First week

It has been six days so far in Cordoba, and I already know i'm not going to want to leave.  The city is absolutely beautiful.  I've put up the pictures I have taken so far (top right hand corner), but that is only around the place I live.  To enter the neighborhood I live in you enter through a castle wall where there are small communities and a mosque built by Arabs.  I am not quite sure when, I still need to take a tour and take pictures, but when I figure out the history of this place i'll be sure to post some interesting facts.  One of the requirements of this program is taking a history class.  This is the first history class I've taken that covers such an enormous time span, 2000 B.C. up to today.  Yes, this place is old.  Older than I can image.  I am finally getting use to the schedule here.  I have breakfast around 8:30 which consists of a cup of coffee and toast.  School starts at 9:30 which is only a 20-25 minute walk from my house.  I have three classes which are Spanish, History, and International Relations.  Everything is in Spanish.  Before we began our classes we had to take a language proficiency test.  To my surprise I place in Spanish 4, the highest level.  Class ends at one and then everyone goes home to have lunch between 2:30 and 3.  Lunch is huge.  So huge that if you were not tired before the meal you will be after, which is good because then it's siesta (nap) time between 3:30- 5:00.  Everything in the city is closed at that time and will not open until around 6.  Dinner is at 9:30 and is pretty light.  Last nights dinner was a small portion of cold mash potatoes with tuna and some sardines.  Good thing I like to eat just about anything.  There are quite a few students who complain about the food.  As for me I like it.  After dinner a lot of people just cruise the city enjoying beer and tapas.  You usually don't have a choice if you want the tapas or not because it comes with the beer for free.  Beer is anywhere around 1-3 Euro.  Hell of a deal.  Children of all ages are in the street playing futbol or just hanging out with there groups of friends.  It's more common for people to meet in the streets then at their house.  It makes sense.  It's a very comfortable temperature outside, and the antiquity of the city makes for a very ascetically pleasing environment.  Lovin it....