siestas, showers, & spain

Holaaaaa

I have really been enjoying my time so far in Spain. Last night I didn't really feel like blogging so clearly I didn't haha. 

Two nights ago my body didn't feel the need to sleep so I slept from about 4 AM to 8 AM (10 PM- 2 AM Indiana time). That morning (Thursday) we had registration with our Profe (teacher) and then a culture and safety "class" with a couple other teachers. I miraculously tested into the intermediate level and through my 2 year old Spanish tried to tell the Profe that I guessed on the test and didn't feel confident to be in the intermediate level of classes. She seemed to be more confident in me than I was myself and told me that I would be fine. The culture and safety thing was pretty basic common sense stuff. 

After we left the school, Alyssa and I came home and then had lunch with Isabel. Its so weird eating lunch at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Here is Spain its morning until you eat lunch, then its afternoon until its dark. Something that I noticed today was that the news is on at 3:00 in the afternoon where in the states its on at noon. 

After lunch it was siesta time. I love siesta! At about 5 Alyssa and I headed into town to meet up with some friends from school to go shopping! Annnd my goodness! Right now everything is on sale in the majority of the stores! I bought a book bag and a pair of boots for about 40 euros. I'll post a picture of them sometime. We prolly didn't even go into half of the shops either & I can't wait to go back and just look at everything.

We then went back to the school and the whole group of us hung out and played a getting to know you game and then ate some dominos pizza and drank pop and it was so great. I'm sadly what they call here in Spain "ticky-smikey" or a picky eater. I appreciate Isabel's cooking but I still don't have much of an appetite  I was told that the number of times zones you travel that's how many days it takes you to get over jet lag. So for me, 6 days. 

After the pizza party a big group of us went to a bar and watched a flamenco dancer. I'm sure this sentence just sent a lot of people into a spin but trust me there is nothing to worry about. Bars here are the same as restaurants with bars in them in the states but instead of being called a bar & grill, its just called a bar (from what I have seen). Also, if you get a chance YouTube flamenco dancing. Its seriously one of the coolest things I have ever seen! AND I get to take lessons soon :) I'll prolly become a famous flamenco dancer and marry a good looking soccer player soon so here's your heads up! Also, since I'm talking about boys, there are very few bad looking Spaniards. After we watched her dance we all headed our seperate ways back to our houses. I still can't get over that I walk everywhere. I mean here I don't find it a big deal but at home I dread walking across campus. 

This morning started off with a shower. I may lose my religion due to shower taking while here. Here in Spain the water and electricity and everything are set up much differently than at home. When Alyssa got up to shower first this morning she had to first go out to the kitchen and flip a switch on a gas can (like the ones that are hooked up to grills) so that the water would warm up. Because electricity, water and everything else are so much more expensive you have to turn off the water between shampoo, conditioner... etc. Also another important note to this story is that the apartment is extremely cold. Here homes don't have central heating. So it's really really really cold when the water isn't running in the shower & when you get out. But, it did wake me up this morning! Last night I slept about 5 hours so hopefully I start to get this sleeping thing down better. 

Today was also my first day of class. I'm not 100% sure on this but the class I was in this morning was conversation & grammar broken up with a 20 minute break. It's one thing to listen to the teacher and respond (all in Spanish) but it's another to try and learn. I have to pay attention the ENTIRE time. A few times I found myself day dreaming and when I stopped myself I had no idea what the Profe was talking about. I had class from 9-12:30 and will Monday-Friday almost every week. It's really going to be a challenge getting through my classes I think. 

Alyssa and I then came home and had looked at places that we could travel too over some our breaks and then had lunch with Isabel. We're going to meet up with some friends in a little bit and then we have a little get together at one of the girl's house who works at the school. But right now, it is siesta time! 

hasta luego, 

Audrey