Martes - 22.20

It was a sad morning. My watch died. Luckily it was just after my alarm went off… maybe that used up the last of its strength. I’m back to using my iPhone as my alarm clock and watch for now. It’s much less convenient. I’ll survive though. Classes went well today. I got to campus early, as usual, so I spent my extra minutes looking up my degree audit. I think I am being a bit too ambitious with all the stuff I want to do, like adding a minor and a certificate, but I’ll talk to Evie and see where I’m at in the fall. If I can get Art History credit for the art class I’m in now, I’ll only need three more classes, which I think is doable, especially since I want to try and do a painting class next summer, since it’s not offered at Tech. I’ll have to wait and see.

My art class went well. We got our exams back today, not tomorrow like she had planned. I got a 92, which I’m completely happy with. The only ones I got points marked down on were the two I wasn’t sure about, so that was expected. Then the lecture was interesting, extra interesting since we’re talking about Goya. My presentation is this week on Thursday, and it’s a large chunk of my grade, so hopefully it goes well! I made up note cards based on my paper today, so I’m going to look over them tomorrow and study what I’m going to say so I don’t end up a stammering baboon in the Prado Museum.

After class I headed to my conversation class. It wasn’t too bad today, it was over quickly. Our new “theme” is jokes, and of the approximately five jokes told, Lynette understood one of them. I had to roll my eyes when she asked the person to repeat themselves, or to explain the joke. Granted, most of them (for me at least) were really bad and not really that funny, but at least I understood the humor in them. She was completely lost. It was kind of funny actually.

After that class I bought myself lunch at the supermarket, another Tortilla Patata con Cebolla. I ate it in the shade of the building, pacing back and forth. The Spaniards that saw me probably thought I was crazy, but if I stayed still for a moment, I had bugs all over me. So I paced. After eating my delicious lunch, I headed shopping. Since I’m not going to Sevilla and Granada anymore, I have a bit of extra money. I figured I might as well spend it, since I’ll be getting my housing deposit back, and can use that to pay off my credit card bill and cell phone bill for August. I went to Mia Mia, a cheap store near my metro stop (but one over). I tried on several things, but nothing that I fell in love with. So I left. I stopped into Himaya, the store near my apartment, but again, I didn’t love anything. I didn’t even try anything on.

When I got back to the apartment, I relaxed in the shade a bit. It’s a scorcher today! There’s no air flow, but the fan runs non-stop when I’m in the room. I read two articles for my art class so I’m all caught up except one chapter in the book I believe. I can do that tomorrow or Thursday after I present. Step one is getting a good grade on my presentation. Step two is catching myself up for the exam. After reading, I grabbed my camera and headed out. Unfortunately, I forgot my sunglasses, making me cry for much of my time outside. It was fine in the shade though.

I went to Catedral Santa Maria de Almudea first. It was really pretty, like most European cathedrals. The ceilings were insanely high, the arches detailed to the last centimeter, the stained glass bright and shining. I was glad I went though, it was nice. I got some cool photos of the sunlight on the floor through the stained glass. My plan was then to go to Campo del Moro, a park nearby. I found it eventually, though I didn’t get lost on the way. I took my time.

When I got there, it was breathtaking. It turns out its right behind the Cathedral and the Royal Palace. There was an empty spot so you could see the palace in the distance, as opposed to having trees block the view like in the rest of the park. I got some good photos. I also walked around and found some pretty cool things. There was a chicken coop near the middle of the park, and I saw a black and gold chicken! I also saw one that looked like a kid went crazy with crayons, there was blue, yellow, red, green, it was a lot of colors on one bird. Next to the coop was a small building. It was closed up, but some of the windows (which were stained glass!) were broken, so I could peek in. It was empty except some small scaffolding and what looked like the headboard to a bed. The building was pretty in any case.

Then there was also a little pond area. I got to see black swans! I was pretty excited about that. There was one point when they both came up to me at the fence (I think they thought I might have food) and looked at me. I got a photo, of course. The best part about this park area was that I got to see peacocks! There were at least two male and one female, though more were probably hiding. The first one I saw let me get pretty close to him, I was surprised. He actually lay down in front of me. This made me feel safer, like if I got to close and he tried to attach me I could run away before he could stand up haha. He didn’t though. I even got a feather! It was on the ground; I took a photo of it and put it in the front pocket of my purse.

It probably wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve done, since I know birds can carry lots of diseases. But oh well, I did it. Then after hanging around a while waiting for it to spread its feathers, I left. I didn’t wanna wait anymore. I was going to go to another park very nearby, but all it really has is a zoo, an aquarium, and an amusement park, and since I don’t have money for any of them, or desire to really see any of them, I just headed home. The metro ride took a while, since I had to take the grey line, which loops around rather than going straight to my stop. I didn’t mind though, the metro had AC. Somewhere along the way, though, I lost my feather. I was really sad, since I was planning on putting it in my scrapbook. It was a cool feather. I said my goodbyes at the apartment, when I noticed it was gone.

When I got back, I uploaded my photos to Facebook and got on email. While I was chatting with the wonderful Brandon, I went through my paper for my art class over “my painting”. I edited it down to tid-bits for note cards, wrote them, and ran through them once. I’ll go over them again tomorrow and probably Thursday morning and afternoon too. I want to be prepared. Then I was called to dinner. It was the same pasta salad that I’ve had several times here. The one with the mystery seafood (probably crab or lobster), and the mystery fruit, dubbed by Brandon as “pinana”, since it looks like a cross between a banana and a pineapple, but doesn’t really taste like either. It was okay.

I actually told Pilar that I couldn’t eat more today; I had only eaten half the plate. She said it was fine, not to worry, it wasn’t a big deal, etc. I was relieved, because I didn’t want her to be upset. I just can’t physically handle so much food! Especially not right before bed, though most Spaniards go out at night, so I guess I’m the oddball in that sense. Anyway, my yogurt today was different, instead of the plain yogurt, it had a bit of brown sugar in it! It was still super yummy. I love yogurt though.

After dinner I washed my face and brushed my teeth, and started this blog as I was chatting with Brandon some more. Tomorrow I have my art class, I have to tell jokes in my conversation class, and then I present over my movie in my film class. It should be a pretty easy day. Then I’m planning on going to a monastery after classes, so we’ll see how that goes. Wednesday is supposed to be the only day it’s free, so let’s hope so!