Change

Well, Spring Break is officially over and I start classes again today. I didn´t really go anywhere far away on my break, but I enjoyed my time. For most of last week I just relaxed, read, and enjoyed the beautiful weather that has invaded Barcelona. On Thursday, my host parents left for their 5 day vacation, meaning I had the apartment to myself until Monday evening. It was spectacular to not have a schedule, to watch some TV in English, and to make myself a grilled cheese sandwich!! Don´t get me wrong, I am incredibly happy to be with my host parents, and I am grateful that they feed me and do my laundry and provide me with company. But it is nice to have just "me" time sometimes... and it is nice to be able to make food that I want to eat or am craving rather than just eating what is served to me. On Saturday morning, Trisha´s family came in to visit from the US. We all went together to mass at the Cathedral on Sunday morning, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was in Catalan, but I understood quite a bit of it. After lunch, I went with Trisha and her family to Park Guëll and we had a fantastic afternoon sightseeing. I´m getting quite used to this whole tour guide thing after having Kacie here two weeks ago!! On Monday morning, I spent more time with Trisha and her family, helping play tour guide. Then, yesterday, we went to Montserrat, which is a monastery about an hour (by train) outside of Barcelona. It was soooooo beautiful, and the weather was absolutely perfect. It has been so nice to spend some time with Trisha´s family, and I am so grateful that they invited me to do so much with them. Another exciting thing about their visit is that they brought girl scout cookies and other delicious sweets... Since Easter is over, I can eat sweets again, and believe me, I definitely ate my fill of them in the past few days!

On other topics, I have started to look at classes and registration stuff for next year, and I´m having a difficult time finding a way to fit everything in. I basically just have gen eds left, but the ones that I was hoping to take don´t seem to be offered in the Fall. I know I´ll figure it all out though. I am feeling better about all of my frustrations that I wrote about in my last post. I got a lovely email from one of my professors who reassured me that people at Manchester do care, and it helped me a lot. I also know that I would probably be frustrated with different or similar things even if I were on campus this year, because this just seems to be the time of year where I always get antsy and ready to be done. So, yes, I may still be slightly frustrated about things, but I know everything will work out..

Random, while walking down the street the other day, Trisha´s dad looked at her and me and said, "It just amazes me how comfortable you two are here!" It´s true, I am comfortable here in Barcelona... It is a home to me now. And as excited as I am about going home in less than 6 and a half weeks, I´ve started to realize how difficult it will be to say goodbye to my host parents, to my neighborhood, to the University, and to the city itself. I´ve cried tears over leaving home and coming here, and in a month and a half I´ll be crying tears over leaving this new home to go back to the old one. You know, for as much as I hate change, I sure put myself in "changing" situations quite frequently. Maybe that´s how I grow.

Things I just need to say.

Warning: This post is a complaint and some people may not be so happy about reading it... so you can skip this one if you´d like.

Okay, I love Manchester College and I know I made the right decision in going there. I also know that I made the right decision to study abroad, and I am so happy that the people at Manchester encourage studying abroad so much. However, I think one thing is often forgotten... once the student gets abroad, you are not supposed to forget about them!!! So, I know a lot of people who read this are from Manchester, either students or faculty, but I just have to state some of my frustrations without mentioning any names from the past month or so.

1. A group from Manchester took a Jan-term trip to France and Spain, and visited Barcelona. I didn´t get any sort of email or message or anything from that professor to mention they would be here and to ask if I wanted to possibly meet up with them. This wouldn´t be a big deal, except for the fact that I know that this professor knows I am here and knows me well... I guess it just sort of hurts my feelings that I wasn´t even informed that they would be visiting MY city...

2. Communicating from abroad is very difficult, but I have tried very hard to be in communication with everyone about job applications, class registration, and anything else that matters. I started emailing OCS about summer grants that I could apply for to do research last November or December. I was told about a grant that I could apply for to do research for ECR... so I continued to email and ask for the application and how to go about it. I got a response telling me about the Scout Fuller grant, which I appreciated, but continued to ask about the other grant as well. See, I know that there is only one Scout Fuller grant, and a lot of applicants, so I thought if I applied for both grants, I would have a higher chance of getting one of them. One day while I was looking on the MC website, I saw that ECR had been chosen as one of the half and half grants, meaning that I couldn´t apply for the full grant which I had been asking about. When I emailed and asked, the response was that I couldn´t apply for the grant because it was the same internship I had last year and OCS couldn´t give two grants to the same organization, which is why they told me about the Scout Fuller grant... I definitely understand this, but I feel that an email should have been sent to me to explain why I couldn´t apply for the one grant rather than just ignoring my questions. It shouldn´t have been my responsibility to find out accidentally online and have to email and ask.

3. Continuing with the whole communication is difficult thing... I have been emailing since December with Res Life to ask about the Senior RA position and how and when to apply. I got all the emails with the application and stuff... I spent a lot of time working on the application, my resume and cover letter... and I sent it in. I got an email asking what time I could do interviews last Friday and I responded. The next thing I knew, I got an email Thursday saying that the position was no longer available because Res Life now has the funds to hire a full time HD for East next year. I understand that this is a good thing, but I also feel like that is something that should have been decided WAY before the SRA position was announced and we all turned in our applications. I know that I spent a lot of time on the application, and I´m sure that the others spent a lot of time and hard work on them as well... I just feel like Res Life handled the whole situation very inappropriately. Plus, a phone call would have been nice, especially after I worked so hard... I mean, I know I´m in Spain, but a short email just saying the position isn´t available anymore just doesn´t cut it.

4. Registration and seeing whether or not classes will count for the credits I need them to count for... I don´t need to say more about this one since I have blogged about it before.

So basically I guess I´m just frustrated that people at Manchester feel that once the student is abroad, the communication can stop. I have worked hard to stay in contact with people about important things, and I have other things going on in my life too!! So, why can´t others have the common courtesy to do the same? Alright, I´m done complaining, I promise my next post will be a happier one!

Tortilla de alcochofas y pies de cerdo...

So my host mom has taken up a new pasttime... trying to trick me into eating seafood. She sort of succeeded (or thought she did) when I tried the crab spread she made the other day. I knew what it was I was trying, but thought I would just appease her and eat some of it. Afterwards, I did let her know that I didn´t like it. This is after trying about two weeks ago to make me eat pieces of crab on my salad. Again, I tried a piece of the crab and spit it out, reminding her that I don´t like seafood, and crab is no acception to that. So, the other night at dinner I was eating my salad and pondering what was on the plate in the middle of the table. My host mom turned to me and said "you´re going to like that!!" while pointing to the plate. I asked what it was and she just smiled and told me to try it first. This is how it always begins when I´m tricked into tasting the seafood and get sick later from it. So, after eating my salad, I had a piece of tortilla de alcochofas, which is pretty much an artichoke omelette. I have learned to like artichokes since being here, so that was no problem. After I finished chewing the tortilla, though, both my host parents were staring at me, waiting for me to try the mystery food. So I sort of awkwardly laughed, told them I was scared, but that I would try a small piece. So, my host mom cut me a piece and put it on my plate... I examined it for a moment or so before putting it in my mouth. EWWWW!!!!! That was the first reaction of my mouth because I felt like I had just put a firm piece of fat in to be chewed on.. I honestly can´t even remember the taste very much because I couldn´t get over the texture. So, needless to say, I told my host parents that I didn´t really like it and asked if they could finally tell me what it was that I just ate. Pigs feet. That´s right, I ate pigs feet... GROSS!!! Fun times once again in my apartment.

Besides the gross food at my table, there are a few other exciting things in my life right now. Today begins vacation for "semana santa" which means I don´t have class again until a week from this coming Tuesday or Wednesday... I´m not quite sure because I think there is some sort of university holiday on Tuesday the 25th, but one of my professors didn´t say anything about it, so I´ll probably still go and see if we have class. Kacie, from Manchester (who is studying in England this semester) is coming in tonight and I am meeting her at the airport. She is staying until Tuesday, and I am super super excited!!!! Wednesday and/or Thursday of next week I´ll probably be taking a day trip with Trisha to some of the cities in Spain that I have yet to visit even though I´ve lived here for over 6 months. And then on Friday, Trisha´s family comes in to visit for just over a week, so I´m going to help her play tour guide. I´m pretty excited about a relaxed break where I don´t really have to do anything if I don´t want to. After my January travels, I´m sort of travelled out. I am excited about my trip to Ireland in April, but until then, I think I´ll just stick to Spain.

And back to the apartment again.. Ana (the 11 month old grandbaby) has been with us since last Sunday, and the whole week before that, and a few days of the week before that. But, I think she is actually going home tonight and we might get a week break from babysitting during Semana Santa!! I really actually enjoy having the baby around, but sometimes it´s a little overwhelming... I mean, when I´m the one who is now giving her the bottle at night... well, that may mean she´s been there too long. It will be interesting to see how my host parents adjust back to their normal lives without the baby. My host mom was just telling me this morning that she is excited about being able to go to the gym in the mornings again and go on evening walks with my host dad in the evenings. So, hopefully they will get a rest next week during their vacation from taking care of the baby too!!

Alright, that´s it, I think. I´ll let you know if there are any more gross foods that I am tricked into eating in the next week...

Rambling

The protests are officially over... for now. And we have classes again this week. Here is how my week has been so far.

Monday morning: I went to the class that I didn´t have either Monday or Tuesday last week because of the protests and found out that we were still going to have our exam Tuesday (meaning today). I wasn´t excited.

Monday afternoon: I went to my class that I did have last week and realized that I still love the professor because he is crazy and tells funny jokes.. that only one other girl and I seem to get.

Monday night: I finished editing my senior RA application for the last time and sent it in. I left the university and met Trisha to study for our exam. I copied her outline she made and talked to her. I went to my apartment and entertained Ana (the 11 month old granddaughter of my host parents who is with us for a third week) while watching Pasapalabra (a game show about words that I watch religiously every night with my host parents). After dinner I went to my room and studied for about an hour or so and then went to bed.

Tuesday morning: I woke up early to study for the exam and then left at 10 to go with Trisha to The Bagel Shop, which is the only place in Barcelona that serves bagels. Over our breakfast we studied, made up an acronym to remember the order of events since it was an exam over the foundation of europe, and wasted some time. I took the exam and did pretty well (I hope).

Tuesday afternoon: I ate my bocadillo (sandwich) on my way to Catalan class, which I haven´t been to in over a week because I was sick, the protests, and I had another exam in another class. Catalan was... entertaining, as usual, and I learned how to say f*** you in catalan because the verb was actually in our workbook. My professor seemed a little nervous as he was talking about it, but quickly moved on and got over it.

And now I am here. That´s all.. my life isn´t too exciting. I have another class in 15 minutes and then I´ll head home to entertain the baby until it is time for her to go to bed. I do have the returning RA application to finish, and I think I may also apply to be a SOL (student orientation leader) since I got an email personally inviting me to do so... I think they just don´t have very many applicants this year. But it would be fun to be a SOL, so I´ll probably do it. The most exciting thing about my week is that I have another exam tomorrow afternoon that I have yet to study for and the fact that Kacie is coming to visit on Friday!!! Okay, so they aren´t really in the same category, Kacie is way more exciting!!! I´m not quite sure what we´ll be doing yet, but I also have to find some time on Friday to be able to get to a phone for my senior RA interview... we´ll see how it all works out. Anywho, that´s life right now. Less than 9 weeks until I go home! And another one of my friends here is going home for holy week and is going to bring back some cheese pringles, skittles, and other foods that I miss from home, so that makes me super super happy. Hmm.. this is a really random and sort of boring post. I´ll try to make the next one more organized and not rambly... until then, have a good week all of my readers!!!

Protests

I am very irritated with the Spanish students right now. Why, you ask! Because they are standing in front of the door of the Geografía and Historia building and will not let me in for class. They have been doing this since Monday. Now, usually I would not complain about having no class... but I HAVE MIDTERMS NEXT WEEK!!!! And I haven´t had any of my classes that are held in the morning in that building all week. I understand that the students are protesting the privatization of the university, but that doesn´t mean that they have to block the doors and not allow anyone in the building! I can´t even get to the BCA office to sign up for our outing later this month or to talk to the director of our program. I think the most frustrating thing is that I have had to come to campus everyday just to find the situation the same. It would be really nice if the directors of BCA here (whose office is in that building) would call us students and tell us that there will be no class rather than making us come all the way here everyday and worry that we are missing it. I have heard NOTHING all week from any of the people who work in the BCA office telling us what to do until today when Trisha finally called the office to ask. This is a problem seeing as we have no idea what is on our midterm exams next week... Basically I am frustrated with the protesting spanish students, the directors of BCA, and the fact that it is really windy and cold today.

In other news, I have a sinus infection. Yes, green snot and all... it is not good and I want it to go away. But, that´s life.

Also, Ana is with us again this week until later tonight, which means that my host parents have been pretty much consumed with taking care of her since Sunday. This means that they haven´t yet noticed how sick I am and I´m not sure how I feel about that. I just want some soup. And I want to go home and be with my Mommy.. she makes things better when I´m sick and I´ve been sick way to many times here without her in the past 6 months.

I´m really not unhappy, just frustrated. Hopefully once the protests stop and the weather gets less windy and more sunny my mood will do the same. Until then, I´m going back to bed.