Winter Vacation is upon us. I repeat, Winter Vacation is here! This is probably the best news I could ever post on this blog other than something along the lines of "Hey, everyone. I was abducted by aliens this week, but don't worry. They didn't scientifically experiment on me. They only wanted me to help them save their home planet. Needless to say, the mission was a success. My new intergalactic friends and I are going out for coffee next week."
There are two things we can deduct from that previous paragraph that has been spewed forth by the dark corners of my subconscious: 1. I am in an excellent mood 2. I read and watch way too much sci-fi.
Sorry if I'm confusing anyone. I'll just get on with my usual synopsis of my week before I start discussing my personal opinions on Transcendentalism and the methods used for dinosaur cloning in Jurassic Park.
Monday, as you know from my previous post, I spent the day in Madrid on a class trip. Tuesday and Wednesday were normal school days, but Thursday my class took a trip to another Instituto in Huesca were everyone attended presentations involving the job fields and areas of study they want to go into. Since I'm not actually attending a university here in Spain I only really went for the experience. The whole system, in truth, is the same sort of thing you could find at these events back home.
Friday was a half-day at school. I only had to come in for the first two hours to take a history exam. As usual, I finished before almost everyone else because I normally can't answer all of the questions and the ones I do answer tend to be mediocre answers at best. Well, except for Matematicas, I'm great at that class. I guess it also helps that I was taught to be a quick test-taker. That's sort of a thing set up by the educational system of the U.S., isn't it? Here, whenever there is a long exam, we normally do it after school and they last for about two hours. Normally there are anywhere from 2-5 questions on the entire exam. In the States, we learn how to quickly and accurately answer a lot of questions in a short amount of time, even if they are shot answer. Your answers have to do with your understanding of the material and the ability to thoroughly explain it instead of how much of the text book you can memorize word for word.
Don't take this the wrong way. I'm not trying to rant about educational systems. I'm simply making general, and what I think to be accurate, comparisons.
Yesterday Alex, Grace and I took a bus to Zaragoza where we met up with Jen (you might remember me mentioning her back around Thanksgiving). We spent the day Christmas shopping for our host families. Normally, gifts are given on "Reyes Magos" which celebrates when the Wise Men came to give baby Jesus gifts. This falls on January 6th. However, being Americans, we all decided to give our families their gifts on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day in order to share a little tradition with our host families.
Today was the first day I haven't had to wake up early in two weeks. I spent the day wasting my time on social media, drawing fictional characters, and channel surfing until I settled on a Sherlock marathon on TNT. As it turns out, just like Doctor Who, Sherlock does exist in Spain, you just have to know where to look.
Safe travels to anyone traveling over the holidays. Happy Holidays to everyone currently abroad. Finally, Merry Christmas to everyone back home.
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