Well, here I am! My Spanish experience so far has been nothing short of amazing. It seems like I've lived here for months instead of weeks. So much has happened, and I've been so busy that I keep forgetting to post here, so I'll try to give a quick overview of my life here.
I live in a homestay with a Spanish family, which is honestly one of the greatest things that has happened to me so far. Ana is a single mom with three kids: Carlos (14), and two twins, Maria and Irene (10). They are adorable and I love them so much. They crack me up every single time I talk to them. Ana makes amazing food every meal, and gives me lots and lots of ice cream for dessert. Yum.
The hardest thing to get used to with the food is how late people in Spain eat! I have class starting at 10am, so I eat breakfast around 9, which is fine. But then we usually don't eat lunch until 2:30 or 3, so a snack in between has become necessary. I usually go for an apple. Then dinner doesn't happen until 10 or 11. For my American self, it seemed crazy at first, but I was surprised by how quickly I got used to it.
My favorite part of the day is definitely siesta time. From 2-6, the entire city of Sevilla pretty much shuts down. This is the hottest part of the day, and a lot of businesses close during this time. Once I went out on the main street around 4pm and I am not exaggerating when I say that I was the only person out, and after a few minutes I understood why. It gets HOT here. I lived in Haiti all summer, and I can say with 100% confidence that it's hotter here.
The other part of life that's crazy is how late people stay out! Most Spanish people don't hang out at their houses or their friends' houses. Since entire families live in small apartments, everyone socializes outside on the streets. People will go out for tapas or drinks on weeknights until 1 or 2 am. Tapas are a wonderful thing - they're smaller, appetizer-sized dishes, so you can get a bunch and share, plus you get to try so many different foods! They're also so cheap, which is a definite bonus.
And when we went out last weekend, I didn't get home until 6am, which was definitely a shock to the system. Bars in Boston close at 2am, so we rarely stay out later than that, but here a lot of bars don't open until 1 or 2, and there were still a lot of people still out and dancing at 5:30am when I left! I guess that's when a siesta helps you out.
It really is surprising how little time it takes to adjust to a new schedule. I already feel completely comfortable in my homestay and with my routine here. Hopefully later this weekend I'll get out a blog about my Spanish class, and all the absolutely breath-taking places that I've visited so far in Spain!
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