Sep 27, 2007 13:38
Well, it's been a long time, but I'm finally posting again. I feel that the best way to start off this journal would be with a brief summary of the summer.
I got home from school, not knowing what to do with myself this summer, nor much what to expect from the summer. I spent some time at Dean's house with Morris and Speddy and McGaybin and Shelow and the gang, and they deemed this summer "The Summer of Bowser." I liked the sound of that, and from then on, we hung out all the time. Some of the highlights of the early summer were 6 of us crammed into Dean's jeep listening to "Deathbed," watching Lost at Betty James's house (and just spending many evenings there), and going to the de facto Robin's Ridge (Old Town Run). Most of the summer was spent playing golf at Old Town Run, hanging out with the guys, going to McCabin, and working at Appleton. I was glad to hang out with everyone again, and we had a lot of good times. I definitely would have had a miserable summer if not for them, so I was happy we all got to hang out.
Appleton-my final summer at the paper mill was a good one. I got to work with Maggie again, and also with Matt Covert, who's a pretty cool kid. Our office was in the Engineering/Safety dept. again, and it was awesome hanging out with everyone up there. We ate lunch with all of them this year, and that was basically an event in and of itself. I was put in charge of ordering lunch many days this summer, but it was definitely appreciated by all. Going out with everyone after work on Fridays for drinks was also fun. To Doug, Tom, Johnna, Dan, Fat Phil, Herbo, Gabany, Todd, JB, Janice, and Rick, it was a good time. I learned a lot of good lessons in my final summer at the mill. I also got to work on some more important projects this summer, and I unfortunately was put through a lot of Lean training by being in several Kaizen events. Nobody reading this journal should know what a Kaizen event is, and if you do, I'm sorry. It was a good summer though, and I will definitely miss working at the paper mill with all the great people there. I must say though, I learned a lot and matured a lot from my first summer as a shy new kid who was scared of getting killed in a paper machine.
I guess we can't look at where we are without looking at where we've been. I've been through a lot this year, and after recapping the summer, I think it's safe to move on to where I'm currently sitting...Sevilla, Spain. Spain has been a great time so far. Classes are going well and the teachers speak slowly enough so we can understand them, which is a definite plus. Sevilla is beautiful, but if it has one downfall, it's the way everyone talks here. People speak Castellano (Spanish) obviously, but it's very hard to understand them because they speak very fast and have a very distinct accent. Phrases like "hasta luego" become "ta uego" and it's very confusing at first. However, after 3 weeks here, I'm starting to understand people better, and my Spanish is slowly improving. It's frustrating, but I guess I can't expect to become totally fluent and understand everyone in 1 semester. However, a great improvement is expected. Sevilla is gorgeous and the people are pretty friendly so far. I've been working to learn the city and the way of life here. It's not as fast paced as the US, even though Sevilla is a major city. I live with a host family (a woman) and as of now, her 93 year old father is living with us. He's cool, although half the time I can't understand what he's saying. He has a bad accent, speaks very fast, and mumbles sometimes because he's old, but he's in good shape, so we talk a lot and he is always out and about. The main thing he talks to me about is George Bush (although he only calls him "Bu") and we also talk about La Guerra Civil (The Spanish Civil War from 1936-39), which he was involved with. It's usually a lot of me just nodding my head, but I usually pick up a lot of what he's talking about, and he's a cool guy.
Other than that, life in Spain is pretty calm. The weather is gorgeous (as are las chicas), there are a lot of sights to see, and the lifestyle is laid back. The only real downfall to this trip is school. Pablo de Olavide is a 10 year old university that used to be a prison (badass, I know). It's a nice school and the faculty is friendly. However, all of the internationals have class with one another. This means that my classes consist of 99.9% Americans, which kinda sucks as far as not having class with Spaniards. The other downfall is that of those Americans, about 90% of them are obnoxious douchebags. Things have been getting slightly better, and people are starting to not be as obnoxious, so that's a plus.
It's probably about time to wrap up this entry, but hopefully I will post more from Spain soon. 2007 has been the worst year ever, hands down, but at least Spain is fun, and a summer with my friends helped things, too. Hasta luego!