So I've got some cool roommates, NBD

Seriously, I have the best roommates. It took me a little longer to find housing than all of the other auxiliares de conversacion but it was well worth it. I live with three Spanish students who are from towns less than 2 hours away from Badajoz. Monica studies biology, Maria and Barbara study agricultural engineering. They are all a year older than me, in their last year of college and have a good sense of humor. All of the students in Badajoz study nursing, medicine, biology, engineering, or audio-visual communication because the universities are specialized here.

My apartment is in a very good location. I'm about 10 minutes from downtown and the high school I work at, a short block away from the bus station, and am very close to Carrefour (a giant store that's similar to Wal-Mart and Target) and a good running trail towards the edge of the city. It has two bathrooms, four bedrooms, a small terrace, as well as an open kitchen (most of the kitchens I've seen here are very narrow), a washing machine, a dishwasher and a panini maker. As well as a comfortable living room, fridge/freezer, an extra freezer and a pretty big tv with a DVD player.

Tonight we were watching a dubbed version (everything is dubbed here) of "What Women Want" when Barbara and Maria started dying laughing at something. Monica and I didn't know what was going on, but their laughter was contagious. I think we were all tired and so we just kept laughing. You know how the smallest things are super funny when you're kind of delirious? It was like that. Barbara explained what was so funny and it was definitely one of those "you had to be there" stories.

Later, Monica and Barbara asked me if I could name all the states, like they did in the TV show "Friends." They said I was going to get all but one, because that's what happened in the show. They knew it was a tough task because there are a lot of states. I couldn't remember if Connecticut was a state (terrible, I know) but I wrote it down anyway. They were impressed by my mad skills because they had me start naming states in the Northeast and make my way around the US.

They both get a kick out of the way I say "Wisconsin" with a heavy "o." Four years in midwestern will do that to you. They then asked me questions about where certain cities were, like New Orleans and Houston, and what Texas was like. We also talked about Mount Rushmore and which states were fun to visit. It was funny how Monica knew Mount Rushmore was in South Dakota. She loves movies, remembers them all well and remembered watching "Richie Rich." Barbara hasn't seen it, so Monica explained how Mount Rushmore was involved in the movie. They then asked me where Harvard was, but because of their accent, I heard a really strong version of the word "Harbor" and told them I didn't know what they were trying to tell me. They then said, "What? It's so famous, how do you not know where it is? Or what it is?" I then understood they were saying Harvard. I wrote it down for them and they said "Oh, Harvard" with heavy "r's." We had a good laugh because I also wrote down the word "Harbor" so they could understand what I heard. They told me they learned the pronunciation from watching TV and that the dubbing actors mispronounced the word. Then Barbara asked where Yale was, but with her accent it sounded more like "jail" and we all started laughing because she then realized it sounded more like the English word for "carcel." I was sure Connecticut was a state this time around, so I told them it was in Connecticut.

Also, my roommates don't speak English well. Maria can understand it better than Monica and Barbara and can speak a tiny bit, but they are all good at reading in English. They all have trouble understanding my accent, almost every Spaniard I've talked to who speaks English does. Even if I say Texas instead of Tejas or TeXas. It's fun talking with them and they teach me new words and make me repeat the words so I actually learn them. I do the same for them in English. It's working out pretty well.