So Listen...Can I Have Yo Number?

Right so I'm not exactly sure what day my last update was, but some good things have happened that I want to fill y'all in on!
As some of you may recall, I was pretty upset when Dr. Stoll rejected 2 out of 3 poli sci related classes that my program offered, due to the fact that one was more history and the other was more economics. The third one, however, was sort of marked as "pending" because he didn't have enough information. Well, after accidentally registering for the class that had already been rejected, then changing it, then translating the syllabus, I am happy to report that I will, in fact, be getting major credit for one class here! That's super exciting for me, since I was so sure that this approval wasn't going to happen. So, as of now, I'm taking one economics class, one poli sci class, one flamenco class (!!!!), a spanish language class, and the internship seminar. Speaking of internships...

As most of you may not know (since this whole process was done after I went home for the summer), I chose this program because it gave me an option to do an internship while I'm here in Granada. I thought that this was a great idea because it will give me a chance to actually interact with Spanish adults who aren't my host mother, my professors, or waiters at restaurants. And also, it's basically a once in a lifetime opportunity. So, I filled out the rather lengthy application, reformatted my resume into Spanish and the European style, and sent it in. On Thursday morning, I was informed that I had received one! I'm working for an organization called UIM or Union Iberoamericano Municipal. What they do is coordinate strategies between municipalities here in Spain and over in Latin America. I think they mostly deal with development issues, but I'm not exactly sure. On Friday, with my availability in hand, I was escorted over to their office, and promptly drowned in the Spanish language. Everyone talks REALLY fast, and all I could do was offer a weak "si" or "esta bien" or "no, es que..." occasionally. My schedule is pretty tight (because I won't give up flamenco for anything), so it turns out that I'm going to be working on Fridays for the first half of the day (we don't have class on Fridays, so if I had a normal schedule, I would have the day off. But again, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity so I don't really mind). I have to work on Tuesdays as well, in order to make it up to the 8 hour a week mark required by my program. But it should be really fun, so I'm super pumped--and also, maybe I can get credit for this as well when I go back to school.

Really fun and super pumped...that's a decent segway into describing my night last night, which was so awesome that I have to talk about it. So, since dinner isn't provided in our program, I usually go out and get some tapas with a small group, then go back home. Actually, I'm pretty lame in this respect-there are some people in my program who go out at least 3 nights a week, and sometimes, when I go home, there are still kids on the street with their parents. Then again, Spanish people stay up really late--and so 1 AM isn't late at all to them. Anyways, last night was Friday, and everyone wanted to hit up a discoteca. I've never been to a club before, so I was more excited than most about this. At 11, my housemate and I left and went to an Irish pub in the city center. We found people from IES there, and soon were joined by the majority of our program (50 people? That sounds about right) At about 1, the Spanish college students who work for IES, and hang out with us a lot, told us it was time to go to the club. Earlier that day, we had learned that there was a club called "Mae West" that was kind of exclusive, didn't like Americans and only let in "beautiful people". Taking this as a challenge (not really), we decided to go there. So, everyone was pretty dressed up, and we paraded across town talking and joking. But then, we all had to divide into small groups and shut up--that way, they wouldn't know that we were Americans and they would let us in. Luckily, I think everyone except 3 people cleared the selection, so we were allowed to proceed.

The club was crowded but SO MUCH FUN. I'm not really a fan of techno, but this was pretty cool and since we were all together, we probably would have had a good time even if they were playing folk or something. The only non-remixed English songs that they played were "Hot N Cold" and "I Kissed a Girl". So I guess Katy Perry is ubiquitous in dance clubs. I suddenly looked at my watch and realized that it was almost 4 AM, and about that time, we all started getting sort of tired. Apparently, it's quite common to stay out that late (or later) if you go to a discoteca, but I don't think I've ever stayed out that late in my life. Some people from the program remained, and those who left at 4 split cabs and went home. I'm surprised that I'm awake and able to function this morning, but that's probably because I intend to take a good long siesta later. Anyways, that was my first clubbing experience, and it's definitely one I intend to repeat...just maybe not every week because I think I might become a zombie.

That's all for now! Classes start on Monday so my schedule will become more normalized. I'm excited!

Oh and P.S. the title (which, though amusing on its own, does have a special significance)--now that everyone in my program has a cell phone, we all trade numbers constantly. This can get awkward, especially if you have forgotten the name of the person that you are getting the number of (which is usually what happens to me). I've devised a way to do it: ask them how to spell their name when you're putting it into your phone. But that sometimes is stupid because you realize you just asked someone to spell the name "Alex" and they look at you like you're kind of ridiculous. But then again, everyone is doing it, so it's cool.

Hasta pronto!