While the thought of spending seven days at the beach sounded like just the relaxing break I needed, Mother Nature had her own opinion on the matter. In fact, it seems she had it out for the entire country over Semana Santa. It rained almost every day in Puerto de Santa María as well as in Sevilla, not to mention that high winds provided a constant chill. (I know, Wisconsinites, I’m ungrateful; it wasn’t really cold, just not warm enough to be at the beach.) The wind was so strong most days that it almost knocked me over and once took my t-shirt halfway off. I know, I don’t understand how that worked either, but it happened.
I tried to be a trooper that Sunday and make it out to the beach after the clouds gave way to afternoon sunshine, but that turned out to be a foolish ambition. Though the sun came out, the wind did not die down. Sand was flying everywhere, including all over me. After about fifteen minutes of trying to tan and read, I decided to get up and take a walk along the shore. I though that would at least keep the sand out of my face. Turns out that was a false assumption. Plus, when the wind picked up it would whip sand so forcefully against my legs that my skin hurt and turned red. I gave up and walked back to the apartment to shower off the sand that was all over my body. Some of it remained until the next shower, though. It’s a stubborn, fine breed of sand they have there.
So, what does one do at the coast when the weather is inclement? Perhaps peruse the internet? A nice idea, assuming there is internet in the apartment. There was not. Homework? Only for about the first three days before motivation had been tapped. Knocking off some school work still took a great amount of stress off of this week, though. Clean out all of the files on one’s laptop and actually organize the remaining ones into folders for the first time in three years? Check. It definitely took a while, but now I know where everything is. Hey, so it’s not the most exciting thing to do on Spring Break, but I like when my environment is organized. On the flip side, I seem to have rather talented clothes, papers, and electronic files that will breed until it looks like an explosion of said articles has overtaken my life. So, I’m just trying to set myself up for success. Other than that I spent most of my time completing job applications and getting hooked on Jillian Michaels podcasts.
I won’t pretend like I didn’t have any internet; I was able to go to cafes with Wi-Fi nearby for as long as my laptop battery would last. It would have been nice to have had an outlet for my charger, but those can be few and far between in many Spanish buildings. At the start of the week I frequented The King of Paella, a paella and pizza parlor with outdoor tent seating and virtually no patrons. It was the perfect quiet setting for me to sip coffee while I talked to family and friends over Gmail and continued my summer job search. I would take a break from homework every once in a while to study the little brown sparrows hopping across the floor or to take in the seaside view.
Much to my dismay, the King’s Wi-Fi network stopped functioning midweek, forcing me to seek other internet sanctuaries. The other cafes were more popular, and couples enjoying cocktails would stare at the American weirdo who was talking into her computer with no one else at her table. Come on people, cut me a break! It’s not like you have never heard of people having voice conversations over computers before, and I clearly look like a foreigner who would need café internet to communicate with others. I dislike how much my life here depends upon internet connection. Without it I cannot call my family, make travel plans, do research for homework (at least not very efficiently), or keep up with job applications. I am not used to being so in love with and dependent upon my laptop. I cannot wait until my Mac and I get back to the States and spend some much-needed time apart.
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