Settling In

Apologies for not having updated this in awhile (to those of you who are still reading, that is). The past week, like I said, went by pretty quick as I started doing more routine things and knowing what my schedule is like. This past Thursday a group of about 25 of us took a tour of the San Pablo church here in town, Friday we lounged out on the beach for most of the day, then went to the University around 7:30 because we had a meeting about how to drink in Spain; it's a bit different in the United States. They drink casually and more professional. It's about beign social with the people around you rather than seeing who can drink the most or the fastest. During siesta around 2:00, many adults meet at a bar for an afternoon drink to converse with their friends or whoever is there. It'd be nice to see that more in the USA. We're very competitive and many workaholics would think it crazy to leave in the middle of the for a couple hours. They'd say, "Think of how much work you would be missing!"

Anyway, during that "how to drink" meeting, they served sangria, wine mixed with sugar and juice. Good stuff. I found a bite to eat with a few others and then started our Friday night.

BUT, the next morning we had to get up at 8:00 to catch a bus to Salamanca, about a 2 hour busride west. We took some tours and were able to wander around for a bit. A few things really stuck out to me: They have insanely huge, detailed, ancient cathedrals. Three of them. They're HUGE with a billion different rooms/chapels that are connected. All of them have statues and all of them have anceint paintings. There are just so many priceless items in each of the cathedrals.

We returned from Salamanca tired as can be. I went home and showered, ate, and left for the night. But, needless to say, it was my least fun night in Spain. We all meet at the same bar to begin the night. Then when people are ready, almost everyone leaves to go the same spot, which I do not like. We're American, so we're going to stick out. But this night, we walked around town in a huge pack with 4 different leaders who want to go to 4 different places and we were loud and stood around and people who were leading didn't know to get to where they were going. It was awful. We finally made our way to a couple places, but my night was ruined. I just went home.

Sunday was much better, however. Woke up early, went to an English mass nearby with my host-sister Mónica. It was small and there were about 15 people there. After that, I returned back and took a quick nap then decided to go with Móni to a Spanish mass nearby. There were a lot of older people there, partially because they're more dedicated than the youth but also, it was a noon mass, and not a lot of the youth were up yet. I was able to comprehend more than I thought I would, but I still have a lot of Spanish to learn if I ever wish to have a simple conversation with a man in the street. The most surprising thing to me was that the mass ended in less than 40 minutes, which they told me was typical.

After, we ate, I did my homework, then we left to visit my host-mother Carmen's parents to live nearby. Carmen has 5 sisters and 3 brothers. There were 3 sisters and 1 brother there so I was able to meet some more family. There were even a few cousins there. One of them, the oldest of their cousins who is 17, was a girl who spent 3 years in Boston and New York so she could speak a lot of English. I played cards with the cousins and we walked around a bit and then went out to eat before heading home. It was a good day.

Today, we figured out our plans for the long weekend in about 3 weeks: A bunch of us are going to Valencia. I don't know many details yet, but that's what I do know.

Chao.