A Short Week Of Summer

This past week, my boyfriend and I went to Spain and Gibraltar. It was beautiful, but I never quite got used to the humidity. Evening was the most tolerable, and so we often slept in. I wish we'd woken up earlier some days, since we only got to the beach twice: once in the evening as the sun was setting and once on the day of our flight, after we realized the beach was worth getting up early for.

The beach was incredible. The water, since it was so salty and it's the Mediterranean after all (despite Gibraltar being near the Atlantic), was very warm once you got used to it. You couldn't just float around in the water, either; the waves were so strong that you had to jump up when they hit the shore, or you'd be engulfed in salt water. It was a bit intense at first, but then I had fun with it and didn't want to leave. I also did my best to put on enough sunscreen, but alas... I was very burnt. My boyfriend was spared, as he caked on the sunscreen whenever he had a chance. I know now, so next time will hopefully be better.

We did the more touristy thing one day and went to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar. It's a 426 m (1,398 ft) mountain that's better described as a sudden sheer cliff, and takes up most of the land space of Gibraltar. Living on the rock are small wild apes. When you take the cable car to the top, you can see them everywhere, and they hang around, very unafraid. You're not supposed to feed them, and there's actually a hefty fine if you're seen doing it. At the cafe at the top, we witnessed one of the apes running inside when someone was holding the door, jumping onto a tall table, grabbing a bag of crisps, and running away again. The girls at the table all shrieked and stepped away. The ape went outside onto some dirt and opened the bag and started eating them, and plenty of people immediately went right over to it and took a picture. It didn't seem to mind.

This week we had an enrollment lecture, one intro lecture later in the week, and nothing else till next week. I'm not even sure yet what classes I'll be taking, since the final deadline isn't until two weeks into teaching. I was expecting classes to have started already, but at least I can catch up on a few things now! Like blogging...