Gretchen's thoughts

A little commentary on the day-to-day activity that I’ve come to know –

1.       There is PDA everywhere. On a given day, I usually witness anywhere from 5 to 10 public displays of affection. They range from very subtle, like a light kiss on the cheek, to hot-and-heavy, a couple groping on the bus. I’ve also seen some there are just plain hilarious, like a walking make-out. Yeah, I saw it. I was worried they might accidentally walk into traffic. After seeing one PDA-fest, my roommate, who is in a relationship and desperately missing her boyfriend said, “Están comiendo pan en frente de los hambrientes.” Translation – They’re eating bread in front of the starving. :)

2.       There are dogs everywhere. It makes me want a puppy soooo bad! Most of them are on leashes, but I’ve seen some that just follow behind their owners. It’s actually very cute. Also, people do not pick up after their dogs, not matter if it’s in the street or the middle of a crowded sidewalk. You just have to watch where you’re walking. Not so cute.

3.       No one here can say my name. I get the strangest looks when I say it and whenever anyone has to read it off a piece of paper they always pause for like 7 seconds before giving it a try. Something about the “t-c-h” in a row must throw people off. My roommate Alejandra called me “Rachel” for like 4 days.

I’m still in the process of choosing my classes. The university is structured much, much differently here than at Nebraska Wesleyan. Here, students choose their major their first year and then follow a curriculum that has already been laid out for them. They rarely choose electives outside of their chosen field. As an international student, I get to pick and choose classes from different specialties, but it’s difficult because many of them overlap. The classes that I’m sure about are “Social Structure” and “Publicity and Mass Culture.” I’m also looking at taking a few literature classes, but so far the only ones that I can find that will fit into my schedule are “Literature of the Middle Ages” and “Hispanic-American Literature,” both of which seem interesting. I’m hesitant to take a lot of literature because I don’t want to get buried in reading and fall behind. I’m still looking, though, and there are a few days left to decide.

Nothing much else has been happening. It’s nice to be settling into a daily routine.  My language class finishes up this week; it’s been nice to get back into studying some grammar, but I’m always ready for class to be over at 1:30 because it gets kind of dense. I buy the local paper every few days and make my way through a few articles – I’m getting better! I also try to talk to at least 2-3 local people a day. Today, I talked to a woman at the bank when I was setting up my account – she asked me how long I had been here and told me that for only having been here for 2 weeks my Spanish was really good! :) I’m also thinking about joining the choir – it’s open to international students and it’s non-auditioned, so I think it’d be a good way to keep meeting people. I want Murcian friends, haha!

Wow, I didn’t mean for this post to get this long. More later!