Life in Spain

So I have been here two weeks exactly, and it is has been a pretty interesting transition to the Spanish lifestyle. Fortunately, I have the constant help of my program coordinator Jesus if any problems arise . I honestly have had my ups and my downs with adapting to life over here in Spain, but no mtter what I realize how lucky I am to be studying abroad. I am starting to love the culture here more and more every day, and I love this shake up. I say shake up as in not the Springfield College scene with my familiar friends and roommates, and very involved schedule. I am sure though that I can find ways to keep myself busy and having fun! I have been able to already visit so many places, meet people from China, Germany, Sweden, England, Brazil and Finland.

First thing is first, the eating times are totally different than in the states. We have a very small breakfast over here which may include cereal and etcetra, but we have a big lunch during siesta. Siesta falls here around 2 to 4is or 5ish, and it involves time to relax with either family or friends. I live in the residences so my roommates and I watch tv while we eat our big lunches. We then do not eat unil 9, 10, or 11 at night. I seriously am the first person to eat dinner usually, and I make it around 9 PM. On Friday even when I started eating at 10, I was the earliest of all my roommates. I am just the typical American I guess, who is used to eating at such later hours.

Funny enough they eat late because they stay up much much much later over here. For instance, from Thursday to Saturday you do not go out until 1:30 or 2 AM. This means that restaurantes, bars and clubs do not close until maybe 6 AM in the morning sometimes. Don´t worry there are people that actually do stay out that late. It is amazing to just walk in a pub, bar or club though and not have to worry about ID over here at night. The pubs are a very social scene where I have practiced a lot of my spanish. It is funny though how most American students bunch up over here because of the language. I am doing a pretty good job at talking spanish in and out of class, but it is difficult!

The night life may be the reason why students love siesta over here. Like a bear you eat and then sleep for 2 hours. Also since there is siesta for all the businesses, the hours of work are much later than in the US. People will not come home from work until maybe 8 or 9 PM at times for their family dinner. The dinner is much smaller than their lunch of course. The town of

Alcala de Henares, is where I am located for the next four months. It is a 40 minute train ride into Madrid and it is much smaller with a city feel still. The town is actually 2000 years old and is the birth place of the famous Cervantez who wrote Don Quixote. This is their claim to fame over here, and I have done my fair share of exploring in Alcala. The town has a very cozy central plaza with a calle mayor(main street) and this is where the university is located. I take a bus there every morning arriving at 9 AM, and am able to leave around 2 PM once classes are finished. This is my life every day and the routine makes me feel like grade school again. My classes are just constant español, covering all the grammatical, conversational and culture parts of the language.

I spend the majority of my free time doing homework or traveling across my area. I am known to go for long walks around any neighborhood or city that I can find. It is just the way I like to travel, I am not as big into the whole shopping scene over here. I have a bus pass to madrid for four months straight so I can visit as much as I would like. Not surprisingly, I recently met up with the Spain YMCA in Madrid. I will start to volunteer for the Y once I am more comfortable with the language, and I hope to help them send some Spaniards to work at YMCAs in the US that I have experienced.

I have been able to visit many places, so I hope that you all enjoy my pictures and comments on what I have seen so far! I will constantly up date this blog with pictures and events that I have attended ....