El otoño es todo tuyo

Today is an "eh" day.  I woke up and finished writing my essay for class. I ate lunch, which consisted of peas with a fried egg on top, bread, and a slice of melon.  It was pretty good. No complaints there.  I booked it to class to make sure I had enough time to print my essay in the lab. Although the printer was being difficult, I had enough time.  On the way to class, I saw a man step in dog poop.  Poor guy.  (There is a problem with people not cleaning up after their dogs.  My teacher said that it is illegal to do this, but clearly they do not heavily enforce this law.) We got our first essays and midterm exams back at the end of class. I didn't do very well.  Low self-esteem time....ok, I'm over it.  My intercambio (a Spanish student at the University of Sevilla, studying English, who is randomly assigned to me to be my friend here. We'll hang out around the city and switch off speaking Spanish to help me and English to help him) finally responded to my emails.  I was starting to feel desperate, but I was told that it is common not to get a response right away and to keep trying.  He sounds cool, although I cannot meet him until he gets back in town in a week.  I have a lot of homework. Boo hiss.  I am slightly discouraged at this point because I don't have many Spanish friends and I don't feel as though my Spanish is improving as much as I want it to...although, I think this is when everyone starts to feel this way.  This semester will fly by and I have no time to get stuck in a rut like this.  I must proceed onward and make the most of everything. That's what I'm going to try to do.

The weather was cooler and cloudy today.  No rain. Slight breeze.  I enjoyed it.  Tomorrow is the first official day of fall.  Fall is my favorite season in the United States.  Apparently it is a bad time of year here.  My host dad says that "la gente caen como las hojas." The people fall like the leaves.  Many people get depressed this time of year.  This is saddening because while I am happy about the changes, others are upset.  But life goes on.  I think that this is the very meaning of my day.  Life is a continual spectrum of movement and growth. We grow as we learn and absorb the happenings of each day.  How you grow depends on which fruit you pick from the trees.