I bought a Swiffer!

Yes, I searched far and wide and alas... I found the miracle known as the Swiffer! My house has plenty of brooms and mops to clean with but when I use them I feel like I'm in the stone age. Seriously, I think the Swiffer is such a well-designed product (props to IDEO - I think it was them who designed it). When you use a broom or a mop, your cleaning tool essentially gets dirtier and dirtier as you clean. But not so with the Swiffer! With a Swiffer, you get to throw away the dirtiness. And the whole thing is compact and easy to use. Anyway, so I ended up finding a Swiffer at El Corte Ingles, which is the biggest department store here. I knew that they had to sell Swiffers somewhere because I had spotted the Swiffer refill towels in a supermarket near my house. I still haven't been able to find the wet Swiffer refill wipes though (in the US I use Swiffer wet, Swiffer dry, and the Swiffer carpet flick!). Oh I also am a big fan of Clorox products. I really miss my Clorox wipes! You forget how useful these things are until you go abroad and don't have them anymore :p.

In other news... I got sick earlier last week. It was so terrible. I had fevers for two days and then a cold which I'm just getting over now. I don't know how it happened because I haven't been that sick in a long time, and I don't usually get very sick in general. The worst part was that I didn't go to school for two days so I fell really behind with my work and it just threw off my whole routine. So I'm very happy that I'm better now. I dropped my Design Management class and I've committed to (meaning I've put down the money!) taking dance classes every morning at the ballet school near my house. I feel like I'm getting back on track! I can't believe it's already February. I've been thinking of staying here longer after my school trimester ends, because 3 months just seems too short! But it all depends on how much it will cost and if the Consulate here will let me...

Ooh yesterday I had lunch with some classmates by the port, just across the street from our school. Then we walked over a bridge to this area they call "Maremagnum". I can't believe it's taken me more than a month to discover this place! It is so beautiful and just steps away from my school. It's just a really nice public space where you can sit by the water, eat, chat etc. And then there's a mall, a movie theater, an IMAX theater, and an aquarium too. It reminds me a lot of the South Street Seaport in Manhattan, only nicer :).

Alright, it's back to work for me now. I'm going to try to be a better blogger... Really I am! I think the key lies in shorter, but more frequent posts ;).