I paid rent for the first month. None of us paid for the whole semester because we are consolidating apartments. We originally had 3 apartments with 14 beds total. So we consolidated the 11 of us into the 2 apartments that have 11 beds total. My apartment (Aldana) has 6 people (Tom, Meg, Brian, Ben, and Rob) while the other apartment (Gran Via) has 5 people (Monica, Billy, Gisela, Sean, and Victoria). It is all working out fine so far. We are all taking the same classes, except for our Spanish class which Meg and Gisela are not in because they are pretty much fluent in Spanish (Gisela is from Puerto Rico and Meg is minoring in Spanish). These 2 are taking Catalan instead, which I have found out is A LOT different than Spanish. When I am reading it, it looks just as similar to Spanish as Portuguese does. It is a crazy language. But we are all getting by. Whenever we try to engage in conversations with the people here we end up staring blankly at them. We get laughed at a lot. I don't blame them for laughing. We are silly Americans. I did bring my tape recorder with me so I might take that to my history lectures from now on. It might help.
Well, this morning for our field trip/ sketching class we sat in studio and practiced water coloring. It wasn't too bad, other than it was warmer outside than in our studio. The teacher seems pretty nice. We got her to laugh with us a few times, usually when one of us would start singing beause we don't have a radio.
After class, Brian and I went back to the apartment for lunch and then walked around the market. It is 3 or 4 blocks from our apartment and takes up a whole city block. The perimeter of the market is where clothes are sold and all types of food are sold inside the market. The seafood section looked like they just stuck a net in the ocean and dumped it on on a table. All the fish, shrimp, and octopuses looked like they were just killed. They still had scales, eyes, and all. It didn't smell too great around there.
We had studio at 2 and had a lecture on our semester project. It is the development of a plaza that is situated at the center of the city. The city is actually redesigning the plaza and our assignment is to put buildings around the plaza and develop the area. It is going to be a lot of work. Our main crit is Professor Vidal (who is also teaching our history course). His daughter, Eugena (our field trip/sketching professor) as well as Cecilia (I'm not quite sure who she knows that she got in on this), and Christi (our director) are also crits. So basically, we have 4 crits for the 12 of us. It is going to be a pretty intense semester.
After studio we went to buy cell phones. Gisela, Rob, and Victoria already have phones. Meg and Monica bought phones at the store. The rest of us decided we don't really need phones as badly as we thought. We really just need them for the 2 apartments to contact each other and also in case of emergencies. Some people already have phones and we figured that we have been fine without them so far. We are all pretty smart people and I don't think any of us will have any problems. We have already lost Billy twice but he just needs to learn to stay with the group and not get distracted by shiny objects. We don't know what happens to him. We just turn around and he's gone.
After we looked at phones, Ben, Brian, Billy, and I went to look for walkie talkies that we could use to communicate between the 2 apartments and between studio. We were looking at some walkie talkies that have a 2 or 3 mile radius and that have rechargable batteries. We figure when we go out, 4 walkie talkies would be enough to keep us all in pretty good contact. And, we could keep one in Aldana, one in Gran Via, one in studio, and one that floats. That way people in the 2 apartments and in studio can all keep in contact. Those are the 3 main places we will all be anyways. We found some but are waiting to find a better price. It will be a lot cheaper than a phone. The cheapest ones we fund came in a pair that cost 35 euros. So if we got 2 pairs and split that 70 euro among the 11 of us who would be using them, the price isn't too bad. We'll see what happens.
After that we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some bread and meat. We ran into Meg and Tom there and Meg bought a ball set for 15 euros that comes with a soccer ball, volleyball, and basketball. The basketball is women's size but it will do I guess. With a basketball court across the street form our apartment and from studio, I hope I play once in a while. We had some rice, sandwiches, and a frozen pizza for dinner. Meg doesn't understand how we go through food so fast. Ben and I love buffets and Brian, Rob, and Tom eat like any other guy. She just doesn't understand. We are joking around with her now and told Christi that Meg wants us to ration our food until we starve. She will learn not to mock how much we eat, we may run out of food and she will be all that's left...
When we first got here everyone was so excited about the different schedule with staying up late and waking up late and having a siesta in the afternoon. It isn't working out so well though. We have been going to bed pretty early, waking up pretty early, and not having any siestas. We are exhausted all days, especially today, since Wednesdays are going to be our typically long days. On that, I think I am going to go to bed.
Well, this morning for our field trip/ sketching class we sat in studio and practiced water coloring. It wasn't too bad, other than it was warmer outside than in our studio. The teacher seems pretty nice. We got her to laugh with us a few times, usually when one of us would start singing beause we don't have a radio.
After class, Brian and I went back to the apartment for lunch and then walked around the market. It is 3 or 4 blocks from our apartment and takes up a whole city block. The perimeter of the market is where clothes are sold and all types of food are sold inside the market. The seafood section looked like they just stuck a net in the ocean and dumped it on on a table. All the fish, shrimp, and octopuses looked like they were just killed. They still had scales, eyes, and all. It didn't smell too great around there.
We had studio at 2 and had a lecture on our semester project. It is the development of a plaza that is situated at the center of the city. The city is actually redesigning the plaza and our assignment is to put buildings around the plaza and develop the area. It is going to be a lot of work. Our main crit is Professor Vidal (who is also teaching our history course). His daughter, Eugena (our field trip/sketching professor) as well as Cecilia (I'm not quite sure who she knows that she got in on this), and Christi (our director) are also crits. So basically, we have 4 crits for the 12 of us. It is going to be a pretty intense semester.After studio we went to buy cell phones. Gisela, Rob, and Victoria already have phones. Meg and Monica bought phones at the store. The rest of us decided we don't really need phones as badly as we thought. We really just need them for the 2 apartments to contact each other and also in case of emergencies. Some people already have phones and we figured that we have been fine without them so far. We are all pretty smart people and I don't think any of us will have any problems. We have already lost Billy twice but he just needs to learn to stay with the group and not get distracted by shiny objects. We don't know what happens to him. We just turn around and he's gone.
After we looked at phones, Ben, Brian, Billy, and I went to look for walkie talkies that we could use to communicate between the 2 apartments and between studio. We were looking at some walkie talkies that have a 2 or 3 mile radius and that have rechargable batteries. We figure when we go out, 4 walkie talkies would be enough to keep us all in pretty good contact. And, we could keep one in Aldana, one in Gran Via, one in studio, and one that floats. That way people in the 2 apartments and in studio can all keep in contact. Those are the 3 main places we will all be anyways. We found some but are waiting to find a better price. It will be a lot cheaper than a phone. The cheapest ones we fund came in a pair that cost 35 euros. So if we got 2 pairs and split that 70 euro among the 11 of us who would be using them, the price isn't too bad. We'll see what happens.
After that we stopped by the grocery store to pick up some bread and meat. We ran into Meg and Tom there and Meg bought a ball set for 15 euros that comes with a soccer ball, volleyball, and basketball. The basketball is women's size but it will do I guess. With a basketball court across the street form our apartment and from studio, I hope I play once in a while. We had some rice, sandwiches, and a frozen pizza for dinner. Meg doesn't understand how we go through food so fast. Ben and I love buffets and Brian, Rob, and Tom eat like any other guy. She just doesn't understand. We are joking around with her now and told Christi that Meg wants us to ration our food until we starve. She will learn not to mock how much we eat, we may run out of food and she will be all that's left...
When we first got here everyone was so excited about the different schedule with staying up late and waking up late and having a siesta in the afternoon. It isn't working out so well though. We have been going to bed pretty early, waking up pretty early, and not having any siestas. We are exhausted all days, especially today, since Wednesdays are going to be our typically long days. On that, I think I am going to go to bed.
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