Tuesday, Jan 15th

Today was the first day of classes for me. It seems like my Contemporary theatre literature class is going to be time consuming. We have a 4/5 page paper due every 4 weeks, until all six plays are covered. My Art History class is going to be interesting, especially because we get to go to all the good museums. I'll have an 8 page paper to do on Picasso's Guernica, but I feel like when I need to write it, I'll have more than enough information. I also am taking a Spanish Civilizations class which should be pretty interesting. Big group project for that one. Tomorrow I have one class, "Spanish Literature of the 19th C." I KNOW I KNOW it sounds boring. But I need three graduate level courses of to complete my major and I figure getting them done here will be easier.

So while the work seems like a lot, I don't think it'll be intellectually challenging, just time consuming. And I'll have to schedule myself pretty rigidly so I don't forget to do anything.

I turned in a form yesterday to teach English to little kids. It pays 12€ an hour which is equivalent to $18!!! So that's really good. This is supposed to be a pretty travel-filled semester, so I probably won't work more than five hours a week or so, but an extra $100 a week will be greatly appreciated. An extra ANYTHING. Plus, it might be fun.

A Cultural Note:

Before yesterday I thought Madrid (and Europe in general) was very clean until I began to see people littering EVERYWHERE: the metro, the sidewalks, throwing stuff all over streets. And as I paid more attention, I realized that these people aren't clean people, but there are guys in neon vests on every other street corner picking up after them! They do a good job, sure. But it makes me question personal responsibility. Is it my own culture stepping in when I judge them and say that they should pick up after themselves and be personally responsible for their trash? (there ARE trash cans on corners too). OR is it ok, because that is what these people are THERE for, that is their JOB?

Well, I don't care whether it's ethno-centric to say: I think people shouldn't litter. I think they should have personal responsibility for stuff like this. It will just enforce bad habits in their children who may NOT end up living in a country with trash pickers. I mean, half the people I've seen with dogs, let them do their business on the CURB of the SIDEWALK, because before you know it there will be a person coming along to scrape it up. GROSS. There isn't any grass or anything. Maybe people shouldn't have dogs if their not going to pick it up. I've only seen one guy do it, and it was right in the MIDDLE of the sidewalk anyway.

What do you think?

Monday was the first day of classes for most people, but because I don't have class Monday, I went to the Museo Reina Sofia. It's a modern art museum. I've never been one for modern art, but this place really changed my mind. It was HUGE and some of the art was just beautiful. It had at least 30 Picassos! And probably just as many Miro and Dali works. And I ended up liking a lot of this "modern art." It also had these really cool glass elevators.

Tomorrow I don't have class until 4:30 so I'm going to buy my books, buy notebooks (which btw, they only make graph paper notebooks, not lined like we have: ANNOYING!), and mail a postcard.

The friendship dynamics amongst the group of us (about 25) are still settling out. Once they become more concrete I'll be able to comment. Now though, it's too early to tell. Even my friends are not by any means cemented. Hasta Luego.