Saturday, February 6, 2010

A day in the life...

So in this post I will tell you about my typical school day here in Spain.

Thus far every day has started with me waking up before my alarm. I think its because of jet lag and I'm expecting it to stop soon but for now I am mostly enjoying it because if I wake up 6:30 Spain time then it is only 9:30 pm California time and I get to talk to my friends that are living in the past. Then I get out of bed and I have to make sure the hot water heater is on so that I am able to have a warm shower. I shower in my super duper pink bathroom. Then I eat a breakfast of toast with strawberry jam and coffee with my Senora, Trini. We eat a lot of fruit after every meal which is totally cool with me. I told Trini that where I come from we have very good Fuji apples and she went to the market and bought some Spanish Fuji apples. They are good but out of season so it is difficult to judge them.

It takes me about 35-40 min to walk to the university from my house which I think is the longest commute of all the students but is definitely worth it. I live in the old part of the town so I get to walk through narrow cobblestone streets with really cool old architecture on my way to class.

At school we start at 9 with 2 hours of language class. Then at 11 some of us have a break so we go sit in the cafeteria and drink a coffee or something. Then at 12 I have a Communication class which is a supplemental language class and is very helpful already. Then we have history of Spain at 1. I took a history of Spain class at Cal last spring and I think it will be very useful because I won't have to worry too much about translating the Spanish so I can pass my tests. I am looking forward to that class though because we are living in one of the oldest cities in all of Europe.

Then after school I walk home because it is almost lunch time. Lunch here is around 2:30-3 and is the big meal of the day. The whole family gets together and you have a lot of really delicious food and sit around and talk for a long time. I am lucky to have the daughter of my Senora live upstairs with her 2 kids so i get to eat with a 4 year old girl, Julia, and an 8 year old boy, Enrique, as well as the other 2 women. So far the food has been really good although most of the time I have no idea what I'm eating. I do know I like Patatas which are french fries.

After lunch and talking it is time for siesta! This is the best spanish tradition ever. All the stores close here for siesta so you can't go buy some shampoo or some pens or anything. In fact, in our safety warnings they said not to go out by yourself during siesta because there are no people on the streets and you could get into trouble. Siesta lasts for as long as you need it to and then I have kind of just hung out with the family or by myself. Julia and I bonded yesterday over silly faces and a discussion of our favorite disney characters. I also showed her my iphone and she played piano on it for a while and then spent a really long taking pictures of me and her Abuela on my phone. It was all very entertaining.

We eat dinner around 9 and then watch a little tv and go to bed. I have had good conversations with Trini about spanish politics, Don Quixote, and how much she likes Obama over dinner. The other night I was supposed to meet up with people but Trini and I both fell asleep watching a Novela at like 9 so I decided that going out was a no go. Apparently the teenagers like to stay out until 5 or 6 in the morning here. I don't know if I can handle that. I prefer the couch and Hannah Montana en espanol. jaja (that means haha in spanish)

Last night most of us (american students) met up and we went to a tapas bar. There were 2 spanish guys that went with us who live next door to someone in our program? I'm not quite sure how we met them but they are very nice and we got to practice our spanish and they got to practice their english. So we went to the bar and they ordered for us so we got some typical Coroba food. They ordered pitchers of a drink that is red wine mixed with lemonade. It was really delicious. Then we had a dip that was cheese and tomatoy with eggs and bacon in it. I think. And then Fried Eggplant, like tempora eggplant, Fried fish bits, and this thing that looked like a sushi roll but was bascially pork wrapped in turkey and then fried. It was weird but really good. And they use mayo as a dip. They fry a lot of foods here in Olive Oil and they tell us it is healthy. I'm not quite sure how true that is, but for now I'm going to go with it.

Other than that, I have walked around the city a bit taking pictures and it is very old and pretty. There is a lot of arabic influence in the city (which makes sense because the Arabs took control of Iberia for a while and they allowed for other religions to stay when they were in control so it makes for a neat combination of all different religions and their influences). I definitely live in the prettiest part of town and I get to literally live right in the middle of history. It is pretty neat.

Here are some pictures of my life:

La Mezquia at nightLa Mezquita across the river and the Roman Bridge
My super pink bathroom
I gave my Senora that apple hot pad and she thought it was the coolest thing ever because it had silicone on one side.
The view out the living room windows
The living room
So they have tables in the living room because they put lots of tablecloths on it and a space heater underneath, so when you sit down you lift up the tablecloth and put it on your lap and it is a nice little warm area for you legs.
Kitchen
My bedroom is right off of the kitchen.
The sign that Enrique and Julia made for me
The most important part of my room
My room! My bed and book shelf.
I am super lucky to have internet at my house. I thank God every day for it.
The Mezquita during the day
My family. Elena, Trini, Julia, Enrique, and friends Sarah and ____ who I forget her name but she studies English with Trini.
Besos!

3 comments:

  1. Wonderful stories - my favorite parts: your descriptions of food, pink bathroom, siestas, your classes, heater under tablecloth that keeps you warm.

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  2. yay new post! siesta seems like a wonderful tradition-- you should figure out how to make them do it here when you get back haha.

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  3. eeee!! i love being able to read about your adventures!! because i'm so excited about seeing you do this i'm looking up summer abroad stuff right now! i bet you love your bathroom & i'm glad you are more relaxed and having fun now!! love you!!!!! (:

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