Fiesta Weekend

This entire week was the Fiesta de Pilar in Aragon's capital city of Zaragoza. This is a huge event, climaxing with a procession through the main street where people, dressed in traditional garb, bring flowers to the square in front of the Cathedral of Pilar. Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to see it this weekend, but here's a picture I got off the internet that I think captures the scale of this fiesta.

Though I did not get a chance to attend the main fiesta, my friend Alex got to see it. Also, there was a fiesta here in Sabi all weekend celebrating Pilar. I attended the fiesta Friday night with the girls from my class. We started out the night at 10, heading to a restaurant in town where we ordered food and the girls enjoyed a round of drinks, since all of them are of legal age here. After that we headed to the other side of town to a public gym where the dancing was held. We danced for a few hours, but I tired quickly, already exhausted from a long week at school. I left the fiesta very early, as usual, in the first hours of Saturday. Last night my friends were heading out to go partying again, but Grace and I (since Alex was in Zaragoza enjoying the fiesta there), decided against joining them considering how tired we were. Instead we had a fiesta de pijamas which translates to "pajama party", the Spanish equivalent to a sleepover, which involved hot chocolate and falling asleep while watching a movie. Though I chose the less "Spanish" option last night, I'm glad I did because this is the most rested I've felt all week.

School is exhausting, but that's mainly because I have to focus every minute just to grasp the basic concept that the teacher is trying to explain. Even though my Spanish has improved to the point where I understand what my teachers are talking about most of the time it is still not enough for me. Not only is school exhausting, but I simply can't study or prepare for tests the same way I do back home. Even when I try to study here I read two paragraphs out of a book, only grasp the general concept, can't remember specifics that I'll need on the test next week, and get a headache if I don't take a break every half of a page. Everyone says that my Spanish will improve enough by Christmas that I'll be able to study properly. I can't wait! In the mean time, my English teacher has proposed that I translate pages of our English textbook into Spanish so that she can correct it, just so I get more practice with the language. I have a long way to go, but I'm eager to pass a test!