orientation day 1

What I learned and thought....

Today I heard lectures by both the director of the Fulbright commission in Spain and the president of the university Residencia Universitaria Augustinus-Nebrija. Even though because the room was really hot, or because I have not sat in lectures for months, that I was feeling impatient during several moments. But there were points during the lecture that definitely caught my attention. The director, seniora Maria Jesus Pablos, told us that perhaps this year is the last year where we get to "enjoy life", because then we actually have to work, do some serious studies, puruse a stable living and etcs. Even though I understood what she meant, I have to disagree. I want the last year of my life to be the last year where I get to "enjoy life." Why is it in our society that we are told youth is when life is fun and enjoyable, where is adult is when life is demanding and full of responsibilities. I do hope that someday our education or our upbringing is structured is a way that we told from the very young age that we are to find a goal in life, a really difficult goal so that we will never get bored with life (or always have something to look forward to). :)))

The president of the university, senor Fernando Fernandez Mendez de Andes, he gave a very frank talk about the current state of Spain, its problems with immigration and education. It was quiet eye-opening. He spoke frankly about even though his daughters are in the best university in Spain, they avoid lectures becaues they found the classes to be too boring. Then, during the summer, they would go to other schools around the world like the London School of Economics, and work really hard there. Profesor Andes told us that he was tenured when he was 29, which is not unusual in Spain. Given the ease of getting tenured at Spanish universities, there is not a strong incentive to improve the educational system. He also seemed ambivalent about the immigration in Spain. A few years ago, immigrants were welcomed and they received the same benefits as the people in Spain--free healthcare, free education and etcs. However, when the funding for pension begins to decrease, the government has begun to limit immigration. Profesor Anden agreed that immigrants, who likely to stay in Spain and have children (he said before it was previously thought that they would work for a few years, earn enough money and then return to their natives countries. However, this thought is based on the assumption that most jobs by the immigrants are temporary construction jobs, which is untrue. Most immigrants have jobs in the service sector as care caretaking or waitress, these can last much longer). On the other hand, senor Anden said that most Spaniards would not take the jobs immigrants have, and in order for the economical growth in Spain to continue, Spain needs to be more young people entering the workforce. It is really puzzling that even though Spain is one of the most catholic nations in the world, it has one of the lowest birthrates. Therefore, Spain needs immigraiton to boost its workforce.....In the end, senor Anden concluded the real solution lies in changing the tax and social benefit structures, which is extremely conterverisal and politically suicidal. He also gave a grim prediction that Spain's economy will likely go into recession in the recent months...but during my time in Spain, I will witness increase in unemployment, increase in price of commondities, faint..... One thing I have to remind myself to do is to read news paper everyday....el pais, abc, el mundo....sign........


the rest of my life
Sign....it is 9PM now, I am sitting here writing my blog instead of going to dinner because I finally gave in and ate dinner at 8PM. Good thing that I brought stuff from U.S....cliff bars....they are actually pretty good...still :(. But I think that it is so difficult to eat lunch at 2 and then dinner at 9....faint....maybe tomorrow I will finally be able to do it.

My landlord e-mailed me about my room, which will have internet and a balcony! yeah!, I will move in on Friday.

I have trying to get some work done, but been feeling unusually tired....

Things to do tomorrow
*open a bank account
*laundry?
*take a trip to the place I am moving in tomorrow...so I can decide for Friday, whether or not to take the T or use a taxicab