A Few Tales from Week 2

The first full week of language intensive classes was a little daunting last Sunday, but now having completed it, and realizing that both of my teachers are very cool and helpful, I am very relieved. My morning professors name is Susana, who is a bit more blunt and not afraid to just look right at you and simply say “No” if you incorrectly say something. However, she is very good at explaining things and being very patient on a lot of different mistakes, which is nice. My afternoon woman is named Pilar and she may be the most animated Spanish teacher I’ve ever had. When she slows things down and speaks them loudly it sometimes can sound like she is singing the Spanish sentence to us. It’s good having her in the afternoons because she doesn’t put you to sleep like some language teacher can and she switches up the things we do everyday.
On Thursday of this week I went to my first Botellon in Spain. A Botellon is a designated location where it is legal to have a drink outside, and it takes place at this large parking lot area every Thursday – Sunday. It sounds a little odd, but a ton of Spanish people show up and it starts to look like a college football tailgate minus the grilling and tossing of footballs. On Thursday I was approached by a Spanish guy who maybe started happy hour a little early, and was introducing me to his lady friend that was celebrating her birthday that night. After a little bit other people from his group were talking to other people in our group which was a good experience. However, the guy then began to start saying how his lady friend and I should go to the discoteca together and I should be “el regalo de sus cumpleanos” (her birthday gift). A little weirded out to say the least, but they were very innebreated and harmless. I went on to find out that the girl wants to learn English and she later took down mine and a friends email address, and, sure enough, I got a facebook friend request the next day. If nothing else, the Botellon is where you find out how good your verbal skills are in a conversation, especially after you’ve had one or two bebidas.
I also had an interesting evening at a Discoteca called Mae West, which is picky about letting Americans in. I was sure I was going to get laughed at and turned away, but I guess the fact that I rolled up with 9 women helped, and I just didn’t talk or smile and I blended right in. I would go on to find out that they had no problem letting Spanish men in because by 3am or so, there were literally 8 dudes for every one girl, it was so odd, and a bit uncomfortable, but hilarious in hindsight because for every girl in my group who was dancing with someone, Which I think they all were, there were about 12 dudes nearby with looks of disappointment on their faces. I missed my opportunity to go to another beach today as a result of my early morning return home, but I think it was worth the sacrificed sleep and energy to get a fun look at Spanish nightlife. All in all, strange, but a great experience. More to come…