Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Where Am I Going?

Today was my first official day in Malaga and it was very interesting.
To start off, last night I did not go to bed til 2am because I wanted to get everything unpacked and make it feel like home. I like the dorms because I have my own room, which is a nice size and they have good security. Every time you leave the dorm you have to return your keys to the front desk and the attendant lets you in and out of the door, which is quite different coming compared to home. But my first night here was okay, I couldn't really sleep because of jet lag which caused me to sleep later then I wanted to. I had planned on waking up early so I could see the town and try to accomplish somethings but I ended up waking up at 11:30am and this is only because the cleaning people came into my room. This was weird but funny to me because I thought that once they saw me in my room they would leave; however, they kept cleaning as if I wasn't there! I guess they figured regardless if you're here I still have to do my job, so I just decided to get up and start off my day.
The first thing I did was try and find the Office for Foreigners, lets just say it took me an hour to find a building that was 10 minutes away. But what can I say, I asked for help but couldn't really comprehend. Just give me a month or two and I should have it!
After that I came back to the dorm for lunch then took a nap before going to see if I could get into the free Spanish class for foreigners. I went expecting to take a placement test but once I got there the director just asked how long I have been studying Spanish and placed me in a class. I then asked when do I start going and he said, "Now, you're already late!" Needless to say I am now in class from 3:30 to 7:30 everyday, until my actual classes start at the end of September! I am just happy that I was able to get into the classes because I did not want to start school at the university without actually taking classes for a month and not being in a class setting.
One thing I can say is I feel at home because I got hit on today, lol! A guy yelled out his window, "hey you're very beautiful." (Él me dicho que morena tú estás muy guapa!)
Besides that I am happy to say that I have a new acquaitance, Carolina, from Germany. She is very nice and I am helping her with her English while we are both helping each other with Spanish. Also, my roommate Sara has agreed to do a trade off with me, English for Spanish, she even gave me some Spanish music to help me learn.
All in all today was a good day. . . and I know y'all are wondering if I am the only Black person, well as far as my dorm and classes, yes; however, I did see 5 other black people today, but they were mostly african. So, so far I am the only African American. . .oh a funny story --- I was talking to some people in my class on our break and we were asking where everyone was from. So I said, "the United States, Georgia," and they were like cool but where do you originate from, what part of Africa? I was like I'm just American, none of my immediate lineage stems from Africa. I had to explain to them that there a lot of African Americans in the U.S. that do not stem directly from Africans and we are pretty mixed. Then one of the girls was like yea, they have have been there for a very long time, so really they are simply American. (interesting conversation)

Well tomorrow is a new day and we'll see if it's as interesting as today!

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