Thursday in Sevilla

Hola again from Sevilla! After a super busy day yesterday it felt strange to not have much of anything going on today. I had a new class this morning-- Spain and Islam-- and then the boring Spain and America class that seems like it's going to be a waste of time. The entire class period we argued over whether there were five or seven continents. According to our professor, who is from South America, there are five-- America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. He said that North and South America are actually one continent, Europe and Asia are two separate ones and Oceania is a combination of Austraila and Antartica. He said it was a fact and the whole world agreed, and when we tried to tell him that was not what we had learned in school, he told us we were wrong. So we spent the whole class period trying to express to him that we understood his point, but in the United States we did not think that. He said the Americas were one because they are connected, but when we tried to ask him why Europe and Asia were separate continents he said because the Americas were founded at the same time, and it had to do with history. We couldn't express to him that this was a contradiction-- it was impossible, especially with our shaky Spanish skills. So frustrating!!

Spanish professors get very passionate when they teach. It happened this morning as well-- in Spain and Islam Fernando got very passionate when he told a story about an Muslim girl who couldn't participate in a mandatory sports class because of her hijab. He even said that if her culture is not allowing her to participate in mandatory activities required by Spain, she should just go back to her country. Quite a contrast to the United States, where teachers are not allowed to state their opinions on controversial issues like this.

After school we came back and had almuerzo with Inés and Ana-- probably my least favorite meal that she's cooked so far with lentils and fish. After almuerzo I was very sleepy-- I think I am still jet lagging-- so I ended up taking a 4-hour siesta!

Not much has been going on since then-- Cherise and I have an essay due tomorrow for our language class so we have been working on that. I've had a lot of difficulty concentrating because I am not in school mode yet-- this still feels like a vacation! Homework? Pshh....