i'm not paying attention in class, so i guess i'll update the journal
So carnaval was fun. We went out in poligono on Friday night where they had set up a two giant stages for concerts. When one group was done you just walked to the next stage instead of waiting for them to change equipment. The concerts lasted until probably 4 in the morning. If this would have happened in any neighborhood in the states people would have had fits.
Saturday I went with my family to the parade in the rain, which was a lot of fun…my favorite were these people that danced with huge dominoes on their backs. Then they all lined up and fell down backwards to make the string of dominoes falls
After standing in the rain for a few hours I really didn’t feel like going out for carnaval in Toledo that night. So over dinner my brother asked me if I wanted to stay in and watch a movie with him. So we watched Batman begins in Spanish. Afterwards we stayed up talking about everything for more than an hour. We talked about religion, differences between the states y espana and a bunch of other stuff…I’m glad I stayed in
Midterms went over well. I studied for a few of them more than others, and didn’t study at all for mamonde and pulled out a 99/100…not too shabby for only typing up my notes.
Friday I went to Avila and Segovia with Mallory. Originally we were going to spend Friday in Segovia and Saturday in Avila, but we set a goal to be back in toeldo that night so we didn’t have to pay for a hotel. We saw everything we wanted (including st. teresa’s finger) to see and still managed to catch the last busses back to Madrid and Toledo. It’s so much easier traveling with one other person than in a group cause you can get a lot more done. I was glad we got back so I could write my essay on Saturday and go to Ciudad Real for Carnaval on Sunday with my family. We drove an hour to ciudad real on Sunday to find out that they decided to postpone the parade until the next week. So we went to my mom’s cousins house which was super boring cause I just sat there while they caught up.
This week has been full of faith based stuff so far. My dad is always surprised when I say I’m going to mass, and yesterday when I left he asked me why I go to mass so much. It seemed odd to him that someone would like to go. Then when I got back we got into a debate about religion. He hasn’t been to mass since his dad pulled him out of high school to work. He has a lot of bitterness because the church in spain is more an institution of power instead of charity. He hates that they charge you money to see cathedrals and that there are starving people that the church doesn’t help. He also seems to base his judgement on a small group of bad experiences and happened in high school. He doesn’t like the church because he didn’t like the priests…it’s a shame that people here associate Christianity more with oppression and power than with Jesus. I tried to explain that Christianity isn’t about the human institution of the church, but about God…but he wouldn’t really listen.
During Emmaus someone said something about talking with their friend more by email now that they are so far apart and can’t talk in person and it started to make me think. I really haven’t talked to anyone back home. Even the few people I have talked to we’ve only emailed a couple times. It kind of stinks cause I have no clue how all my friends are doing…it seems like no one has any time to email me
I’m starting to get kind of bummed about spring break…at this point it might be too late to get any kind of decent flight to italy without paying a ridiculous amount of money…and then I’d have to get rooms by myself cause I think everyone else already has places to stay…so I might end up staying here, which would be quite depressing…but I would be able to get stuff done like exploring Toledo, running and watching movies…but at the same time I don’t want to make my dad feel like he was right when he lectured me about not going anywhere for break.
I guess I could pay attention for the last 15 minutes of class and stop typing…at least this saved me from falling asleep and being bored out of my mind
Saturday I went with my family to the parade in the rain, which was a lot of fun…my favorite were these people that danced with huge dominoes on their backs. Then they all lined up and fell down backwards to make the string of dominoes falls
After standing in the rain for a few hours I really didn’t feel like going out for carnaval in Toledo that night. So over dinner my brother asked me if I wanted to stay in and watch a movie with him. So we watched Batman begins in Spanish. Afterwards we stayed up talking about everything for more than an hour. We talked about religion, differences between the states y espana and a bunch of other stuff…I’m glad I stayed in
Midterms went over well. I studied for a few of them more than others, and didn’t study at all for mamonde and pulled out a 99/100…not too shabby for only typing up my notes.
Friday I went to Avila and Segovia with Mallory. Originally we were going to spend Friday in Segovia and Saturday in Avila, but we set a goal to be back in toeldo that night so we didn’t have to pay for a hotel. We saw everything we wanted (including st. teresa’s finger) to see and still managed to catch the last busses back to Madrid and Toledo. It’s so much easier traveling with one other person than in a group cause you can get a lot more done. I was glad we got back so I could write my essay on Saturday and go to Ciudad Real for Carnaval on Sunday with my family. We drove an hour to ciudad real on Sunday to find out that they decided to postpone the parade until the next week. So we went to my mom’s cousins house which was super boring cause I just sat there while they caught up.
This week has been full of faith based stuff so far. My dad is always surprised when I say I’m going to mass, and yesterday when I left he asked me why I go to mass so much. It seemed odd to him that someone would like to go. Then when I got back we got into a debate about religion. He hasn’t been to mass since his dad pulled him out of high school to work. He has a lot of bitterness because the church in spain is more an institution of power instead of charity. He hates that they charge you money to see cathedrals and that there are starving people that the church doesn’t help. He also seems to base his judgement on a small group of bad experiences and happened in high school. He doesn’t like the church because he didn’t like the priests…it’s a shame that people here associate Christianity more with oppression and power than with Jesus. I tried to explain that Christianity isn’t about the human institution of the church, but about God…but he wouldn’t really listen.
During Emmaus someone said something about talking with their friend more by email now that they are so far apart and can’t talk in person and it started to make me think. I really haven’t talked to anyone back home. Even the few people I have talked to we’ve only emailed a couple times. It kind of stinks cause I have no clue how all my friends are doing…it seems like no one has any time to email me
I’m starting to get kind of bummed about spring break…at this point it might be too late to get any kind of decent flight to italy without paying a ridiculous amount of money…and then I’d have to get rooms by myself cause I think everyone else already has places to stay…so I might end up staying here, which would be quite depressing…but I would be able to get stuff done like exploring Toledo, running and watching movies…but at the same time I don’t want to make my dad feel like he was right when he lectured me about not going anywhere for break.
I guess I could pay attention for the last 15 minutes of class and stop typing…at least this saved me from falling asleep and being bored out of my mind