Settling in

I have officially been in Spain for three weeks now. So far it has been pretty nice. A lot of interesting tings are normal here but never happen back home. The majority of dogs I've seen walking with their owners have no leash on them. They follow along very obediently and don't run off into traffic or anything. Clearly people do something magical to make their dogs super well behaved. I need to find out what they do and get them to teach me their ways so I can become a dog whisperer. People are definitely more open here. I was walking down the street with two of my friends one day, and we came across a vending machine filled with condoms and other sexual products. Just sitting there in a vending machine. Originally I didn't notice because I just assumed that, like all vending machines, it was filled with Twix bars. That's just mind boggling to me. Along the same vein, the husband of one of my host mother's daughters told a penis joke at the dinner table. In front of all the kids and everything. I can't really imagine that happening in the US. Maybe just in the most liberal of houses.

Today at lunch, I was eating with my host mother and her daughter, Mery. We somehow got on the topic of food and the differences between eating here and in the US. In Spain people cook everything with olive oil. EVERYTHING. However, they hardly ever use butter. Complete opposite of us in the states. Also, being a vegetarian has got to be close to impossible here. Every meal usually has ham in it. And if not ham there's another kind of meet, you can count on that. My host mother told me the program has never sent her a vegetarian. At the end of the discussion she said that when you're here, you should eat meat, then you can go back to being vegetarian when you return home. I can understand where she's coming from. Their meals are predominantly made up of protein, and it would be difficult to have to completely change your cooking style for a student. Meat and bread at every meal. I think i may have died and gone to heaven.

Another thing that's hard to get used to is how late everyone stays up here. The streets are usually filled with people even at 1am. One night I came back a little before 2am and both my host mother and father were still awake. The next day my host father commented on how "early" I came home the previous night.....???!! My host parents don't normally stay up that late, though it isn't uncommon for them to be awake until midnight or even 1am.

It still remains difficult to get myself completely immersed in the Spanish language. I'll try to only speak Spanish with the PRESHCO students, but lately I've started to give up on that. Most of the time they will respond in English so it isn't really worth it. I'm afraid my Spanish won't improve at all. I can finally accept that my Spanish is at a level where I can get around without too much trouble. But I came here to get closer to being fluent, not remain in a state of perpetual adequacy.

There are definitely days when I wish I had picked the UK as my study abroad destination. For one thing, the weather here is so hot. I miss fall, rain, overcast skies. Where are they?!! And while my classes here do seem interesting, I think I would have preferred some of the classes I saw offered in the UK schools. The classes I'm taking here are going to be really easy. Two of my classes just have one 3 page paper due at the end, and one has two written exams. And I know I should be glad that they're going to be easy, which I am, but at the same time, it means I'm not really working at my Spanish much for my classes either. I will say though, my Sevillana dance class is fun. Hard work. We'll see how good I get by the end of it all.

If I'm being completely honest, I could leave Spain tomorrow and be satisfied with the trip. I don't think I'll end up being one of those people who dread returning to the states, and who say that studying abroad changed their life. I'm very glad I have this opportunity, but at the same time, it's very lonely here. All of my friends and family are very far away. Except the friends I've made in PRESHCO, who are all very wonderful and lovely. I'm not big on traveling. I'm always ready to go home at the end of a trip. And after three weeks, I'm ready to go home. Gotta wait another three months though.