El primer día de escuela

(A view of Universidad Carlos III in Getafe, Spain)

Yesterday was the first day of school.  I went to class, and got there on time and everything, (even after being slowed down by a half-hour conversation with Julia about whether I was bringing my lunch or not. . .)  The first class was Spanish - it was pretty easy, and I think it is the right level for me, so I'm happy to be back learning grammar and vocabulary and whatnot.  I even know some people in my class, so I'm glad I will not be forced to talk to strangers (just kidding).

Then I went to lunch with Lillia and Nick, who are both in my Spanish class, and we went to the library and did our homework together (this blog is starting to get pretty exciting now, huh?)  

I had Historic Economics afterwards, which is where my problems started.  I got this class approved by my BC advisor with the syllabus that had been listed online.  Turns out, the syllabus listed online was for a class that doesn't exist anymore.  So I e-mailed the professor (we had a sub, the real professor is at a conference), but still haven't heard anything back.  The reason this is a problem is that now I need to find a new class that will be approved by BC and will fit into my schedule - keep in mind that these classes have already started and learning is happening without me!

Anyway, I took the train home with Nick, James, Matt, and Jeff (I seem to be the only girl that likes Economics) and they're all really nice.  They've been having trouble getting classes approved, too, so we complained all the way home.  Good times.

I got back home and spent three hours trying to find a new class, to no avail (hence my lack of blogging) so I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about that.

Then to top everything off: last night I was attacked by a cucaracha (for you french fries out there, that's a cockroach).  I was parched and innocently on my way to the kitchen to fetch myself some water.  I only turned on half the lights, and saw a black spot on the floor that I thought was a pattern in the tile.  I stepped over it and the bugger literally chased me across the kitchen.  Then we assumed an I-won't-smush-you-if-you-don't-smush-me stance and after that was settled, I ran away real fast (of course, leaving my waterbottle in my wake).

Today I had to get to get to class by 10 for Present History.  Seems like a pretty interesting class, so that's good.  Also, there's a final paper instead of an exam, yay!  Then I had a meeting with Ana to interview her for my article and go over these class issues I've been having.  She kept letting the other students go ahead of me so that we would have time for the interview, but we ended up only having about 20 minutes, because I had to leave to go to my second class.  The interview was fine, but none of my class problems were solved.

I officially signed up for a 4-day trip to Morocco today from October 1-4th!  The program is with other BC kids and through an organization called Morocco Exchange.  We pay 150 euros, which isn't bad, considering the trip was originally 350 euros, and BC pays the rest.  We will travel to a bunch of cities and stay with Moroccan families.  There will also be discussions on culture and Islam with students from Morocco.  It sounds like an awesome trip and the pictures on moroccoexchange.com are really spiffy.

I also told Julia about the cockroach today.  She got all excited and started spraying cockroach repellent all over the floors.  Honestly, next time I will probably still run.