Overall this has been a very busy but nevertheless decent week. In regards to my work, the most reassuring thing was that I finally got in contact with my advisor and was able to construct a concrete work schedule. Although it’s not exactly what I had wanted, it is nevertheless better than having to work with no concrete schedule at all.
In regards to work, however, the tasks have remained relatively the same, with my assigned projects primarily consisting of translations of Naturanda’s most current dossier while continuing to organize old tour records into a google spreadsheet. Very slow and labor intensive work, but I nevertheless feel that it will yield positive results in the end.
Due to the hectic nature of work and classes over the past couple of weeks, I felt that I needed a break from Seville for a little while. Madrid, which I was able to travel to due to a weekend off in my work schedule, proved a good destination. Over the course of a weekend I was able to see a couple of the city’s more important sites such as the valley of the fallen, the art museum of queen Sofia, and the Rasco flea market, as well as a couple of antique shops which were near the area I was staying. For the most part, these were very rewarding experiences and proved themselves to be good ways to decompress from the stress that has come with work and classes.
As I approach the halfway point of my time here, I feel that I should add a brief self reflection. At this point, it goes without saying that this experience has been considerably tougher the an I had initially expected. Between organizing a work schedule under complicated cultural and academic circumstances, determining the nature of the relationship I should have with my host family, and working on classwork, my internship abroad has proven to be a complicated process that initially left me with little free time. Nevertheless, as I continue my time here, I feel that I will be able to adjust and my schedule will become more manageable.