And so it begins...

Hola de espana!
I said goodbye to my mom at the house before I left, and much to my surprise neither of us cried. (YAY!). My dad and I went to the airport and my suitcases (only two!) weighed exactly 50 pounds each. Then we had breakfast. Dad, I apologize for giving you the worst gift ever and leaving the country on your birthday. Then I got yelled at by security because apparently at PDX you don't need to take anything out of your bags anymore (not even liquids). The flight to Chicago felt long even though it was only three hours and I slept terribly. Once at Chicago I made my way to my gate and realized it was the "let's speak any other language except English" gate. I heard lots of Spanish, some French, and even some Japanese. The plane finally showed up and it was the biggest plane that I have ever seen.

Look at the gray truck on the left for size.

I sat in the middle seat in the middle row which wasn't super great but it could have been worse. I sat next to a couple who were studying abroad together and I wanted to kill them because a. I was jealous and b. they wouldn't stop making out which was gross. Again, I slept terribly on the plane but much to my surprise the plane had Friends as a TV option, so it wasn't so bad. After what felt like an eternity I finally made it to Granada and I met some other students in my program along the way. We worked together to communicate with the taxi drivers on where we needed to go and I ended up sharing at taxi with another GU student. The only problem was our flight got in 2 hours before our host families were expecting us. I got to my host family's apartment and rang the door bell. I was abruptly asked "Who is this?" and then let in. I unpacked, ate breakfast (toast and fruit every morning) and then I took a three hour nap :)

My room is small, probably the same size as my dorm room in Crimont. There's hardly any storage space so some of my stuff is in my suitcase under my bed. We all share one bathroom and yes, there is a bidet, but no, I will not be using it. My host parents have two sons and they said that neither of them live here but one of the sons keeps staying the night here so I'm not quite sure what that's about. They have a cat and he's super old and has a stomach problem so they can't feed him much food so during the night he always gets hungry and meows SO LOUD. Like it wakes me up, and I'm a pretty heavy sleeper. My host parents are in their 60's but they are so funny. They remind me of my parents because they literally do everything together. And they also make fun of each other which is super funny to me. 

The meals are weird here. You eat breakfast whenever you need to (anywhere from 8-11) and it's usually toast with jelly, something to drink, and some kind of fruit. Lunch is the big important meal here so we usually eat around 2-3. Lunch consists of some kind of soup and bread, followed by some kind of meat/pasta, followed by yogurt and then fruit for dessert. If you know my eating habits, you know that I am usually full after the soup...it's a problem. I eat the slowest and usually can only eat about half of what my host mom gives me. Every meal she says that we don't have to eat it all if we're full. She also says that she needs to learn from me and eat slower because then she won't eat as much. After lunch it's nap time (literally people stop whatever they are doing a take a nap). Yesterday I saw a guy trying to take a nap in his car. After lunch we've had somewhere to be and then after that we go out for drinks and tapas (little appetizers). Then for dinner at 10 (yes, 10) we have more bread and some kind of food. They don't have ice unless you're at a restaurant and even then most restaurants only give ice if you order an alcoholic drink. Also, every meal is eaten at the dinner table in front of the TV.

So far me and some friends have gone to three bars. The first one was really good. We had sangria (refer to photo) and at most places you get free tapas with your drink so we had bread with meat. (you basically eat bread with everything here). I really liked this place but the waiter kept talking to us in English even though we were speaking in Spanish. The next night we went to a restaurant that our teacher suggested and we got sangria and it wasn't very good. Then they gave us a shot glass that had warm chicken broth in it (it was disgusting) and these really yummy chicken nugget type things and fries. Then after that we went to another bar and got mojitos which were super sweet, but no free tapas at this place. This was a topic of discussion since we were slightly tipsy and hungry. So far I really like going out to these places but I literally can't eat anything because you have to eat meals with your family. It's a sign of disrespect if you don't so I try not to fill up on tapas before dinner.

Last night rather than have dinner our host parents took us out to a bar that they love. It was super small, (the size of a large closet) but so much fun. Our host dad invited his three brothers, their wives, and their children to come along. All but one of the kids were adults so they had girlfriends/wives too. We took up almost the whole bar. Our host dad ordered me and Kayley (my roommate) sangria and everyone else had wine or beer. I think the restaurant people know our host parents because they kept bringing out tapas and tapas and more tapas. Chicken, ham, sausage, and bread/chips with every single plate. And when they brought out the food they gave us like 6 plates of each. Needless to say I was full halfway through and my host parents kept trying to give me more food. It was a lot of fun and I laughed a lot. My host dad kept making fun of my host mom because she had rosy red cheeks. He kept saying that she was drunk only after a glass of wine. My host mom has a knee problem so she usually walks slow but she was walking fast on our way home after the bar. When our host dad commented on it she said "the alcohol has given me strength!". Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious. 

A few things I can't get over: everybody smokes (not my host parents) but everyone else. There's dog poop everywhere on the sidewalks because they don't have to clean it up. The pedestrians and cars fight over who gets the road (like you usually just walk in the road and hope you don't get hit). The food/meal times are so different than in America. Water is a scarce resource here so when we shower we're supposed to turn on the water and get wet, then turn it off while we wash our hair and body, and turn it back on the rinse everything. Their showers are only 5 minutes usually. I can't figure out when I'm gonna be able to shave my legs. The other thing that's a little weird to me is nobody smiles or acknowledges each other when you're walking around. If you bump into someone you don't say sorry. It's SO strange since I'm used to GU life where everyone holds the door for everyone, even when the person is like 30 feet away. 

I'm a little worried about getting fat but my school is 30 minutes away from my house so it's okay. Everybody walks everywhere so I think I should be okay. Another thing that's gonna take some adjusting is that I can't go anywhere without having someone with me which is annoying because sometimes I need some alone time. 

Also something cool, the kitchen table has a table cloth over it and when you sit down you put the table cloth over you like a blanket and then there's a built in heater underneath the table cloth to keep you warm. Why don't we have these in the U.S.? It's genius. 

Hasta luego!