Mid Week Ramblings

Hello friends and family!

Sorry for not posting in such a long time. I have been very busy with my internship and my classes are demanding much more of my time. I'm working on my weekend post but haven't had a chance to upload pictures yet. Don't worry - you'll see that post on Thursday. As I've mentioned before, my schedule is super busy Mondays - Wednesdays because I do my internship and class, so my posts are generally later in the week since I'm exhausted by the end of the weekend. I just thought I'd do a short post to let you all know I'm still alive :D

Change of Season 
 Yay for no more hot days in Barcelona! This is the first time it's cooled down since I've arrived and it's so refreshing! I think because all the trips I've done this year have been to very warm places (e.g. Austin, Costa Rica, Nicaragua) and I'm just ready to bundle up and put on some sweaters! I wore my new sweater cardigan (post on my shopping bargains coming soon!) from El Corte Ingles today and it kept me oh so cozy and warm. Just watch...in a few weeks I'll be complaining about the cold...typical California girl (I can't help that I'm used to waking up to a sunny Christmas!)

Classes
My classes are going very well. I just took a midterm and field trip quiz for my Mediterranean Oceanography class. I think the midterm went very well (20 Multiple Choice), but I also studied like crazy for that test.  It's my favorite class so far because a) the professor's excellent, super smart, and animated and b) the material is interesting and very different from what I'm used to. I actually just found out from my friend that she and I are his favorites because we ask a lot of questions in class and we're the most awake! haha! A lot of students are on their smart phones, struggling to stay awake, or just don't show up. It's nice to know he appreciates our enthusiasm for the subject matter!

I am also taking two econ classes at IES - European Regional Economies and Spain's Economic Development and the European Union. Both classes have a lot of material overlap to the point where some sessions are identical - it's like going to the same class back to back! But the professors are very different.

For Regional Economies, my professor always shows up 5 - 10 minutes late (a few sessions before he was 15 minutes late!), is frazzle and disorganized, and is not prompt about e-mailing me back. I find it very hard to take the class seriously but it is my major, so I need to do well. I have that midterm on Thursday and I'm a bit nervous for that one considering the professor just lectures the entire time and doesn't interact much with students.

For Spain's Economic Development, my professor is very young (late 20's), very intelligent, and makes the class interesting. Towards the end of most sessions, she goes off on some really interesting Econ tangents that make me want to ask her if we can have coffee sometime and I can ask her all my Econ questions on her opinion about the EU, Spain's current situation, Spanish culture, etc. In fact, I feel I've learned most about Spanish culture with her. For instance, she was explaining how it's very common for Spanish families to live close together and the elderly to co-raise their grandchildren. At most child cares, about 60 to 70% of adults waiting outside to pick up the children are grandmas and grandpas interestingly enough.

Anyways, I'm going to get ready for bed because my eyes burn and I'm just ready for a cup of tea!