It has occurred to me that since I do not keep a diary, aside from pictures my blog will be the only record of my time in Spain... so therefore I want to post more frequently. Of course this will mean shorter posts, and perhaps entries that are not the most interesting. From now on my purpose will be to keep track of my life here, so that I can remember in the future. :) This past weekend I went with Ignacio to Valencia to visit our friends Sarah, Borja and Luis. It was really fun and a change to be around people 24/7. On Friday afternoon we hung out and relaxed a bit in Sarah's apartment, then later went to see the Mediterranean Sea. I can't wait to go back someday when it is warm and I can swim! That evening we met some of Sarah's friends and all went to a popular bar with an outside terrace called "100 Montaditos." Montaditos are like tiny little sub sandwiches (like 3.5" X 1.5") and there are 100 different kinds on the menu. The least expensive ones are 1 euro and the most expensive are 2 euros. This is really great because you can try all different kinds without spending tons of money! That night I had 4 (relax, it was my dinner): shrimp with allioli, spanish omelette with allioli, grilled chicken with sauce, and BLT (sort of). They are warm and so delicious! Saturday was a day of walking. Downtown Valencia is beautiful, and there are lots of great parks, old bridges, and an ENORMOUS group of modern museums. Sadly they cost about 25 euros a piece to enter and I am poor. The city also has this incredible bicycle system - for only 18 euros a year you can take any bike from the various stations throughout the city and ride on the specially made bike paths. All include a basket on the front as well. I want that in Madrid!
Sunday was a day of relaxation and then going to eat a lunch of paella, salad, pork, bread, and ice cream - all for 5.50 euros! Chinese people give good deals. Also, Sarah and I spontaneously decided to buy tickets to Milan, Italy this weekend, 4 days before leaving because we have a 5 day weekend. No big deal. I leave on Thursday and I'm kind of freaking out. Today is my birthday. I'm now 23. That sounds like an adult, right? Don't let the number fool you. Yesterday I got a package in the mail from my mom. I'm pretty sure my mom could be a professional box packer because she fits insane amounts of items into one small box. You know those flat rate boxes you can get for free from the post office? She sent me a medium flat rate box that had the following items: Full size jar of peanuts, small french press coffee maker, 3 mini coffee bags, creamer packets, Mentos, 6 FiberOne bars, 2 healthy candy bars, 2 Fastbreak bars, 2 energy bars, candy, a box of brownie mix, icing, sprinkles, a jar of peanut butter, 2 mini cans of Diet Dr. Pepper, gum, playing cards, a little pumpkin thing, and possibly something else I'm forgetting. I'm so impressed.
I'm currently doing laundry to prepare for Italy, then I'm going to workout*, shower, do some homework, and go to the Bonet's to make brownies.
*I tell myself this everyday and it actually comes to fruition about, errrrr, maybe 20% of the time. I need Stephanie Durell! Therefore the title of this post refers to my henceforth efforts to be more committed to my blog, exercising and various other life-improvements.
Everyone is telling me to take advantage of my time in Spain, but the problem is is that I'm not quite sure how to go about doing that. I have found it incredibly difficult to make friends, thus there is not much to do that seems really fun alone. I went to the international club last night and met more people, so that was really good. Maybe things are starting to look up. I keep having dreams that I have already returned home and in my dreams I think, "I was in Spain for 2 seconds and didn't do anything. I have nothing to say to people about it!" It is pretty depressing. Luckily I wake up and realize that I still have two more months left, however it makes me analyze my time here thus far. Everyone told me that studying abroad would be a life changing experience, but I do not feel like my life has been impacted at all. Yes, I am learning a lot about the language and culture, but just like in my dreams, if I were to go home right now, I feel like I have nothing to say to people about Spain. I haven't had any great adventures or tons of laughs. Of course there has been laughter and fun activities, but other than that, I feel like all I do is waste my time. On a good note, I have recognized this and can now try to change it.
***Note: I'm not sitting and crying in my room all day, nor am I sitting around feeling depressed. Just to make that clear.
Enough of that personal stuff. I really hate writing what's on my mind, but for the sake of remembering Spain, I did.
I haven't really noticed more cultural differences. I have been here for about five weeks now and things that used to be abnormal are now normal to me, so my observational skills are somewhat lacking. I have really come to enjoy the mealtimes in Spain, and I would love to adopt this tradition in the U.S., but I'm sure that won't work out well, since no one else will want to follow suit. In case you forgot:
Breakfast - when you wake up Snack - 11-12 Lunch - 2 - 3pm Snack - 6-7 pm Dinner - 9 -10pm
This is a great schedule because in the states we eat all our meals by about 7pm, which means that from 7pm until I go to bed I have to resist food. This usually does not work out well for me, and I end up snacking a ton, which leads to unhealthy overeating. Since dinner is so late in Spain, when I snack between lunch and dinner, I am able to be much more self controlled because I can tell myself "Oh, I don't want to get full because I will be eating dinner in a few hours." The dinner that follows is usually pretty light anyway. The other night I went to a big dinner at the Bonet house and it consisted of an appetizer of ham and crackers, a main soup/dish of potatoes and salmon, a course of 6 different cheeses, jams and bread, and a dessert of ice cream. Lunch is definitely the biggest meal and I like that.
Welp, I decided to write this post instead of going running, so I suppose I will go do that now.
Oh, one last thing. Two new shows were recently introduced to me- New Girl, thanks to Amy bo bamy, and Up All Nigh, thanks to Stephanie. It would not be a bad decision to go watch some episodes. Right now. Do it. They provide laughter and "American" humor for me here in Europe.
