3400 Miles to Spain: “You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” -Rabindranath Tagore

Or..you cant simply imagine yourself running and have the same effects as actually running...

This past week I have begun multiple things. During my vacation, as you all know, I did nothing. I didnt run, I didnt study, I did nothing productive. So to make up for that, I tried my best to do what I could this past week.

On Monday, I had piano lessons. They went well again, and we talked more, and we have the same ideas when it comes to piano. She knows she cannot push me too hard to be perfect, becuase my goal isnt to play the piano flawlessly, and she agrees that being flawless in your music is not the point of playing, we agree that music is for enjoyment and expression. She is here to help me learn how to play harder songs, and guide me in my practicing so I can become a better pianist. If someday I want to be a proffesional pianist (highly unlikely) then, I will attempt to play flawlessly, but for now, I want to play just to play, without stressing about every little detail. :)

After Piano I realized that I really need to start running again. Not only for excerise, but as my host mom reminded me, it is also good for making you feel better, and more awake. I decided that, in order for me to really have motivation to run, I need something to run for, I need a reason other than physical and mental fitness (becuase for some reason...thats not enough motivation for me to run) So I looked up races I could train for in the area. I signed myself up (with the support and aid of my host parents, obviously) to run the Half marathon of Malaga on March 18. :) So I am officially running my first half marathon in Spain in 9 weeks!
Also, my friend, Mariely, wants to run it too. So on Mondays from now on (one of the only days she doesnt have crew...) we are going to train together! Things are definitly moving forward.

On Tuesday, I started my photography class. It is a class of 12 people (including me) with ages ranging from me as the youngest to university students to 50 year olds. Everyone is really nice and the instructor tries her best to talk slow enough for me to understand, but not so slow it slows down the class for everyone else.
I have decided i think it is hilarious being a foreign student, especially at my age, becuase no one expects it, especially becuase I dont act like a classic lost little foreign girl, so everyone just assumes I am a slightly shy spanish girl. So, when they were doing attendence on the first day of the class, and the instructor got to me and knew exactly who I was, and began asking me how well I understand, and how I am liking Spain, every head turned to me and began firing questions at me, "where are you from?" "How long have you been here?" "How do you like spain?" "How long will you be here?" It was like the first day of school all over again, except this time, I actually understood all the questions and didnt just nod and say "si".

On Wednesday I had a field trip for school. We went to the center of Malaga and did some sight seeing, which for the students I was with a repeat, aparently they do this every year. But for me, it was all new. I hadnt gone officially sightseeing in the touristy stuff in malaga. So, all my friends got their amusement from my reactions, or asking me what I like best, or asking me to compare the stuff here to the stuff in the US.
We visited the Cathedral of Malaga, El Museo de Revello Torro, and the house of Pablo Picasso. The cathedral wasnt really anything new. I swear all the cathedrals in Spain are exactly the same...plus I had gone to mass here already, so I had already seen it. El Museo de Revello Torro is an art museum of a more modern painter who does a lot of portrature of famous people, and other paintings as well. After I got home I told my host parents that I had gone there, and aparently Revello Torro is a distant relative of my host family, and in my grandparent´s house their is a portrait of my grandfather painted by Revello Torro. Crazy. I guess this family has artistic talent routed in their blood more than I thought...
The house of Pablo Picasso wasnt too exciting. Becuase Pablo Picasso is so famous, his works of art are distributed all over the world, and not many are left in malaga, even though this is his birthplace. So, it wasnt a lot of his artwork, just his history. Kinda boring.

On thursday, I had my photography class again, which was less exciting than the first but I still enjoyed it. The guy sitting next to me, Jorge, began asking me questions about where I lived in the US. Aparently he spent some time in New Haven and Waterbury, CT. I think for work, but he didnt really explain why.

On friday i went to a dinner hosted by a program called, pachange, where you are paired with other poeple who want to learn english, and you want to learn spanish and you eat dinner with them and speak and both languages. I met other students from canada, the UK and one from California. It was nice to meet and speak with other english speakers living in Malaga. I ate my dinner with two spanairds who want to improve their english, and a german girl who can fluently speak english and is studying here in university. She also lived in Peru for a year, so her spanish is pretty good.

Now today, I dont know what I am going to do. I am definitly going to run at least 6 miles...but I dont know when...

Now for some of my project 365 pictures (on my facebook I have my out takes, that I didnt use for the project but I still like.)