No more English in a week!

Let's start with the most important news first: Fatty finally got her chocolate fix. (I hadn't had any since my arrival here and it was simply unacceptable.) Yesterday a friend and I found an excellent local chocolateria and bought churros. They were heavenly-- though I'm still a bit partial to funnel cake.

It's hard to believe I've been here for under two weeks. Since I've been here, I've seen a flamenco show, gone on tapas crawls, visited five museums, met a Spanish Nascar fan, seen all kinds of Roman ruins, visited the third largest cathedral in the world, tried a glass of the best wine I've ever had, tried a glass of the worst wine I've ever had, seen Christopher Colombus's grave, watched Scooby Doo in Spanish, walked around inside the third-largest mosque in the world, learned more about Spanish history than I'd ever expected, gotten hooked on a telanovela, walked on a 2000-year-old bridge, been inside two royal palaces, and made innumerable social faux-pas.

In other news: I really need to start making a concerted effort to speak more Spanish here. With Spaniards, it's generally not a problem because very few of them speak English, but with other American students it's very hard to resist. Mainly because my Spanish limits me to the following: "My name is Laura. I'm from Texas. What's your favorite color? I'm hungry. I'm sleepy." It's hard to be interesting and make friends when you're stuck with less than 10 phrases.

However, my new resolution: after the first day of regular session next Monday, no more English. Not one solitary word unless I'm asking someone how to say it in Spanish. To top it off, I will also start listening to Spanish music exclusively. (If anyone has recommendations for artists, by all means share!)

Ok, well I'm off to go explore one of the local parks with a friend. Pictures of my trip thus far are forthcoming!