Mis Problemas con Investigación

(The famous Tio Pepe sign in La Puerta del Sol in Madrid)

As Monday morning rolled around, I again opened up my computer and started editing my paper (I use the word editing loosely; when I edit in Spanish, I essentially check to see if the words look like they're in Spanish. They generally do, so it's a very quick process). I started to wonder whether I should site my sources - normally I would, but for this paper, my sources essentially consisted of Wikipedia, and I wasn't sure whether it was worth it. My computer has automatically adjusted to some sort of Spanish internet system, and reliable sources don't seem to pop up very often. Funny story: I was researching information about the Madonna of Humility on Google and my blog popped up as the 5th listing. If I'm the 5th most creditable art source in Spain, Spain's in trouble.

So I sent the professor an e-mail asking her if she wanted us to cite sources and I fully expected her to say no. She responded that yes, we should please cite our sources. Shoot. So I spent the rest of the day trying to find all of my Wikipedia information on other, more reliable websites. I succeeded, but it took me a solid 5 hours of extra work.

While I was working, Baquita came hurrying in and told me that Julia was on the phone with Paloma. I nearly had a heart attack. I asked Baquita whether Paloma had called Julia or Julia had called Paloma, and she said she hadn't been there for the beginning of the call and wasn't sure. She also said she knew they were talking about me, but that she wasn't sure of the context. I fully expected Julia to come charging in and kick me out, but I still haven't heard anything from Julia about the phone call. Suspicious.

During economics class yesterday, Nick told all the BC kids that the class registration system for next semester doesn't work on the internet connection at Carlos III (laptops or desktops). This is causing a lot of people problems, as they are having to skip classes, go back to their homestays, and register there (we have a set 15 minutes of registration time during which we log onto the system, usually see that all of the classes we want are already filled, and scramble to come up with a different schedule - your heart is beating so fast that it counts as exercise). A few kids don't even have an internet connection in their homestays and are going to have to call in their classes, which is going to be quite an expensive phone call. I am going to have to miss Spanish class, run back to Julia's, register, and then run back to Carlos III to meet Jennifer for lunch. Tomorrow will contain a lot of transportation.

Today I had Historia del Presente, (we learned about ETA - the nationalists or terrorists, depending on who you talk to) where I saw Lizzie for the first time in a while. She was in good mood because her boyfriend got his first job offer with Bank of America. I told her to get him over there and fix my debit card situation, which has still not been resolved. But now I have a connection.

After Spanish class I took the train back to Madrid with Lilia. We were talking and it sounds like pretty much everyone is ready to go back to the US. I think the fact that finals are looming (and the fact that all the finals are in Spanish) is making the whole situation more stressful, and there's a lot of very tense people walking around.

Ever since, I've been working on an application essay about how I fulfill Jesuit values (loads of fun!) and watching Youtube videos about BC. As much of an adventure as Spain is, it will be good to be back!