So since I am not participating in any weekend warrior trips this weekend, it has freed up some time to catch up on many things, including this blog. It's also let my body slow down enough to get sick, but I plan on catching up on some sleep to take care of that problem!
Next week are our midterms. It's convenient (and stressful) that the program has set 2 days where we will have all of our exams, whereas the liberal arts program has their exams different days and weeks, depending on the class. So, the studying and reviewing begins!
This week was pretty low key. I had my classes, and I met for the second time with my language tutor to help me conquer Spanish. I really enjoy my tutor; she is a PhD student at the University of Sevilla for English, and she works with me in Spanish on my conversational Spanish, and general grammatical issues that she thinks I need to work on. It's exactly what I needed! My classes are all going well, and other than the upcoming exams, there isn't very much to report. As of now, my favorite class is my Advanced Spanish Business Writing class because it is fun, and is helping me a lot with my Spanish skills and making my Spanish more colloquial. International Marketing, Flamenco, and International Finance are all going well, and I don't have any issues with any of those classes. The topics are interesting and relevant, and I know understand my professor in International Finance. I mean I understand him not in the language sense, because I already understood him, but I now understand that he is in fact funny, it's just a dry sense of humor, and that he seems strict because he is the dean of the business school. If I were the dean of the business school I too would appear strict and cold. My Managing Cultural Diversity class is going fine as well, although it is a lot of work. I haven't ever had to read so much in an English business class, no less in Spanish. So that is frustrating. Also, I have taken a very very similar class already, but it was Diversity in Education, when I was considering pursuing that career path for a semester. It's a lot of opinions about how the world needs to change and how there are horrible stereotypes about everyone in the world. No one is exempt. I agree with a lot that the class is teaching, but it frustrates me that we (in this specific class) are all a bunch of white Americans giving their opinions, but I don't believe that most of the other students in the class have a really good idea as to what diversity is exactly and how it feels to be in a diverse group, or how it feels to not be a white middle class American. I'm not saying that I know, because I don't, but I have been blessed, and had the social opportunities to be the odd person out multiple times, so I do have a very general idea. I just happen to like having multicultural friends, and it's made me a better, more well-rounded person! So that's my beef with that class.
What else....
I'm becoming friends with my host brother, which is exciting! Our friendship takes the form in both face-to-face communication and also on Facebook chat. This is in fact the 21st century! We've been wanting to hang out outside of the house and go on a walk, or to a discoteca, but it has yet to actually happen. Both the weather, and miscommunication are to blame. It's pretty funny when we are talking online, because we are only about 15 yards away from each other in the apartment. And I am typically better at reading Spanish, so the conversation is a little bit more smooth. It's also funny that he will sometimes use an online translator so his words are sometimes in English. Last night I went out with my girl friends to a discoteca that he had recommended and it was a lot of fun. Plenty of good dancing! The people and the music were a combination of the Jersey Shore, Puerto Rico, and Spain. All in all, it makes for a fun, late night! Miguel was supposed to come and meet up with his guy friends, but they never showed. Then when I got home at 4:30am, I heard him snoring in his room. He apologized to me today, I think he said he wasn't feeling great. So we will try to mesh our friends together at another time.
Purdue has their Spring Break this upcoming week, so if any of my fellow Boilermakers are reading this, then I hope you have a fantastic time! Also, the next few days are the Big Ten basketball tournament, so Boiler Up! I know "the big dance" is fast approaching, so I'm hoping for an awesome turnout. Only about a week ago, while I was walking to class, I fantasized about Purdue winning the National Championship for a good 15 minutes. Maybe it's ambitious, but I've always thought you've got to reach for the stars!
Well, for all of you, I hope you were able to track my flowing thoughts in this blog. And if you happen to live in the Mid-West, then I hope all of that new snow melts ASAP! It's been raining here for the past week, and I think we still have another week of it. Here's to wishing for warm weather and sun for all of us! So basically, Grandma and Grandpa, please send some of that beautiful Arizonan sun to the rest of us! In one final note, I'm in the process of uploading basically all of my pictures to shutterfly.com. This way, if you don't have Facebook, or just want to see more pictures that aren't as sifted through to find the best and prettiest pictures, then you can go to my shared album(s) and take a look for yourself. It will take me some time to upload them all, so I don't have the link for you yet, but I will post it on here once I do.
I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! Tomorrow I'm headed to Cordoba, and hoping this rain holds off for our day trip!
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