Well...

So, my computer is having some issues. Aka it is refusing to read flash drives (I think). Therefore my previously written post on the Alhambra, Granada, and cheese will have to wait until a later date. Oh well.

I am currently sitting in a computer lab at Carlos III, the university at which I will be studying for awhile. My schedule is basically set; I just have to make sure that I can count the regular class that I want to take for credit in the poli sci department back home. I´m pretty pumped to take almost all of my classes, which is good, and also the first for a while. I will be taking: The Art of the Short Story (see, Fiction Writing), Spanish Language, Spanish Culture, The Politics of the Welfare State, and an independent study (aka branching off of my Mellon Project). It´s looking to be an interesting semester, especially if you include fencing, kickboxing, and whatever else I decide to do in my free time. I´m certain I´ll let you know about the more interesting things, and possibly some of the mundane things in a more interesting way (I hope). For example:

Yesterday I went to Mass in the park (yes, church). There was a procession beforehand honoring San Blas where they carried a ceramic statue of him surrounded by flowers down the street (in a box with carrying sticks?) from the church to the park where we had Mass. It initially promised to be an interesting procession for me, but boring for the average American student, when I discovered something interesting. For the people of this church, this walk was probably sacred at one point, but it seemed like the city of Madrid could have cared less. At one point, they set him down to look at the building he (presumably) used to live in. However, the way they set him down made it look like instead he was blessing the neighboring Doner Kebab (think gyroesque fast food restaurant; they´re EVERYWHERE). In addition to having blessed one of my favorite foods, Saint Blas proceeded to pass the biggest sex shop I had yet seen in Spain thus far. Perhaps he should have taken the time to stop there instead of making me feel better about eating what is possibly the best tasting health threat in Europe. After these adventures, we then proceeded to Parque del Retiro where I found out after mass the San Blas is the patron saint of throat problems (who knew?) and they would be passing out bread afterwards that would keep you from having any throat sickness for a whole year. All in all, a pretty productive morning I would say.

The rest of my time here has been spent pretty uneventfully. Classes are just getting underway, and already I have learned more about common problems of American Spanish speakers than I´ve learned in all my time taking Spanish in high school or WashU. Well, that´s what studying in another country will do for you I guess. Next things to do: Find a fencing club, start the kick boxing class, make Spanish friends. Check.