Petrer

This weekend, Alvaro (a friend of mine, who was a Rotary Exchange student to the US last year) invited me to go out partying with him (that's what the kids my age do on the weekends), and then spend the night at his house. The next day, we were going to go to a festival.

The party was fun, I guess. We started out as a group of about 5 guys, but then we met up with another group along the way, making it about 8 guys and 4 girls, or something like that. We bar-hopped, as is the norm. Bars here are a mix between what we would think of as a bar and a club. One had a karaoke room, one was more of a club, one was more of a bar. Basically the night consisted of drinking, smoking, and dancing. And since I don't drink or smoke, and I can't really dance (at least how they "dance" in the clubs), I did more watching than participating. Nobody got drunk, because we didn't go to a botellon, which is the other popular thing for youth to do. Botellones basically consist of a group of people getting together somewhere, usually outside (not in a restaurant or a bar) and getting drunk. That's all there is to it. It's only become popular recently among the most recent generation. Anyway, we did not go to a botellon. Once things started winding down, we went to Alvaro's house to sleep, what little we could, since we didn't get there until sometime after 3AM.

The next day, we both slept in and then passed the morning lounging about not doing much of anything. Once Alvaro's parents returned home, we went to Petrer. Petrer is a small inland town, where Alvaro's mother's family is from. We ate at his grandparents' house. One of the things we ate for lunch was whole shrimp. Legs, eyes, antenna, everything. Well, we didn't eat everything, but the shrimp were still whole and they taught me how to take it apart and what to eat. It was an interesting experience. I still am not used to seafood, and still don't really like it.
On a sidenote, my host parents find this story hilarious and tell it occasionally. About the whole shrimp, with legs and eyes and everything! Looking back, I suppose it makes sense that whole shrimp would have legs and eyes and all that, but for me, it was something new.

After lunch and the siesta, we headed out to see the festival. What it was for, I never really found out. But what the people do is dress up in all kinds of weird costumes and cover their faces with handkerchiefs. Then they change their voice and try to see if people recognize them. And it's perfectly normal for guys to dress up as girls and vice versa. There was some kind of band as well, that sounded cool. All in all, it was a very interesting parade, if it could even be called that. Not long after that, we headed home to Alicante.

Currently listening to:
Song: Believe
Artist: Yellowcard
Album: Ocean Avenue

School #2 - Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Alicante

The Official Language School in Alicante...I don't really know what to say about it...

It's been an interesting challenge...

Before I even left the States, Elena had pre-enrolled me in Spanish for Foreigners: 2nd Basic Level. Apparently, the language schools are very popular and there's always an extremely large number of people who want to enroll. Because of this, it's necessary to pre-enroll, and find out what date to return and actually enroll in the school. September 30th was my date. I had school that day, but Elena said she didn't need me to come along, so she went by herself to enroll me. And later, I felt bad about letting go through that process alone.

I felt bad because she spent 3 hours in lines trying to complete my enrollment and from what she said, they kept sending to her a different line to resolve the issue. The issue she had was that they wouldn't let me enroll in 2nd Basic. Why? Because I hadn't taken the "prueba de nivel," which is basically a skill test to see how good (or bad) my Spanish is and which class I should be in. This test was in September, but when Elena had pre-inscribed me in July, they hadn't said a single thing about it. Unfortunately, they remained firm, and I ended up in 1st Basic Spanish for Foreigners. Along with probably being too easy, there were some other problems with 1st Basic. One, they enrolled me in the 9AM class, which I obviously can't do, since I have regular school. Two, the other class I could attend was Mondays and Wednesdays from 4-6. This was a problem because I don't get out of school until 2 o'clock, leaving me barely enough time to get home from school, grab a snack, and then head out to catch the bus, but not enough time to eat an actual lunch.

So I went ahead an attended 1st Basic. Which was ridiculous, for me, and I don't feel bad about saying that. First off, there were no other people my age (which is not the ridiculous part, actually...I had just been expecting to see some other youth in the class). The ridiculous part is what we did the first day of class. Seated more or less in a circle, we took turns asking the person next to us three questions: ¿Cómo te llamas?, ¿De dónde eres?, and ¿Dónde vives? (What's your name?, Where are you from?, and Where do you live?). All of which I already know how to say, what they mean, how to conjugate each verb, and everything...things the other members of the class struggled with at times. After a short break 30 minutes later, we returned and then proceeded to learn the alphabet - letter by letter. Again, something I already know. The next class wasn't much better. While I didn't necessarily know every occupation on the worksheet, I knew the majority. And in 1st Basic, I have no problem following the class. I understand everything that everyone says, including the teacher.

So I decided to talk to teacher, who once again talked about the skill test in September. The only helpful thing I learned was that there is another test in February. To wait for that test would be a waste of time, I don't have however.

Luckily, Luis had an idea. He had attended a class at the language school last year. He said, in the beginning, things are still a little unorganized and the teachers don't have lists, and he said there were many people who came in and said it was their class. However, once the lists came out, several of these people weren't on the lists...but they still attended the class for the whole year!

With that in mind, I have begun to attend the 2nd Basic classes. While they're still not a challenge, it's not easy. Some of the stuff I already know, like irregularities with verbs, and some I don't, like colloquial Spanish expressions. And I still have to work to follow the class and the professor. There still aren't lists and I'm hoping once the lists come out, if I'm not on it, it won't be a problem. If it is though, this professor seems much more understanding than the other. Another thing I learned was that if a student has a problem (with a class, professor, or whatever), they are advised to talk to their professor, which didn't work for me. If that doesn't work, they are advised to talk to the department head, who happens to be the professor for 2nd Basic! So if my professor of 2nd Basic asks me what's going on, it's perfect to talk with him, because he's also the department head!

So I'm attending 2nd Basic on Tuesday and Thursday, from 6:10-8:00, a much better time slot. I'm looking forward to learning more in this class, but we'll have to see!

The Official Language School

Until next time,
Erik

Currently listening to:
Song: Overkill
Artist: Colin Hay
Album: Scrubs Soundtrack

School #1 -IES Cabo de la Huerta

As returning readers will know, I am attending a "colegio" here in Spain, which is their version of high school. The thing is though, that here, "colegios" have 6 years of class, instead of 4 like in the US. Basically, if Turner was combined with the high school, putting 7th through 12th grades in the same building, it would be a "colegio." There are 4 levels of E.S.O. (Enseñaza Secundario Obligatorio = Obligatory Secondary Education) and 2 levels of Bachillerato. The second bachillerato is when the students prepare for the "selectividad." The score on the "selectividad" plus the grades from the two levels are bachillerato are averaged to get a combined score, and that is the score that determines where the student can attend for college.

I'm in the second bachillerato, but it's not that bad because I don't actually have to prepare for the "selectividad." One, because I've already graduated from high school, so it doesn't matter what grades and scores I get, although I am going to try to do well in the classes. Two, because I am an exchange student, who will not be here next year and will not be attending a university, so the score doesn't mean anything for me. Third, the combination of the first two is why I don't have to take it, and the stress of being an exchange student, making friends, learning the culture, and learning the language are enough stress for me to deal with this year.

My classes are going well. I still don't understand much, but I feel like I understand a little more each day. It's hard to judge because I can't tell if I'm understanding more, or what the teachers are saying that day, I just happen to understand better than what they said the day before! For the first week or so, I didn't even have two of my classes: Philosophy and Sociology. The teacher was sick and they didn't have a substitute, so we just didn't have class that period. But we have a teacher now, so no more napping during my free period! English is really boring, simply because it is a very basic level, so for me, it's incredibly easy! Spanish class is interesting, learning the grammatical rules and functions and everything. Geography is okay. History of Spain and history of art are both good classes, and the teacher is really nice and fun too. Wednesday in class, Victorino (the history teacher) was talking about something and he began to talk about Egypt, but I don't know why. Anyway, he said that Egypt is split in half by the Nile river and the sun rises, is born, in the east and sets, or dies, in the west. Because of this the Egyptians built all the temples and whatnot on the eastern side of the river to celebrate the living and all their tombs on the western side, where the sun dies. I found that very interesting because I have never heard that before. Then I was even more surprise, because I said to myself, "hey, hold on a minute...you actually understand 95% of that...wow!" Needless to say, I was quite proud of myself for having actually understood a complete story/idea/thought in school. I also have math class, which I hate. Not only does it require a lot of effort, because I have to translate the words to figure out what the problem is (which sometimes is very easy to do and sometimes not), and then I have to translate the problem to figure out how to solve it. The other problem with this math class is that it's a bit over my head. We just finished up a unit on the Gauss method to solve a system of multiple equations. I was talking to my family later that week, and my brother told me that in his Calculus 2 class in college they said he should have learned it in Calculus, which he hadn't. And neither did I. So it's even harder because I actually don't already know some of the lessons in class. But we'll see how it goes.

I'm on the third floor. Many of the other students in my group switch rooms during the day, but with the classes I have, I'm in the same room all day. During the breaks, I usually go down to the courtyard and talk with Alvaro and sometimes Andres, or I go to the cantina with Sofia and her friends. The cantina is nice. It has candy, drinks, sandwiches, pastries, and other things to eat during breaks, for a small price. I can usually get a pastry or sandwich and a drink for 1,40€. It's not bad, but I can't do it every day, so I do like a lot of the other students and I bring a couple snacks or some fruit to school with me. The cantina is kind of ridiculous though. The small bar is always crowded by students pushing to get to the counter, and let me tell you, you have to fight to get to the front, or if you manage to slide up to the counter through a gap, like I do, you have to fight to keep your spot. And even if you're not at the counter, it's still okay to yell our your order and hope they serve you. The two workers seem a bit pressed to me, so I always wait until they ask me what I want, and they seem to appreciate that. Actually, I know they appreciate it, because the third or fourth time I was waiting to order something, a kid came up next to me and started yelling his order. The one lunch lady went ahead and got his order, but she then told him that he should be more "prudente" like this kid and pointed to me. "Prudente" means formal. That day I learned that good manners and being a gentleman is something universal.

My classroom.

The view of the courtyard from my classroom.

The courtyard.

The cantina -with students.

The cantina - vacant and calm.

Currently listening to:
Song: How Far We've Come
Artist: Matchbox 20
Album: Exile on Mainstream

P.S. Soon to come - "School #2 - EOI = Escuela Oficial de Idiomas de Alicante"