First Week of Classes!

It's very strange to me to be able to sleep in during the school week. I'm used to waking up at 6:45 then going to work, then school, then homework, then early to bed. Now I don't have classes until 4 pm every day and even sleeping in til noon gives me plenty of time to cook myself a nice big omelet, get some stuff done, take my time getting ready, and get to class on time. It's so nice!

My classes seem like they are going to be fantastic. I realized that I know absolutely nothing about Islam or Arab culture. My Islam and Spain class is so informative on many subjects and will give me a different angle on the culture. I've already had a film class in Spanish before, but this time I have one that will focus on films that capture Spanish culture and really teach me how to analyze a film. Funny thing is I have two movie classes, but the other one is focused on the Cuban Revolution and also includes literature. There's a lot more work for the Cuban one and there are 6 native speakers in the class... 3 of which are of Cuban heritage... yikes!

My favorite class of all is Masterpieces in the Prado. I've always loved and appreciated art, but I've never really known how to analyze a piece of art. We are learning all the tools to look at artwork and also the history in the era and life of the artist. The professor is an eccentric woman who gets so excited when she talks about art. She is very comical and is kind of all over the place, but she knows what she's talking about. We'll be visiting the Prado 8 or 9 times throughout the semester to actually see the pieces and artists we've discussed in class. She assured us that by the end of the semester we could walk into any museum and really look at and appreciate the artwork.

My return date is now officially set for July 17!

I also have a trip set for later in February to Dublin which I'm very excited about.

This whole week I've been trying to figure out a budget. The only budget I'm used to having is the "DON'T SPEND ANY MONEY" budget. I don't have to be in a super save-save-save mindset, but at the same time I can't go crazy. I'm bad at spending money, it always makes me feel guilty. I want to travel and go out and go shopping, but I just am having a hard time figuring out how much I have to spend on each. I'll figure it out soon enough.