Day 19
Friday July 16th: Today class was spent being nervous for my test, and this state of being was not helped by the fact that I hardly understood anything today. I felt like most of it was going right over my head, and I was not encouraged. The second half of class today was spent taking a test. As soon as we got the test and the teacher walked out of the room to start administering the oral portion, all but four (those of us from Taylor) started cheating on the test. Obviously and outright. They were talking loudly comparing answers, and it got so bad I couldn’t concentrate on my own test and said something to the loudest of them and everyone quieted down after that. The written section seemed to go fairly well. We are required to get 35/50 right on each section (the written and the oral) in order to stay with the same class as they move up, and I think I had ~37 before I started the final twelve point essay section, which, who knows how they are grading that. I then took the oral part of the exam which started off a little rocky but I think I found my stride and it went pretty well. I don’t know officially how I did but I am optimistic about my chances for an A. After class Dr. Treber called an impromptu meeting and told us about exams next week (we all knew that we would have one from him and from the school, but now he is telling us that we will probably have two from the school (theirs are much much harder than his are), and one from him. As much as I like the idea of having more grades I think I would prefer he took the better of the two scores from the school and then the score from his test. I’m not sure that anyone was happy with the result. Those that took a test today don’t want to take another, and those that didn’t wanted more chances for a better grade. We will see what happens but I have a feeling that next Friday will be a two test day. After class we headed to the park for about an hour to chill and talk before I headed home to lunch. Lunch was interesting. My host mother somehow has the idea that I like beans, which definitely is not the case. Because of this (incorrect) notion she gave reed a small bowl full, paul about a normal helping, and my plate was nearly over flowing. I ate literally by the grace of God and was thankful when I could eat the chicken and watermelon. I finished lunch feeling fuller than I have in a long time. After lunch I met Nate and Mike in the park and we headed to a sporting goods store to try and find a Frisbee. We found one of the largest selections of shoes, and hiking, fishing, soccer, golf, tennis, and even skiing that I’ve ever seen, and in the entire store they sold one model of Frisbee. It was easily under 140 grams with the cardboard. Needless to say we were disappointed. It seems that no one in this country or at least this city likes to play Frisbee. After we failed to find a Frisbee we started walking back toward their apartment and stopped at a Corte Ingles. In which we found 1.5L waters for 24 cents, and at least an hour of entertainment as we saw these and other crazy products:

Yep those are ham flavored potato chips. We then headed outside and found a park bench and watched the multitude of skateboarders try, and many fail, to ollie over a palette. It was free entertainment. When we left we stumbled on this:

This is a toilet cylinder. You pay 30 cents (more than my water by the way), and you can use the “water closet” right in the convenience of… a busy street, as you get off the metro, which is behind me. At this point we split and I walked home, where I emailed my parents and sarah and then had the biggest meal of my life. I thought I was praying hard to get lunch down. Dinner was even bigger. Dinner consisted of a mounded plate (about the size of a Frisbee) of spaghetti with sausage pieces in it. This was followed by the strange vegetable dish that I described earlier, which I have figure out is spinach and celery pressure cooked beyond recognition. This plate was also mounded, and it had five 1.5 inch meatballs on top. I felt like I was going to throw up I ate so much food for dinner. On top of everything, then she dished up an unhealthy serving size of ice cream. I managed to convince her to half mine (which I think she came close to doing and gave me the bigger half, but I‘m grateful). I came down stairs and couldn’t move for about ten to twenty minutes. I finally sat up and took my shoes off and got myself moving again and then talked to Brent Gerig online for a few minutes, and then Sarah came on. I’m headed to bed now and I leave for Segovia at 9am. I’ll post things later.
here are some random other pictures from the day. They won't have descriptions because I don't anything about them except where they are, which won't mean anything to anyone. (by the way, the tree is metal and not just some random tree)