a new perspective

In a lot of my classes, I'm realizing that I will probably learn more about U.S. history here than I did during school in the U.S.  In my economy class, my professor basically asked us if they taught us anything in the U.S about history, when no one knew what he was talking about.  I think it will be more interesting going back and looking at world events from a Spanish perspective, because a lot of the events that the U.S. was involved in also had an effect on countries that weren't even involved.  Sometimes we don't realize this when we are learning about U.S. history, that all histories coincide and produce global consequences.  


Today when I was walking to school there was a strike of some sort happening about 2 blocks from my house.  I'm not sure what it was about, the signs they were holding said something about workers, but I did know that the word for "strike" is "huelga." (Gracias a mi clase de conversación.)


Maybe I just have a brain for economics, but it's strange because my economy class is the highest level class I am taking and the vocabulary is difficult because it pretty much has its own language, but I seem to understand that class the most- a lot more than my Latin American Civilization class at least.  Everything we talk about is very logical and a lot easier to read about than ancient recollections of conversations between Cortés and Montezuma, who somehow managed to converse even though neither one had any concept of the language of the other. Still a mystery to me...

Torres del Serrano- original gates to the city

I have no classes on Friday (tomorrow) this week, so I get an extra long weekend to explore Valencia some more.  I'm not sure exactly what I will be doing, but I'd like to go to Torres de Serrano, which is one set of the original gates to the city, when there was a wall surrounding the whole historic district.  I've seen the gates but I think you can go inside somehow and see other things.  I might also check out one of the modern art museums here.  Next week I'm planning on going to one of Valencia's home fútbol games versus Manchester United, which should be a very exciting experience.  Last night they tied against a team from Madrid, not Real Madrid, but I can't remember the name.  It's funny watching it on TV at my house because it's actually happening right across the street.  If the stadium didn't have walls I could watch from my window.