Pre Cadiz

So far so good this week...no trees. Tomorrow my new friends and I will be heading to Cadiz, Spain for the annual Carnaval celebration. It´s a beautiful city and was even the cite of Halle Berry´s infamous James Bond beach scene. This time of year the beaches are pretty deserted, but Carnaval brings in droves of people from all over the world. (Don´t worry parentals, I shall stay clear of any and all Albanians). Everyone is dressing up for the affair. We have the band members from Kiss, two Jamaicans and plenty of cowboys and indians (I fall into the latter category). Adding even more interest to this blessed event is the fact that it is supposed to be 20 degrees fahrenheit. But we´re all genuinely excited to see what lies in store for us there.

Aside from Cadiz, this week I got to experience more of what Ronda has to offer. On Tuesday I went to a free flamenco dance class where I was reminded of the fact that I can´t dance. But I did get really good at rotating my wrists and snapping in unison! A big group of us also went down to explore the gorge. It was pretty darn cool. There were several abandoned houses that we all decided had been a part of an old electric company that was once based in Ronda. I was very proud of myself in that I found an opening to the basement of one of the houses and went downt to explore it and its horror-movie-like qualities.

Wednesday was a bit rough. After taking a nap, I HAD to go out and eat tapas for one of my culture classes. I was served delicious salmon rolls, mini hamburgers, sandwiches and skewered chicken. All of this was unfortuately paid for by KU. The torture continued only today in class when my teachers took everyone out for churros and coffee in the morning and played a Craniumish game the rest of the time. I´m afraid of what next week will bring.

Other things worth mentioning:

-Superbowl/soccer: Last Sunday we all went out at 12 a.m. to our favorite American bar, Huskies. The atmosphere in the bar was a bit more subdued than it had been the night earlier with the Real Madrid soccer game, but we all still had a blast. I picked the Saints to win and in doing so won two free drinks from my pals. Thank you Saints!

-Discotech: When I heard that there was a discotech in Ronda, I immediately pictured a room full of crazy dancers bopping around to techno music. So you can imagine my surprise when I went there and discovered that the European version of dancing is to stand in place and bend your knees up and down. Now, as you know I am not the biggest dancer, but you will be proud to know that your American brotherin held our own that night and went crazy on the dance floor. This led to several stares and a friend of mine getting licked in the face (she has since recovered) but all in all it was fantastic.

-My clumsyness has reached a new level here. I have: rammed into an old man on the bridge, slapped a woman in the face (I was trying to point out the odd birds) and of course, tripped countless times. Keep you posted.