What else, what else? I've gone another week without posting, and for this I apologize.
I continue to go to class...there's a start. I figure going to class three days a week and completing the occasional homework assignment is the least I can do. It's a good trade-off, I think. Econ is going well, especially since I found the textbook's website in English! Ha! It's good to struggle in class in Spanish, then come home and go over everything again in English. It works pretty well.
I'm doing an online class through Mizzou because of some complications with enrolling here, but my textbook came relatively quickly and I've already completed Chapter 1. We'll see how many online classes I can squeeze in between now and fall, and who knows...maybe I could graduate on time!
I feel my Spanish continues to improve just because I have to use it everyday, most of the time. It's not an option...I HAVE to use it and improve. Plus, I'm really glad I ended up enrolling in another Spanish class when my first one ended. It's twice a week until May, which should do me some good. I'm comfortable in saying I can definitely "get by" in Spanish now. I think that's step one. Somewhere in between here and fluency is understanding what people say to you instead of just nodding and saying "sí." That is my next step!
Alicante isn't necessarily getting "boring," but more "familiar," and so I was glad to get out of the city on Saturday. A few of us decided on a whim to go to Altea, a small town an hour and a half up the coast. There wasn't anything really special about it, just that it was different, a change in scenery, and it was cool to take the tram and see what's in between. My host parents say Altea is more of a town tipical of Spain than Alicante. I'd say Spain is Spain, but what do I know? It was a fun day trip, and I'm looking forward to hitting up some more outlying towns like that in the coming weeks.
Speaking of traveling, I'm headed to Lisbon, Portugal this Thursday! A friend and I planned it some time ago and invited others to join us, but everyone else has other plans...Dublin, Barcelona, etc. It happens. Actually, a trio of girls went to Lisbon a few weeks ago so they've given us some tips. That's the cool thing; I have friends who have already been to Brussels, Madrid, London, Italy, Paris, everywhere...it's cool to share our experiences with each other. Anyway, I'm pretty excited and you can look for pictures in a week or so.
Other than that, I'm in the process of searching for a new home. I was on the fence whether or not to stay in the homestay for all six months (it's expensive!) or try to move out and fend for myself. Well, my host family made the decision easy: "Your room is occupied, starting in April," they told me in Spanish. Well alrighty then! Apparently they weren't expecting me to stay and have never had a student stay as long as I have...weird. Whatever. It'll be so much cheaper. I just have to find a place to live. And people to live with. I might end up getting a place with the other two guys from Mizzou who came, which would be fine, but the ideal situation would be to make some cool Spanish friends and live with them. Apparently, that doesn't happen very often because all the actual Spaniards here still live with Mommy and Daddy. Seriously!
Oh, and how could I forget. thanks to some Skype bootlegging and some help from my dad, I was able to catch the MU-KU game Sunday. Wish I hadn't. No, it was fun and pretty awesome to see CBS streaming in my Spanish bedroom. I can't believe I'm missing this basketball season. It's killing me, really.
MIZ!
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