Las islas canarias!

I went to the canary islands last weekend. i'm so glad i went. i have to admit that at first i was really really hesitant because i really hate the idea of doing the whole tourist thing, especially since Granada is so wonderful and i would so much rather stay here than do anything else. But after we arrived, and i got to wear a tanktop and be in 80 degree sunshine, my mind changed a little bit :). It was so refreshing and exactly what I needed.
Going to the islands really gave me time to get away from everything and just think about where i was in my life and where i am going. I've come to realize that in order to move on in my life i really need to let go a little bit of what i left behind in the united states. It's hard because i love all of my friends there so much, but I think being here in Spain and really immersing myself in culture here and discovering other levels to my personality requires me to let go of all the culture i am holding on to from the united states. it's weird to think of culture as something that you can have, obtain or get rid of. Usually we talk about culture as being something that a country has, something that we need to absorb or something that is shocking to us. Like culture shock is supposed to be this huge deal that hits us all at the beginning of our travels, but then we get used to it after a week or so and life goes on. But lately i've been noticing the little bits of american culture that i carry with me throughout my daily life here in spain. For example, I get frustrated when I am crossing the street and some moped almost chops my head off. I get angry because s/he should've stopped at the crosswalk. Then I get upset because i think about how in the united states that wouldn't have happened because we don't have mopeds and people usually follow the traffic laws. But that frustration is coming from the fact that i am not used to being in spain, the fact that my brain sees crosswalk annd automatically thinks that it is safe to cross. Little things like that are cultural differences that cause culture shock. I was and still am really amazed at the fact that even though i'm in an entirely different country, people are the same. The people here look like they could be from New York City or Boston or Philadelphia. They just speak spanish. It's interesting how superficially similar some parts of the US and Andalusia are to each other.
My classes started today and I am a little frustrated because the program I am working through failed to sign me up for 2 out of my 5 courses. So as of right now I"m only in 3 courses, which is a huge problem because the deadline to add courses was last week. I'm trying not to flip out about it, because I've noticed here that flipping out doesn't really accomplish very much. But I am getting worried that my classes will not transfer and that I will not recieve credit for being abroad here. And on the one had that would really suck because I am going to university here and taking classes, and i would have to make up a semester. But on the other hand, I've already learned so much spanish and so much about myself that I don't know if going back to school in the States would be the same dull experience. We shall see...