el 20 de mayo 2010

I just walked to the university by myself (or anywhere by myself) for the first time! I'm pretty directionally challenged, but it's really easy to get here. About 12 minutes from my dorm room to the courtyard of the university, so about 15 minutes once I get to the classroom. I gave myself 30 minutes so I wouldn't be rushed, so it was a nice walk & here I sit waiting for others to get to the classroom. There is currently a different class in there right now. This morning I awoke by my alarm at 7:30 and decided that I would shower after breakfast this time. That way, I got about 45 more minutes of sleep :) I went with Katie & got my typical breakfast: chocolate-filled croissant, bread w/ butter & strawberry jelly, & pineapple juice. I decided I would wait to try the sandwich until I was more awake - maybe tomorrow morning when we go to the beach. After breakfast, I came back, showered, talked to Allison online, and finished getting ready. I also made sure I had time to spend with God. That time to focus on His presence is so important and precious to me.
Beginner's Catalán was really fun! Our professor's name is Monica, & she is muy simpática (very nice). She is an ex-colleague of Kevin's, since he & Belkys used to work at this university. Learning Catalán itself was interesting & enjoyable. It felt the same as when I was learning Italian, since most is similar to Spanish, but not all of it. The Spanish we al know & love is Castellano, but everyone in Tarragona speaks Catalán. It seems like a mixture of Castellano, French, and Italian. Just so you know... Em dic Kelly (My name is Kelly), tinc vint anys (I am 20 years old), & sóc de Estats Units (I am from the United States). I was working with Laura since we sat together - so enjoyable :) I look forward to learning more Catalán as the trip goes on... we'll have class with Monica each Thursday. At the end of the class, Monica gave each of us an English-Catalán dictionary! It has useful words & phrases, & it may be a little irrational how I am so excited about it. We had a short meeting at the end of class about a few topics of conversation for our program, and Belkys came & told me that Katie & I could move from the dorm to an apartment! She had told the whole group a few days ago that there was an open apartment that someone could move into, so Katie & I put our names on a list. We didn't really care either way, but we knew some extra space & nonsmoky hallways would be nice. We were in with another group, & apparently we were the randomly chosen ones! After that meeting, we went to lunch... which contained: spaghetti noodles (-ish?) with mariscos (seafood - shrimp & clams), salad, pasta salad, lentil salad, cole slaw mixture, bread, & cream puffs with chocolate sauce. It was such a yummy lunch. At 1:45, my small translation class met in aula informática 4. We did some more translation activities & talked about why we translate the ways we do, what things to be careful about, etc. There were 5 of us there in the afternoon class, but Amy is about to join the morning class. So, it'll just be Kristen, Alyssa, Meghan, & me! After class let out at 3pm, I went back to the dorm & packed up all of my stuff (except my outlet adapter, I later realized). Belkys and Kevin picked us up with our heavy suitcases at 4pm. They drove us to the apartments, which I hadn't seen before. They are really nice! They're only about 2 years old, so still are modern & in good condition. I'll continue this entry on the beach tomorrow... too exhausted now!