Spanish Way of Life

So the way the Spainards do things are very different than the way we do things.  The way they are slow paced about everything they do is one thing that I love.  We don't start class till 9 am because no class in Spain starts before 8:30 am.  We eat breakfast at 8 am, have lunch at 2:30 pm, and then have supper at 9:30 pm.  Sometimes I have to have a snack in between that because that's a long time to go without food.  The big meal of the day is lunch which consists of bread, salad or soup, and then a hot meal.  A traditional food here is tortillas de Espana which is potatoes in a tortilla shape held together by eggs.  It's one of my favorite meals here.  They think it's crazy though that we eat our meals so early.  They take 2-3 hours off in the afternoon for Siesta time which is right after lunch and it's a time to just relax.  The stores here are open from about 10-2 and then back to 5-8 pm.  So it seems like the shops are never open when i'm walking to and from school.  My teachers are always telling me to be tranquillo which means to be calm when i'm stressed about things.  They just have such a relaxed way about them.

Another thing that's different here is their night life.  They don't start up until 11 pm at night and then go until whenever they want to the next day.  Most people start off drinking at a bar or in a public park, then go to a disco techa (dance club), then go out to eat afterwards.  The longest I ever stayed out was until 7:30 am and I was leaving early.  The dance club that I was at was still completely packed and my Spanish friend was telling me it was still pretty early but I was wiped out.  I would never stay out that late back in the States.  Probably 3 am max.  But here it's so different because it's just a social gathering.  It's the same way with drinking.  I've noticed a lot of people don't drink to get drunk but to drink because it's a social thing.  Since it's legal for them to start drinking younger here then the states they don't go out and go crazy as much.

I love that the city is so big and has so  much to offer than we have back home.  There's always something to do like go bowling, paintballing, dancing, karoke, go to the mountains, or go to the beach.  We're about an hour away from the Sierra Nevada Mountains so I could go hiking if I wanted to.  (though I hate hiking so that won't be happening)  Or I could go to the beach an hour away and just lay in the sun all day.  I also  love being able to go dancing every week.  We don't have clubs anything like this at home expect for in really big cities like Chicago or something but they're found every where here.  That's one thing that i'm definitely going to miss but I do love the small town charms too.