Lessons Learned

OK. Time for an update on this thing.

First of all, let me just say that in the past few days I have perfected the use of the phrases "¿Qué?", "No sé", and "No entiendo."

For those of you not completely fluent in Spanish, here is a quick lesson in la lengua.

¿Qué? = What?

No sé = I don't know

No entiendo = I don't understand

And oh man, I think I have already worn all three out! But I'm trying, and that's all these people care about. As long as I'm not the arrogant American who refuses to speak the language, they like me.

So anyway, classes have officially started. I switched from what I was supposed to be taking originally, so now I'm in Imagenes de España and España actual a traves de los medios. So far neither one of them seems too incredibly hard. The teacher for the first one is named Mar, and she is really cool. She has all these ridiculous projects she has us do in class to help us learn the language, and it's usually hilarious. The teacher for the second class is named Olvido, and she is WAY harder to understand than most people around here. She says she's from southern Spain, and they speak much faster down there. I say she needs to slow here rear-end down before I slow it down for her. :)

The best part about class is that I get to hang out with my fellow Americanos. There are SO many really awesome people studying abroad here, and a majority of them that I've hung out with so far are staying for the whole summer like I am. I've had such a blast getting to know everyone, and I feel incredibly lucky to get to have all these people around me. It's such a good feeling to know that all of us are going through the same thing right now: the culture shock, the excitement, the adrenaline, the struggles, the fun. It's just a great group of people, and I couldn't be more happy. I don't really have many pictures of everyone just yet, but here is a good one that I took at one of the discotecas here in Alcala the other night.

These are some pretty cool chicas if I do say so myself. From left to right it's Kami, Ashley, Kyla, and Molly. Kyla isn't in our program and she's only here for about another week and a half. But she's from OU, so she can be part of our group. :)

However, I have taken a few more pictures of my city. We went on a walking tour of the entire ciudad yesterday, so I got to see some amazing things. Alcala has so much history it's ridiculous. It has the building where Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabel first met. It has a giant cathedral that serves as the resting place for Saint Diego (the namesake for San Diego, California). It has buildings built in the 1400s, including my University. It's really incredible. I don't have pictures of everything just yet, but here is what I have so far.

This is kind of a side view of my University. I need to take a front shot, because the side view almost doesn't do it justice. It is a huge ancient building that has been used as the Universidad de Alcala since it was built. It's in amazing shape for being around 600 years old.

This is one of the most amazing chapels I have ever seen. It's a part of the University and it's where all of the doctoral candidates are tested and, if they pass, are sworn in. The ceiling is incredibly ornate with tons of gold decoration, the border all around the tops of the walls are carved by hand, and the floors are hand-laid tile. The chapel has been in use since the 1400s and every year the tradition keeps things exactly the same. One word: Amazing.

Here is a full shot of the ceiling (which really doesn't do it justice either).

And here you can kind of see a little bit more of the carvings at the tops of the walls.

And here you can see one of the most important things in the church: me. :) I really haven't had the chance to take many touristy pictures, so when I had the chance to stand by a "Universidad de Alcala" sign in a massive ornate chapel, I jumped on it.

But things are still running smoothly I guess. All of the students are really starting to bond and get close and now that we all have Spanish cell phones, it makes it a lot nicer and easier to get in touch with each other. It makes us feel more connected as opposed to feeling entirely cut off from the world like we had so far.

Anyway, my computer is about to run out of battery power, so I'm going to end with a few more things that I have learned since being here. Spain is a country full of peculiarities and every day brings new surprises.

First of all, the timing here for everything is completely and entirely different from the US. Lunch is at two or three and dinner is at ten or eleven. Everything basically shuts down for siesta time and you better not even try to get anything around two to four. Basically, the Spanish people live a lifestyle that lets them get as much leisure time in as possible, and it's not uncommon or weird at all to see entire families, old couples, kids alone, etc. walking around the plaza at midnight.

Second of all, the level of PDA in Spain is slightly ridiculous. People skip right past the occasional kiss here and there to groping each other right in front of everyone. According to one of my teachers, "es porque los espanoles tiene mucho amor fuerte." Which basically means they have a fiery type of love that, I guess, can only be quenched by doing dirty things in public.

Third, and this is both good and bad, the food is so incredibly different here. Sometimes it's amazing. Today, for example, we had lentajes, a kind of stew made with lentils and meat. It didn't look great, but it was delicious. Which is really the story of every dish here. Paella is amazing, but I've already mentioned that. Tapas, which are basically appetizers but in really big portions, are really good. And bocadillos, the Spanish version of the sub sandwich, are always really good. Occasionally though, you get a few bad things. For example, the Spanish don't really care too much about the quality of the meat. Which means that meat here, whether it's chicken, beef, or whatever else, usually has a lot of fat on it. And that is something I don't think I'll ever get used to.

Apparently electricity is really really expensive here, so Spanish people are anal about always turning off the lights after leaving the room, the hallway, the stairs, etc. In fact, my entire house is usually dark except for my room, John's room, the living room, and maybe the kitchen. And John and I both got a lecture when we first moved in about turning the lights off. It's a huge deal to them.

Spanish people are very very spanish. Meaning they are proud that they are European and they are proud of their history. Yet they are so into American culture it's hilarious. There are American movie posters everywhere, just translated into Spanish. And American music is always on the radio. For example, right now I am sitting with my bedroom window open and I can hear the song "I Need A Hero" floating into the room from who knows where. haha

And last for now, the Spanish aren't exactly a short bunch, but they're just not extremely tall. Which means that those of us who are tall get stared at quite a bit. (the spanish are kind of fond of staring) Which means the me and Hannah (who is on the women's volleyball team at OU) get stared at a lot. And while that was kinda weird at first, it really helped me find my element. At first I was really worried about sticking out and fitting into the Spanish lifestyle. But now I've basically embraced that I'm a tourist, and that I'm a tall American, and there is really no way in hell I'm going to look like a Spaniard. :)

So now I'm going to end with a picture that shows one of the most delicious things I have yet tried in España:

Gelatto! It's not just for Italians! And it is muy delicioso!

And that's all I have for now! Ciao everyone!