First Week of School!

One, my thing for the late night goth hoe-down, did not come to pass. I am sorry. I was sleepy. Instead, I made mexican salsa with my peruvian-american expat friend. She thinks she is going to go to school here for all of college. Frankly, I am skeptical. If she reads my blog, she may defend herself on the comments page, as that appears to be what people like to do.

So what am I taking? First, know that I am following my lifelong commitment to noncommitment and my college-long commitment to overloading. I aim to take seven classes instead of the agreed upon five. Why you ask? Because I'm devious.

I came to this country thinking that I would complete approximately half of Spanish major. Ten credits needed for the major and 5 gained from the study abroad. There was some vagary about two of my credits needing to be literature courses and 5 electives other than literature, and I wasn't sure how that'd all mesh with the courses I'm taking here. All I knew is that whatever courses I took here, I would receive credit for at Lawrence.

Well dig this, kiddies. I can take the lit courses here to replace the analagous classes at Lawrence. Fabulous considering that the lit courses here are a) about precolombian cultures or modern latin american literature and therefore more interesting than the tired European snooze-fests I would be forced to endure at Lawrence and b) very, very easy.

In fact, all the courses for international students are easy. This upset me for awhile, because I thought I would die before I got some intellectual stimulation, but then it struck me: why not just take a whole bunch of these courses and do as much as the Spanish major as you can?

So, I'm taking the two easy as all hell lit courses two replace the devilishly difficult and boring ones at Lawrence and 3 more classes with internationals that are extremely easy. I'm also going to take 2 classes with Argentines which will certainly provide a challenge and maybe they'll even be fun. I know one will be, it's a radio production class, meaning I'm learning how to write radio scripts and be on the air.

For those of you keeping score, that means I'll have all of my five electives covered, plus the two lit courses. Plus my spanish AP credit and the one course I have already done, we're looking at something like nine courses, plus or minus the caprice of the registrar. I think some evil laughter is in order.

I do need to decide what that other class with argentines, will be. There is some class called theory of human communication that these law students take. It's about globalization and urban subcultures and a potpourri of things. I get the vibe that its some sort of freshman seminar thing which could be good or bad. The kids in the class aren't big advocates of the course, however, they are also mostly female, attractive and verbal, which could make up for the potential boredom.

But there are a lot of practical hand's on courses like the radio class. I know they have a cooking class for instance that my friend is doing, another is doing a creative writing class and I've heard rumor of some class called international negotiation where you learn to read body language from different cultures.

I'm also meeting cool people lately, a friend from Ecuador I have made, she is the one that keeps me abreast of these weird-ass gatherings such as that of the previous post. Also her friend Sef, which is short for Serefim which, yes, comes from Serephim, the specific class of Angel.

Also, shout out to Denny, Ian, Dillon and Sam, who do not read this blog, my Ecuadorian friend and her circle play The Masquerade. Most far reaching coincidence in the whole world. Those who aren't in the know, this is the role-playing game I sometimes admit to playing that is my nerdiest conceit. I feel that I must play it here in order to plant some sort of flag for nerdom. That and it'd be great for my Spanish, right?

Also, more internationals, got to know some German girls, hopefully will reconnect with them, and also some french and a japanese girl. May go to a jazz club with the ultimate. Toolaroo.

Also, my mom has informed me that my grandad is in town, so there is a high likelihood that he is reading this post. Heya Grandaddy, I eat steak in your name. Also, when I see a gray-haired porteño in the street, I recall that that is the generation that actually knows how to tango and that my grandad would certainly be among them, cutting a rug. And rest assured Grandad, I only spend a certain portion of my funds on wine, women and song. Mostly women and song, anyway. And by that I mean mostly song. And not much of that, either. But anyway, here's to a more exciting weekend to come.

Seriously though, Granddaddio, I often think of you while I'm here and ask myself what you would do when faced with my difficult decisions. Such as picking between the renowned bife de chorizo or opting for the palatially-challenging morcilla sausage. Or between the dark, curly-haired Angelino, or charmingly-accented frauline. These are trying times indeed, thank goodness we still have the Greatest Generation to guide us.

One more attempt at seriousness. I do lift my fork and my camera with my grandad in mind. I make mental notes of things to tell you/him when I get back and keep trying to conceive of a method I could send these steaks back with.

I don't yet know what the what week holds. I'm trying to dig into the city, get to the interesting, secret and cheap parts. I'll keep you all informed.