Day 9 -- May 30

Today was a pretty good day. We started classes, unfortunately, so I had to be up and out of the house by 7:50 since none of us knew where the school was. As always, I was running late because I have yet to figure out the metro system. We went into class and our teacher seemed a little scary – she didn’t smile very much haha. She taught from 9-11 (all stuff that I have learned so hopefully this will be easy peasy), and then we had a 30 minute break. They have a cafeteria downstairs, which none of us knew about, so we went and sat down there to drink coffee and some people ate part of their lunches. I had a salad and an apple so I waited until after classes to eat it. I asked the teachers who work with ISA what to do about the skin irritation, and they told me to call ISA because they weren’t exactly sure. I called and they told me to go to a doctor, but a doctor’s visit is 70 euros up front (which we would get back) and then we pay them 50 dollars per visit. I’m hoping it goes away before I have to spend money on that, so I’ve just been putting lots of lotion on it. Rafaela put some type of powder on it when I got home, but I don’t think it made a difference. After class, Jane and I went to the beach since the other girls had class until 5:00. I think I speak for the both of us when I say that I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I forgot to mention this in my last post, but there are random people constantly walking up to you at the beach wanting to sell you something. Massages, beer, henna tattoos, etc. I have gotten pretty good at sternly saying NO (it gets better and better with practice J). And by constantly, I mean literally every 3 minutes someone else is walking up to ask if you want something. I guess it’s the price you pay for going to a touristy beach! As soon as Jane and I walked up, we were immediately reminded that they do things a little differently here. At least half of the female population on the beach had no tops on. It was not ideal to see like 7 sets of breasts while walking to find a spot to lie down, but I guess that’s just how they do it here? Also, a couple decided it was completely normal to make love to each other in the ocean. It was underwater but very obvious and very repulsive. I think we’re going to lie on the opposite side next time! After about an hour, the clouds rolled in and looked very stormy, so we walked around for a while (it never rained) and looked for the ISA office. We wanted to try to get there without the map, but we eventually had to look at it only to realize we were not even remotely close. We finally found it, and we got on the computers for about an hour while talking with Antonio. I had to get back home at least before 8 so that Sara and I could go to the Vodaphone store and attempt to get our internet working, and when we got there we found out that the PIN was on the bottom of the router (although the original guy we spoke to said it was the one on the card he gave us). So our internet is finally up and running and both of us can use it at once! We are very happy about it. For dinner, we had gazpacho (remember, the cold soup) with croutons, salad, and a Spanish omelet (eggs and potatoes sort of cooked into a pie). It was yummy!
 I did my homework (so easy), and now I think I’m heading to bed. See you tomorrow!