The Average Day: Philosophy, Seafood, and a Multitude of Classes

Imagine spending an hour attempting to decipher philosophy...in Spanish. Yes, this is my life friends! Here in Spain, I have a multitude of classes: three art classes, Castellano, Valenciano, English, Spanish History, History of Art, and philosophy. And yes, this is a normal course load in Spain. My average day: awaken at 7am. Grab a quick bite of toast or cereal (which is unusual because most Spaniards don´t bother with breakfast) before a whisk out the door with my host sister and dad to catch the tram. The tram runs parallel to the coast so that I can see the shore and the sunrise the entire way. My classes are each 50 minutes or so and I receive two recess´: one of 25 minutes and the other of 15. I get back to our apartment by three, greeted by a great waft of air that signals the most important meal of the day: lunch! A lot of fish, a little rice, a little pasta. Seafood is popular here, but when they serve it to you with the head and extremities still attached, it isn´t quite so appealing! Overall, the food is good, but they like to fry everything. I have learned that I am not partial to oisters or pickled anchovies, but that fried anchovies aren´t so bad. Desert is fruit (tangerines, pears...), yogurt, or icecream. After lunch, I might spend a half hour being tutored in spanish grammar alongside my eight-year-old host sister (yes, that is the level of my grammar in Spanish!) or I might also go on the computer, watch a movie, etcetera. Dinner is at 9:00pm and then promptly to bed.

You may wonder why I have so many art classes. That is because after 10th grade, students must decide which track they want to follow: Science, Math, Humanities, Art... And I have chosen the art track for this semester. My favorite class is Art History, where we are currently studying Gothic design. I love seeing all the beautiful cathedrals from France and Spain! It´s especially nice since I have already seen some of these places and note how the pictures hardly do them justice. English is incredibly easy, but also funny; I enjoy hearing the heavy Spanish accents over English. I´ve also been helping my peers with their english homework. Castellano is essentially a Spanish grammar and literature class, but it is at the level of a native Spanish speaker, so I don´t understand much. Valenciano is a local language that I don´t even bother to try to understand. Today I spent the entire hour of that class bored out of my mind, but unable to do homework from other classes because my head felt like it was ready to explode after the previous hour of philosophy.

The people here are very nice. I am making friends, but I still don´t fit in. I´m just grateful that I can speak as much Spanish as I do.

Well, I guess that´s it for now.

Besos,

Jocelyn