Mi vida en España

So much to tell. I will break it down into categories.

Mi Casa
In a situation when you’re living with a host family, they can really make your experience either the best or the worst. I totally lucked out.

We live in an apartment a ten-minute walk away from the university. It’s a pretty nice apartment with a big living room where they always sit and watch TV and the grandchildren, Ana and Carlos, play there when they get out of school. Amaya has her own room and I have my own, and we share a bathroom. Fortunately, we don’t have to share one with our parents, as well. Compared to other stories I’ve heard from other students, we have one of the best situations. I do think most people love their own moms a lot though, so it works out for everyone.




My clothes for four months :( I wish it were more.

Mi mama
Mi mama is the bomb. She’s 67 and a babe with her blonde stylish hairdo. She likes to talk a lot to anybody who will listen, which is usually Amaya. I try to listen to her stories, but she talks so damn fast. I catch every other word and am left wondering what the heck she’s talking about. But she’s so sweet. My first day here I was lying on my bed reading and she came in and put a blanket on me. This is totally the best of both living at home and being in college.

Mi papa
Paco. I love him. Most people don’t have dads so everyone is surprised when I talk about Paco, so I feel extra lucky to have him. He’s 71 and he’s not slowing down anytime soon. He LOVES TV and always sits with the best view of it when we’re eating dinner at the table he’s pulled up to the couch. He’s always smiling and laughing. He just sang me a song about Valencia. He loves singing, really belting it out throughout the small apartment.

La comida
AHHHHHHHHH. It’s all fried and pre-packaged. I mean I like most of it, and I try to eat as much as I can since it’s rude to leave leftovers.
Breakfast: prepackaged muffins and croissants, yogurt, cereal, a piece of fruit
Lunch and dinner: anything cooked in a frying pan usually with some form of fried potatoes and ALWAYS bread. So much bread. I love bread, but I can’t keep eating it. I’m going to need a forklift to get me out of this apartment at this rate. Past meals have included a fried hamburger patty made out of chicken and vegetables, some giant fried sausage, pieces of ham and cheese in a breading cooked in a frying pan. Also, they love olive oil. One night our salad consisted of lettuce drenched in oil. That’s it. Just lettuce and oil. I didn’t really eat that one…

Amaya
Amaya is my housemate. She’s a junior at South Florida and really good at Spanish. Her dad is originally from Valencia, and her mom has studied Spanish, so they talk to her in Spanish a lot and she can definitely understand Mama more than I can. At dinner, I just sit at the table while Mama talks to her because I can’t understand what’s going on, especially since the TV is always on in the background and I can’t hear her over it. They didn’t ask us anything about ourselves when they assigned us housemates, so it’s funny that we ended up together because we’re a lot a like. We both whipped out our matching wayfarers the first day and also listen to a lot of the same music. Everyone keeps asking if we knew each other before the trip because we act like we’ve been best friends forever.



Also, I learned I have a height complex after I saw this photo. I totally thought I was only a couple inches taller than her.

Mis clases
I was a little bit on crack or something when I signed up for my classes. It was months ago and I kind of just picked what looked like fun. I didn’t realize it was kind of binding. So this is what my schedule looks like as of now, and I don’t know if I’m going to change it.

Monday & Wednesdays:
10:40-12:10 SPAN3430 Survey of Latin American Literature II (1900-present)
5:20-6:50 SPAN4030 Advanced Conversation/Cinema

Tuesdays & Thursdays:
12:20-1:50 SPAN4705 Spanish Mass Media
3:40-5:10 SPAN4710 Latin American Culture & Civilization
5:20-6:50 SPAN4708 Picasso

Mi cellular
So the student before me left a phone that my mama gave me. It’s this little black Motorola the size of my thumb. I haven’t used a T9 keyboard since like tenth grade so I’m definitely struggling with texting. I suppose it’s nice not to be a slave to the phone. I do imagine I hear my iPhone vibrating though.

El tiempo
The weather is so nice here. It’s been in the low 60s and most of the time sunny. It’s overcast today, but still nice out. Amaya and I are going to try to go for a run today if we have time.

La vida noche
The nightlife is definitely what is going to lead to my demise, if the food doesn’t first. We went out Friday night, but called it a night early since we were going to Xativa on Saturday. We got home at 3:30. Saturday night we went to the discoteca and didn’t get home until 5. Then I slept until 2 the next day. I don’t understand how they do it. I will never adjust.

Los chicos
I’m not opposed to finding a Spanish boyfriend since I AM going to be here for four months, but someone should tell these boys that the Cristiano Ronaldo look only works for him. Seriously, everywhere I looked at the nightclub was another gelled faux-hawk Spanish guy in his 20s with cubic zirconium studs and a button-down with the top buttons undone. If this is my only option, I definitely won’t be finding anyone anytime soon.