Marisa’s abroad in Madrid, Spain, until Dec. 19.

I have absolutely no concept of time here. Maybe that’s partially attributable to the fact that I haven’t eaten all day, and my brain has ceased to function at an acceptable capacity. But this isn’t just a Yom Kippur-specific problem. I feel like I’ve been abroad forever and that it’s been ages since I was home, but at the same time I am beginning to get this gnawing sense of urgency because I feel like my time here is already slipping away. Or maybe it’s just my stomach, yearning after the bagels and lox we bought to break the fast tonight.

Either way, there is still so much I want to accomplish here, and I don’t want to be one of those people who have regrets about their time abroad. Unfortunately, semesters are short and the first item on my list is a big one: learn to speak Spanish at near-fluency. I have definitely improved, but I’m starting to worry that I’m not getting enough chances to practice. My señora is always out running errands and isn’t around very often, so we pretty much only speak at mealtimes. And while it’s one thing to ask a waiter for churros and chocolate, it’s quite another to actually get into a complex conversation with a random Madrileño in Spanish. I guess I’ll have to start seriously looking into the “intercambios” hosted around the city, where international students go to speak with Spanish students in both English and Spanish. Although I was pretty proud of myself when I went to buy a wireless Internet router and was able to explain to the (very attractive and well-dressed) salesman what type of router I needed and ask his advice — this is something I would’ve probably had trouble with in English too, since technology isn’t particularly my forte and there were at least 25 options.

What does help, though, is the fact that most Madrileños speak only Spanish. I came into this assuming that Spain fit the European linguistic stereotype: students learn multiple languages in school and everyone knows at least a little English, French, Italian, etc. My señora doesn’t speak a word of English and doesn’t want to learn, although she’s a relatively old woman sort of stuck in her ways. (We found out how racist she is, too, when we told her we were going to Morocco and she just about died, insisting that we call her as soon as we got to our homestay because “I hate ‘moros.’ They’re dirty and 90% of them are radical.” Oy.)

But nearly no one whom I’ve sought help from in stores or restaurants has spoken English, either. It’s especially interesting because in Morocco, almost everyone spoke at least two languages and college-level students often spoke three or four. But they have little use for them since they’re pretty much stuck in Morocco, whereas Spaniards like Dorita (my señora) travel all over the world and have easy access to the rest of Europe. It would seem that learning foreign languages would pose a natural advantage. Maybe there is a certain linguistic or cultural pride here that keeps the masses from dedicating themselves to multi-lingual pursuits. Maybe it’s a residual effect of Francoism. Or perhaps I just haven’t found the multilingual crowd here yet (I imagine that many businessmen must know at least some English, and perhaps university students are more likely to have studied foreign languages). Or maybe I just have a skewed perception of how many languages other Europeans speak. After all, most Americans cling to English and simply don’t feel the need to learn any foreign languages, or even explore foreign cultures. Why should that be considered such a strange phenomenon here?

As for my other goals, I’m hoping to check a few more off the list this weekend. I’m thinking of going to the National Ballet, and I’m hoping to finally make it to El Rastro this Sunday. It’s a huge, famous outdoor market here in town, but it closes at 2 p.m. on Sundays, which is normally about the time I drag myself out of bed after having convinced myself the night before that it would be a good idea to stay out until the metro opens at 6 a.m. We’re also planning on checking another club, Palacio, off our club-hopping list this weekend, and perhaps we’ll take in another Spanish movie. So much to do, and so little time!

Read Marisa’s previous post l Meet the rest of our abroad bloggers