Day 8 & 9

Sorry I had to combine two days, but unfortunately my weekdays are pretty uneventful since the professors decided to change the class schedule from 9 AM - 1PM to 12:30PM - 4:30 PM. We basically have enough time to get out of class, go to dinner, sit around and talk and then go to bed.

Sometime it is difficult to find something in the cafe that is not cooked with pork. Being a non-porker (for Religious and personal reasons)I informed my professor, who promised to take care of it. But once in a while the cafeteria will have only 1 non-pork item (fish, with bones).

A classmate of mine pointed out that "PORK is a part of Spanish culture, and that they put it in everything, and its disrespectful to not accept the fact that they use pork. And that I should have looked into this before visiting Spain to be more aware of their style of food. As a Mexican American, he'd prefer to eat Mexican food, but its simply not an option."

Obviously this kid knows NOTHING about African American culture and that upon our arrival in "the Land of the Free", our core food was not just the pig, but the SCRAPS of the pig. HELL, if it weren't for PORK SCRAPS, my ancestors might have starved to death. And to this very day, an overwhelming majority of blacks eat EVERY part of the pig from pork chops, to pork tenderloin, to pork FEET, to pork SNOUT, sausages and the list goes on and on.

So my rejection of pork is completely irrelevant to any group's culture, religion or any other irrelevant factor. I'm not asking these people to make me fried chicken, macaroni and cheese (or enchiladas and empanadas)! Or to find soy sausages to replace the pork. Instead, I am merely requesting that they should cook a small portion, without pork, and place it to the side. Because the cafe only make 5 items for dinner, 4 of them should not contain pork. For instance, if there is only one vegetable (string beans), one starch (rice), a meat (pork slices), and a fish, they all should not be cooked with pork. Am I being that unreasonable? NO I JUST WANT TO EAT!

The professor's have made it clear to the kitchen staff that their are diverse groups of people here, for personal and religious reasons, who don't eat pork. And because this group entails more than 5 people, and its uncomfortable to have to ask the kitchen staff to make something different just for me because it can come off as rude if my translation is not perfect, and create resentment.

So its helpful, if the staff make some choices available BEFOREHAND, for ALL the alternative diets, so that no individual is singled out.

We don't have fridges or microwaves in our room or on our floors. SO I can't buy my own food and store it. And I'm not going to buy food everyday, when I've paid for room and board that includes 3 meals per day.

THEREFORE, knowing that I've paid THOUSANDS of dollars to stay here, and that the university acclaims themselves as an INTERNATIONAL university, and opens itself to INTERNATIONAL students, who may be Muslim, Kosher Jews, or vegan, they need to accommodate. If they are informed of this, and can't accommodate, then someone owes me a refund.

PS. I have found some really nice restaurants with AMAZING Salmon and Brie Tapas. Its called Lateral.(I've been there twice already)!