Today was a fantastic day in Espana. Katie and I started the day with a quick breakfast bar on the go before class. We (aka Katie) packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch later! On the way to school, we got stopped by a very nice older gentleman. He told me and Katie that we were beautiful, kissed our hands, and told us about his friends restaurant/bar around the corner. He told us we must visit! We think he could just spot us as tourists easily because our beach attire (tank top and shorts) for class when everyone else was wearing jeans around us. Everyone is Spain wears pants and close toed shoes, even when it's warm, in May. It's the weirdest thing!
Classes went by pretty fast today, not much to report there. All of my classes are going well and I'm making good grades, so no complaints. After class, a few of the girls rode the metro to the beach. We got a good ten minutes laying down in the sun before we were BLASTED with sand. I'm talking some serious wind. We tried moving to a part of the beach where the sand was compacted from the rain yesterday, but that didn't help much. We were probably so obnoxious to the other, mostly topless, people tanning on the beach- apparently, the sand in the mouth is normal for them. We held out in the wind and the sand for about two hours before calling it a day. We ended up getting great sun though so we were excited!
John and Jake decided to join Katie and I for sangrias at a little shack down the beach that Katie's sister had told us about. She studied abroad two years ago in Valencia with a different family! We found some relief from the sandstorm inside and ordered a tall glass of sangria. It was by far the best sangria I have ever had! We also got some patatas bravas for the table to share. (Sorry, no pictures of this today) We headed back on the metro once we were done with our break.
Katie and I got home long enough to change, brush our hair, and dart back out the door to meet John and Jake again. We all met up with our intercambios (spanish friends) at a tapas bar to practice our spanish and their english some more. It took us awhile to find the bar, but luckily it wasn't Lewis and Clark's fault this time. The boys had the directions, and of course we got turned around.. typical. I'm glad we left early because we got to the bar right on time! We met Lorenzo, the intercambio for Jake and John, and our intercambios- Mai and Carlos. Their friend from class, Samantha, who is an intercambio for different students in our group also met us. There was a total of six of us at the bar! The bar was a little 'cellar' for wine and beer. We talked about everything from our "pregunta del dia" to the gun control laws in the United States. It is interesting to get their perspectives on certain issues. We weren't the least bit surprised that we ended up at a tapas bar and drinking again..According to Carlos, there is no reason that they drink as much as they do in Spain. He explained that if we wanted to be like Spainards, we must try to drink as the Spainards do.. hilarious.
(Left to Right: Mai, Me, Carlos, and Katie)
After tapas, we headed back home to hangout with Gemma. We had a delicious lasagna for dinner and caught up on hw in front of the TV. Katie and I have gotten Gemma hooked on "Revenge" (a popular show in the US) which we both think is awesome because we've already seen it. She gets so excited to watch, just like Katie and I do. It's nice to bond more with her when Jamel is out of town.
(lasagna Gemma made us)
That's all I've got for today- we are looking forward to Greece this weekend! Hasta Luego!
Can't wait to hear about Greece. BTW I had to look up what "pregunta del dia" was...hahah!! I found talking about gun control in Ireland interesting. No one has the legal right to a gun, not even police. There are illegal guns but very rare.
ReplyDeleteYeah probably won't have any posts until after Greece, but I will definitely have some good pictures and things! Gun control in Valencia is so strict- no one owns a gun, and it seems like no one cares to. It was interesting hearing Carlos talk about his opinion about all the violence in the US and gun control stuff.. he seems to agree that it's not the gun that's the issue it's the person, but thinks it's absolutely absurd that we have guns to begin with. Very interesting!
ReplyDeleteAsk Carlos about the suicide rates there. That was another thing we chatted with our Irish friend about. He said they are amazed at the suicide rates in the US. He said it happens in Ireland but at a very low rate.
ReplyDeleteHm, I will definitely have to ask him about that! There have been some cases of public suicides in places in Spain recently as part of protests against unemployment and budget cuts.. so crazy!
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