La Vida Española

¿Que tal amigos?

Now that I've been here a few days (and gotten used to a few new things), I thought it would be a good idea to describe a typical day...but don't worry, I won't include too many details.

I took my "prueba de nivel" (placement test) and I am in level 6 (which is the lowest advanced group-the possibilities were 1-9). This means that for the first month or so that I am here, I will be taking Spanish class (grammar & oral expression you could call it) four hours a day. After a month, we will switch to "normal" classes; the options include everything from business to Moorish art (all taught in Spanish). We also have a Spanish Culture class that will last the whole semester. It is two days per week for another two hours. Today I was in class for 6 hours! I haven't had that much class in one day since middle school! Whoever said studying abroad was a complete breeze obviously went somewhere else!

Each weekday morning, Maria (my roommate from the University of Portland) and I wake up, get ready and by 8:10 am leave our little apartment. We live here with Manuela (our angel of a host mother) and Carlos and Conchi (Manuela's niece and nephew who are both in their twenties). The trade-off of having a great family is that we live extremely far from the school where we study. We need about 40 minutes to walk all the way across the city each day (it's about 2 miles). I've really been enjoying the walk, but today i caved and bought a bus pass (the weather has been extremely precipitous)! Lunch is the most important meal of the day in Spain, and so we have to come home each day to eat after class. Then, it's the custom to take a little nap (one of my favorite traditions here). After the siesta, most days, we end up walking back towards town to meet up with friends, do homework, go to culture class, have a drink, tapear (eat tapas/small plates-more on this later), or go out. This makes 8 miles in walking just for the commute! Believe me, my feet are feeling the pain!

Manuela says we will get used to it, but for now, I will just keep wearing different shoes each day!

Sorry for the somewhat mundane post, I will think of more interesting things to say, I promise! :)

For now, I will just say that the city is beautiful, my living situation is almost ideal (minus the marathon commute), & I'm very happy here!


hasta pronto.

Leeth
(that's how spanish people say Liz!)