SCHOOLS OUT FOR-EVER!

I know that all of my faithful readers have been in mourning due to my absence from the blogging scene (so what if my mom is the only one...)! Things have been incredibly busy, in a wonderful way! Classes ended in Alcala on Thursday the 15th of June with presentations and final exams. Thankfully, Aaron (my roommate) is incredibly studious, thus I was as well! I ended up making A's in both classes (YES!!!) and left Madrid in the distance, shrinking away with a sense of pride. Not necessarily for the grades achieved (although anyone at OU will tell you that an A in a Bolino course is fiesta material), but the journey that is the undergraduate degree is now finished.

I am in the Swiss Alps now and upon reaching one of the higher summits in the area yesterday, I had a time of pondering my time at the University of Oklahoma. One of lots of personal change, growth, learning, and lessons. Although this phase of life is over, its life lessons will without a doubt live on throughout my life.

My overall impression of the program in Alcala is excellant. I made wonderful friendships and developed more fertile relationships. I am quite thankful that I was able to take the courses in Spain and get to learn not only business, but cultural diversity as well!!

Okie?

I met a girl in Alcalá named Katy. She is a British national and a foreign exchange student here at the university. Aaron and I see her walking to the university on a daily basis. She is quite animated and a constant source of humor. When I was going to school from a lunch with the professors and administrators I ran into her and we had a brief, albeit hilarious conversation...

Katy (cool British accent): Hello! I haven't seen you around, where´ve you been?

Robby: We have been really busy with school stuff, we are done on Thursday!

Katy: Already? You just got here only days ago!

Robby: We got here in early May, it is only a one month program!

Katy (perplexed, but understanding) Oh, kindly remind me what state you are from

Robby: Oklahoma (blank stare). It is right in the middle above Texas.

Katy (smiling): Texas! I know exactly where that is. Oh, can I ask you a question?

Robby (laughing): I don't know...we still live in tee pees and ride horses...

Katy (softly, leaning in): So is being in a city hard for you then?

Robby: NO RESPONSE, forcing a smile and thinking ARE YOU SERIOUS!?!

Katy: Do they call you Okies?

Robby (laughing): Um, yeah...

Katy: Oh, I'm so sorry... Is that derogatory?

I think there is a market in Britain for new U.S. History textbooks. Can we update them so I still don't sleep on dirt.

The ROAD Trip

Not a big deal, we got an upgrade into the European Ultimate Driving Machine. The EUDM was a SEAT Ibiza, a gem of a little four door hatch-back thing. It "comfortably" fit the three of us and our luggage and consumed vary little gas during our trip. We drove over a thousand KM and only had to fill up twice.

All of the things you take for granted EVERDAY when driving in America: one way signs with a big arrow, parking spots, streets wide enough for vehicles, they have now gained my total appreciation and respect.

This is your typical highway signage. The 80 with the red around it is the speed limit, and all the stuff in Spanish is the exit and what highway is associated with that exit, not too bad, right? I actually would agree with that statement. The highways (besides the fact that I was going 140) were actually BETTER than those in the USA. People actually know how to drive on the highways here, it was brilliant! Drivers actually drive in the right lane, and, when wanting to pass someone, they speed up and do it in the left lane. Is that really so hard? There weren't any ignorant, road-hogging truckers or anything! Oh, yeah, that was 140 KM/HR, not miles per hour...

The city´s and parking garages are where the real challenged lied. First of all, there are no street signs. The streets are labled by tiny signs on the buildings on those streets, if there are any, and they are illegible unless you are right up on the street. This made driving/navigating a quite difficult task. To Aaron's credit (the navigator), we only got turned around a couple times. Twice in Madrid, once leaving and once coming back, and when we were coming into Malaga at 12:30 on Thursday night (or Friday morning, either way).

There is a rumor going around that I may have backed into another vehicle, this is completely false. When we were trying to get out of the parking garage at the train station, the butt of a car completely jumped from out of nowhere while I was backing up to get out of the way of a truck that didn't fit in this so called garage. The car that appeared out of thin air may have hit me, I really don't know. That is all I have to say about that (AVIS is on my side, they didn't charge me anything extra after I passed the eyeball check from the car return guy with flying colors).

Web of lies. Me and the EUDM bonded and were practically one on the road. Although he was a little upset with me when I practically broke the front passenger side axle when going down a one-way road the WRONG way. If the guy that was going the right way would have just moved there wouldn't have been a problem. Don't worry, me and EUDM made up and had a moment whenever I dropped him off.

Crazy Spanish Drivers.

Spain Revisited (TOP 5)

My time in España is quickly drawing to a close. By the end of the week I will have moved on from here to explore the rest of the European Union. Although I am quite excited to be moving on to see so many places that the world was built on, I am quite sad to see my time in Alcalá end.

I have been in Spain now for almost four weeks and have had many experiences that were life changing, life sustaining, and life re-structuring. Learning the cultural norms is something that takes time and laughs (see the BALE incident as reported in late May). This leads to...

Top 5 Things that I admire about the Spanish, but am annoyed by:

5. Family life. Living at home until you are 30, really?!! I can understand (and revere) the fact that families are very important and meals and time together are taken seriously, but you need to get that J-O-B and get out. Maybe get a little place with the old lady and decorate, maybe some new furniture? Come on people...

4. Driving. This was a tough one for me. I really enjoyed driving on Spanish highways. The countryside was brilliant and the drivers were actually competent, GREAT drivers, but the city. It was like when Godzilla was destroying Beijing: complete chaos. What´s worse, the streets were built like 6000 years ago (ok, I know it wasn't that long) and they didn't have cars then. Problem is, no one updated them. Really.

3. Walking. It is great that the Spanish walk everywhere and everyone is fit. They are seriously impressive (picture your grandma that is 82, now remember her when she was 60, that is what the 82 year old grandmas look like in Spain, only in better shape and talks louder). BUT, me walking thirty minutes to school everyday, not a fan. I am missing my ride, the porsche of the 4-door sedans, the Honda Accord.

2. Public Transportation. Again, it is great for the way the cities in Spain are set-up, very dense population in a little area, but me and the Accord are experiencing seperation anxiety. I need to be able to have the freedom of driving (walking in Spain) and the speed of driving (public transportation in Spain), all while jamming to my tunes or picking up 'Cane's chicken. Oh, I shouldn't have thought of that. I need some 'Cane's ASAP.

1. La Siesta. I love the concept of the siesta. "Hey, let's all go home and take a 3 hour nap and eat and hang out with amigos!" The problem with said naptime, EVERYTHING shuts down. It is a very large annoyance to want to get something and the place be closed until 5 or 6. Oh the siesta, great idea, but only in Spain.

So, being in Spain has taught me mucho when it comes to appreciating things at home.

Viva España, but I'M PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!

Straight Beachin It, Custom is KING

Going to the beach and doing nothing was something that I needed at this point in the trip. After the stress of driving and not knowing what was going on (really, we made it, that is all that matters), it was nice to sleep in and head down to the BEAUTIFUL beach (check out pictures at my Picasa picture site, "SPAIN PICTURES" link on the left side at the top of the page).

The beach was outstanding, I cannot stress that enough. Although, we did learn a lesson in what my 11th grade history teacher called, "Custom is King!" Apparently, female beachgoers in Europe consider the top half of the bathing suit optional. This was an interesting site to run into on Friday morning when we walked down to the beach. It was met with us all looking at each other and exclaiming, "REALLY?!?!" Do not misinterpret the tone of this exlamation, this was not a quote from Jim Carrey in The Mask, this was a oh-my-word-is-this-really-happening-I-think-my-eyes-are-burning exclamation. I will put it to you in plain and simple english, the average age for this custom, 75. End of story.

We would usually get up around 11am and leave our hostal to head down to the beach. We would stop at a grocery store and pick up lunch (a couple big baguettes and some dip to enjoy it with, beverages, and some sort of dessert) and head down to get our chairs. We paid 4€ each for a chair and an umbrella, but this was no ordinary chair, this was a super padded chair that was incredibly comfortable to lounge on. Thank you Malaga.

Once there, we usually just relaxed and tried not to get too many weird looks while we were helping each other put on sun screen (yes mom, we did put it on our ears and nose). We then did one of the following: sleep, read, listen to music, play soccer by the Mediterranean, or...

So we had to be a little American...We have Customs too!

At least ours include clothing!

The Bloody Euro

I was VERY spoiled by my trip to China. The dollar was rocking the yuan at a 1:9.6 ratio. Meaning, of course, that I could spend almost 10 yuan and only $1 came out of my pocket. Awesome! This led to buying of lots of souvenirs and food and DVDs and, well, everything. So, when researching my trip to Europe, I was quite frustrated by the lacking of the USD, which is currently suffering from a 1:1.55 ratio against the EURO. This means, cursedly, that when I spend 1€, I am spending $1.55. Not a big deal? Consider this: when I buy a souvenir for my little brother that costs 40€, I am spending $62. Not good.

This phenomenon has been something that has taken the whole 3 1/2 weeks I have been here to get used to. I see something for a couple bucks and I think it is cheap and not a big deal, but, not so fast my friend, my internal calculator starts going and that train ticket for only 2.45€, is actually $3.80. Ouch. What´s worse is when I get to check my bank account. I withdrew 200€, but I check my balance and it reveals a little secret, you ACTUALLY withdrew $319.30!! $310 for the exchange rate and $9.30 for the 3% charge that Chase gets for having to painstakingly do the math for that exchange rate (I told the lady at the bank before I left that I would do all of my own conversions and she could pay me the 3%, she stared at me blankly. Nice.).

So, why did the EURO decide to dominate, we can argue politics and oil (wait, same thing) when I get back. Here is a brief history on the EURO (USD:EURO ratios)...

May 2002 (5 months after being introduced to the world): May 1: 1.11 May 31 1.06

May 2005: May 1: 0.77 May 31: 0.80

May 2008: May 1: 0.64 May 31: 0.64

So, as you can imagine, my spending habits here in Spain are much different then they were in China (or in America for that matter). I am having to budget this trip completely differently than I have anyother trip I have ever been on. It is not fun. It is really cramping my style. I hate OPEC.

The staple of America, The Big Mac. The Big Mac hates the EURO. You all know how I feel about Mickey-D's here in Spain, but I can assure you that The Big Mac hates the EURO. He doesn't like to charge his loyal patrons 6.10€ to indulge in his special sauce yummy-ness. That is $9.45 for a Big Mac. Sick.

Basically, what I am trying to say is I am ready to go on vacation to the European Union and not have to take out more student loans.

Don't get me started on the bloody pound...

The Excursion Begins

There are only 3 days of class left here in Spain: next Tues, Wed, & Thurs. This weekend (by that I mean NOW) we are doing something different from everyone in our class: Going on a ROAD TRIP.

We have free travel this weekend and people in our group are going everywhere from Dublin, IRE to Barcelona, with the largest number of them going to Ibiza (known as the party capital of the world). Aaron and I, along with another guy from Oklahoma that is doing a different study abroad program in Madrid, are renting a car and driving through Spain to the southern coast to a wonderful little beach town called Málaga. The weather forecast is high 80's and sunny. Perfect.

I am sure that there will be many a story from our little adventure (since none of us have ever driven in Europe) and am looking forward to reliving every moment (or at least the HILARIOUS ones) with you over the course of the weekend and early next week!

Good luck in StL Cassie, lsmp!!