Aha!

I made an important discovery recently, confirming some suspicions that were lingering in the back of my mind.

Basa has been giving me decaf coffee.

Here I am, spending the first month in Spain thinking, "Jeez, this is bad jet lag. I'm drinking a cup of coffee every morning, and somehow even that isn't enough to keep me fully awake during these presentations/class."

I was a little worried about some problem on my part (caffeine addiction?) because no one drinks decaf here. I didn't even consider that at first. And then it continued. And then I found the incriminating box of coffee grounds on our kitchen counter.

The problem is that I have three 9 AM classes a week. When you don't start dinner until 9:30 PM, it's a little difficult to get your full 8 hours of sleep. Also making things difficult: inadvertently spacing out in class. In the US, losing focus for a minute isn't really a problem. When your class is taught completely in Spanish by professors who assume you generally know what they're saying, a missed word can be crucial - the line between nervously spouting off the answer to their question and completely embarrassing yourself when randomly called on.

Of course, it's never that embarrassing. This only happens in the classes with other IES students, so we can all sympathize. But after one Economics class, I just wanted to walk up to the professor and assure him that no, I promise, I'm not an idiot; I'm just tired and didn't hear your last sentence.

Even still, it is fairly easy to feel less than adequate, intelligence-wise here. Life definitely requires more effort. Native speakers often give you strange looks as you fumble to get everything out. But it's definitely a good challenge, since I feel like I will be the best student/small-talk-er/economist when I get back to doing everything in my first language.

But for now, I hablo español. I do like it, after all. And I am getting better. (I'm also getting a cold. Just FYI)

And I will be buying coffee before my midterms next week.

(Also, I would like to defend myself against what you're thinking - I'm not really caffeine-addicted: I used to have trouble staying awake in early morning classes even before I drank coffee. So there!)

Happy weekend!