My goal coming to Spain was to learn the language and the culture. I wanted to get to know the people here and understand their way of life, their religion, their food, their manerisms and basically soak in everything I could. I wanted to travel around Spain and see as much of the country as possible. I wanted to adapt and fall in love with Spain, with its flamenco music and bullfights and weird Andalusian accent and tasty tapas. I realize now that all of these desires were possible and I am very happy to say that I have achieved my goals. With the exception that I have also discovered things about Spain that I don’t like… dog poop on sidewalks, no smiling at strangers, the exchange rate, etc. I also realized that there is a lot more, deeper, within the culture besides flamenco and bulls. I have attempted to understand, through their perspective and my own, the Catholtic “religion” or “culture” here in Spain and Europe and come to grips with the way kids grow up here.. livng with their parents until they are married and getting an allowance until they are 23! (ish) Although I have adapted to eating lunch at 3PM and dinner at 10PM and eating fruit for dessert and one piece of toast for breakfast there are some things I refuse. I can’t not smile in the street, I know it seems fake to the Spainards but it is legitimately impossible for me. I can’t dress as fashionable and slutty as the girls my age here and I absoltulely REFUSE to only own heels and wear them at all time… (im sure there is more I just cant think of it right now).
All this to say that I am hooked on living in a new country. I have 3 weeks left and I am excited to go home but mostly overwhelmingly sad to leave my home here. I am addicted to travel but I guess I am ready for a little break. I have seen Huelva, Cadiz, Granada, Cordoba, Madrid, Toledo, Ronda, Barcelona, Gilbraltar, some of Italy and Portugal and there is so much more that I don’t have time for. .. :- /
---about the weekend---
It is strange that its Christmas season and I am here in Europe. The school here is decorated and the city is preparing for the Christmas season but it is not the same. There is absolutely no snow and the days and traditions are a lot different so the atmosphere is a little strange. I havent heard Christmas music except in school and in starbucks and no one is decorating gingerbread houses or putting trees in their houses. Thanksgiving was even weirder. We didn’t have school and I spent the day a little depressed about my first thanksgiving away from home. My friends and I reminisced about turkey and family traditions. At 9 o’clock PM we had an American fiesta with the profs and school and it was actually super fun. They had it catered with “American-style” thanksgiving dinner and it was DELICIOUS but very wanna-be. Then we spent the evening with a live band having a blast… the profs were hysterical and we all enjoyed the evening. The stupid part was staying out til 3AM when I had to leave for my flight in the morning at 5:50AM. Bad idea….
We left for Barcelona on Friday morning though… missed the bus to the airport and almost didn’t wake up at all. It was a very irresponsible situation and costed me a taxi fee but that’s okay. We arrived in Barce @ our hostal around noon. Liked the looks of it right away. I traveled with some girls from school that I hadnt spent a lot of time with before and I am sooo glad that I did. They were awesome and I liked getting to know them a lot. Only one issue with bugs in the hostal… I tried to kill them all and calm the girls down consoling them with the fact that ticks are easy to remove and I have slept outdoors many times and not had problems. Ha… it didn’t help and we changed rooms.
In Barcelona we saw all the typical stuff..
went to the beach (note: nuditiy is not illegal in this city),
saw the important statues,
Gaudi’s houses(amazinnnng, love him),
the Sagrada Familia and construction :- p,
the Cathedral and old people dancing outside of it (so cute),
Las Ramblas and the AMAZING market,
Plaza de Cataluna, the fountain show in Plaza de España,
Gaudi’s park and much more.
We had some great laughs with Italians in a Creperia, met many people who spoke 4-5 languages each (depressing I know), bought Barcelona futbol jerseys, watched the game vs Real Madrid with locals, experienced the craziness after they won (YAY!), ate lots of great food, and walked a whole lot. Everything was great minus a little bit of a chungo experiece with the bus station being closed and not sleeping at all Sunday night. I skipped classes Monday to catch up on sleep and today I have a couple presentations to work on… asi es mi vida. Me encanta.
(pics on facebook)
