Alguno de mis pensamientos.

Buenos dias todos!

Well, I have been here almost 6 weeks, time is really flying by like I predicted it would. I feel like I have learned so much, and even if I came home right now, I know my Spanish has improved. The thing is, I really like it over here, and I am completely content with not coming home... yet. I miss everyone, a LOT, but I am starting to really love it here! Every day I feel more comfortable with things here, from the conversations I have with mi madre, to making my way around the city. When I got here over a month ago, I could´t fathom being this familiar with it all, yet I finally am. The cool thing is, no matter how comfortable I feel, something new surpises me every day. I am used to finding bones and sometimes other body parts in the meat I eat. I am used to planning ahead to avoid the 50 cent text message7 calling rates they have here. I have learned what busses to take and how much time I need to get from place to place. It´s the little things like those that consumed my mind for the first bit of my trip. But, now that I am past all those things and not constantly thinking about how different it is here, my eyes are opened to other things.

I feel like I am extremely comfortable with my family now. Mi madre and I have a really good relationship, and every day I thank her for how much she talks to me. I would say we talk at least an hour a day in Spanish, usually more. When I first got here, I felt like we would run out of things to talk about, because my Spanish was so limited. But now, we get into conversations about political situations, Spanish culture, cooking, futbol teams, you name it, we talk about it. The other day I had to do a cooking project with my friend, and mi madre was generous and allowed us to cook in our house. In Spanish culture, if you are not family, you don´t visit people in their houses, so it was a bit of a stretch for me to ask if a friend could come over. The project went so well though.. don´t worry, pictures of our "tarta naranja" or, orange pie, will be posted soon! All that to say, I learned so much that night because every step of the way mi madre was there telling us what kitchen utensils were called, and helping us measure out grams and blend the oranges, etc. Mi hermano (my brother Fransico) even proofread the copy of our recipe. We were laughing the whole night, and I felt like it was a situation that would have happened in Indiana, with my own family. It´s just great feeling comfortable enough that I can focus on learning Spanish verses what my family thinks of me.

For the first month, I honestly just kept comparing the U.S. with Spain.... the food is healthier here, we all drive cars there, the weather is better here, things are bigger there, etc, etc. Now that I have been here for awhile, I am starting to see the similarities. This is so neat for me, because every trip I have every been on, the country is so amazing to me because it´s different than what I have. I guess I have learned that I might be in a completely different culture, but people are people wherever you go. Everything that is happening here is normal for Spanairds, and the more I try to fit in and really live here, the more it becomes normal for me as well. I was very dissapointed to find out that Alicante has a store very similar to Walmart... I remember coming to Spain last summer and thinking, "Wow, everything they want to sell has its own store... farmacia, zapatoria, frutaria (pharmacy, shoe store, fruit store)..." That is what gets the tourists at least, but then you live here and realize that there are cheaper places to get food, and every person wants to buy things for less money. Now that I am past the differences, I can start to see all these similarities! It probably sounds dumb, but if you have travelled to another country, you know that the differences are what strike you the most, because you aren´t there for long enough to see the similarities. Plus, the differences are what makes that country somewhere you would even want to travel to. Some common stereotypes (at least stereotypes I had) aren´t necessarily true... despite popular beliefs, not everyone here is skinny, not everyone drives a smart car, not everyone is catholic. At the same time, there are a lot of differences that I have observed (I am such a sociology nerd) that really stand out to me. The whole social drinking thing... I have only seen like one drunk Spaniard here, but probably 100 drunk Americans. They know their limits, and know that they should never pass those limits in public. People are so much more conservative with their resources here! I keep learning new ways I can conserve water, energy, gasoline, etc. just from observing people.

I really am enjoying Spain, I mean what´t not to love about studying on the beach and their famous churros and chocolate : ) The more I am here, the more I love it. I wish everyone could come and experience this with me! My next post will hopefully be the recipe that I made for class, if anyone wants to try it out! It turned out ok, really interesting tasting.

Well, gotta get home for lunch, mi madre is making paella today, and if you have been to Spain you know that you should never turn down good paella : ) Adios amigos!