difficult for me to talk, almost as if I was having a mini asthma attack whenever I spoke. I kept coughing. My medication from the pharmacy would finish the next day and I decided to call and schedule an appointment to see the doctor the first thing tomorrow.
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