by Katie Reed
Universidad de Navarra, Spain
I absolutely cannot believe that it is already March! Time is flying by. I have looked forward to this experience for so long and its here and it is going to be gone before I even know what happened. We get so caught up and just living day to day and what we have to do that we forget we are only here for a short time. When in reality at first it seemed like it was going to be forever. Other than our trip to Logroño yesterday not a whole lot has happened, but I will fill in what has happened since I left off in the last post. Classes everyday have not changed much. However, I got to witness a strike here on campus last week. During one of my classes all the secretaries and administrative faculty walked through the hallways of the classroom building with lots of loud instruments and whistles protesting something. I am still not sure what they were protesting against, but it was definitely a site to see. I also never thought that I would be more confused on something in a class taught in English than one taught in Spanish. Many things do not transfer directly from Spanish to English and I do not think that my 2 professors for Human Resources understand that. I also learned that there are MANY different ways to interpret the differences between tasks and skills when working on making out a job description..and apparently in Spain you don't do your homework you "make" your homework, as well as "get" on time rather than being on time. Ohhh how other cultures never cease to amaze me. Our professor is constantly looking at us making sure that he is writing things correctly on the board since he's english is lacking a little bit. As for the fun part of Spain, we have been out for Pintxos again, went to a very nice Italian dinner for Aude's birthday (which I might add was the first real sit down dinner we have been to since we have been here). Aude and I have been going to the gym every day the past couple of weeks as well so that has been a lot of fun. I can honestly say I have never worked out this hard; I am not sure where all this motivation has come from but I love it. So, on Wednesday (the 29th) Amanda and I went out walking as we do several days a week and we were talking about how we could not believe that it was already March, time was flying by, we were going to be back home before we knew it, and were just having an all around good day because we had made it this far. Later on that day I got a message from her on facebook and she proceeded to tell me.."Katie so guess what?? Its not even March" and I asked her what she was talking about of course it was..."No...its leap year". What the heck?? We got so excited over nothing..stupid leap year throwing off our schedules. Oh well, we got to go out and celebrate leap day by having pizza because they were having specials everywhere. The next night...in March...we went out for a Mexican dinner. It was really good; definitely different than mexican dinners at home, but it was good for here. I will for sure be going to eat Mexican at home as soon as I arrive no doubts. On Friday I got out and walked all over Pamplona shopping and just enjoying the beautiful day! I cannot wait until it is nice like that everyday. Now for the big adventure...Logroño. Yesterday Andrea, Rebecca, two girls from Uruguay and myself left the bus station at 7:30 in the morning heading to Logroño in the autonomous community of La Rioja. When we arrived we went to the information center and then headed out to explore the city. We got to see and go inside several gorgeous cathedrals, see another part of the Camino de Santiago, many statues, bridges, gorgeous scenery, part of the Vinoteca/Bodega(where they store the wine because La Rioja is most famous for its wine production), and the outdoor part of a science museum. At this part we were able to pull out the inner child in us all. There were all kinds of cool things that you could use to make music, talk to each other from different places, play on until you got dizzy, and even make your own tornado. I thought this was the most important because with all the tornadoes going on at home I just felt left out not having one in Spain, so I got to make my own. The day was definitely a lot of fun, and at the end of the day before I headed back we all sat down and had churros together. Then it was time for me to head back. The other girls were staying the night, but I did not want to because I needed to get some things done today as well as I had homework I had to turn in by midnight last night. I road the bus all the way back and then walked back to my dorm from the bus station (something I would have never told my mom before I did it because I can hear it now...thats not safe! haha love you mom!). Walking in Europe at night by myself definitely made me feel extremely independent. Sometimes I forget just how independent of a person that I really am and it amazes me sometimes. Today I went for a nice long run outside then came back to deep clean my room. As I was cleaning my 'kitchen' that I have in my room it hit me that pretty much every meal that I have here I make for myself here in my room. I never thought I would be doing this at my age. I don't even have a cafeteria or antything to go to like I do at Maryville. It is really nice though. So many times as Amanda and I talk about, its going to be amazing to see how much we change once we go back home and really see how our perspectives on things are different. We probably will be in shock...and thats ok with me!