the garbage man always comes by at 1 in the morning... and my window is right above the street

hey all!

Just wanted to update and let everyone know that things are going well! Time is going by fast! I'm on my second week of classes now, and all is well. There are a lot of foreigners in my class at the university... today I met two girls from Italy. ciao, bella :) Also today, for my journalism class, we took a little field trip to a local newspaper office, and spoke with one of the editors about how the newspaper process works, the problems in the media-world, etc. It was really interesting.

I've found that I can understand Spanish pretty well when people speak directly to me, or when a teacher is lecturing, but it is sometimes near impossible to understand when young people speak to each other. It's much easier when adults speak to each other, but youth often use super slang/colloquial speech... and it's almost like they could be speaking Chinese and I would understand just as much. I'm picking up on some local slang like, "que guay" or "que chula" (how cool)....

Sunday I partcipated in a 5K run with about 3500 other women. It was fun, but really crowded. :) Other than that I've just been hanging out with friends, speaking in Spanish, and eating some good food.

I think it's interesting how much smoking and drinking is like a second nature. Smoking is very common, much more common than in the US. And people have a way different attitude towards drinking than that I find in Madison. People have a beer, a glass of wine, sangria, etc. with lunch, dinner, or just when hanging out. Even at church things I've been to, its just a natural part of hanging out. People have one or two drinks casually, and enjoy them. The difference is, they don't seem to binge as much as they do in the United States. It's an interesting observation I've been making...

Well anyways, it's almost 1am, so I'm gonna get to bed!

Buenas noches :-D