Initial Suprises in Spain

Hola,

After being here for several days there were several things that really suprised me about the culture and the people here.

The first thing I noticed is that everyone here wears really nice clothes. They dress up to go out and change when they get home. I miss being able to wear some gym clothes to go to a friends but they wear their nice shoes, coates, jeans and what ever else when they leave. They have tons of designer stores here and since they don´t have huge houses to pay for, they must buy really nice clothes.

The next huge thing that is different is the PDA I for those who didn´t have my science teacher who yelled at people for this, PDA is public display of affection.

Everywhere I go I see people holding hands, making out, or just being super close. I think this would be a hard place to be if you were lonely haha cause everyone seems to have a significant other. These things would never fly where i grew up so if you ever come here it will be a big shock.

Everyone smokes here. Yuck Yuck Yuck. I see the professors smoking and tons of students smoking all the time. They have huge packs outside their buildings to light up. I even saw a priest smoking, which was really weird but I guess God doesn´t care about that so much. I am glad America hates smoking and people said I might start because of being around it but no way Jose. I find it discusting and when i meet people who don´t I tell them good job haha.

A good shocking thing about here is that they are very polite to pedestrians. There aren´t a lot of lights for cross walks but they don´t need them. When ever you want to cross you just go right to and without worrying about the cars. I am obviously careful, but the drivers respect the peds and usually pause before you get near the street. I remember at Concordia people honked at us all the time-even when we had walk signals- but here it is way better.

I am not catholic but everyone here is. Every room has a cross in it and I like it a lot. It is a nice reminder whenever you walk into a room. I haven´t gone to mass yet but this Sunday I want to go. They have services at 5 on Sundays and most business are closed. I don´t know if I would understand much but it would be a nice experience.

All for now.

Spain... the beginning

Hola,

I am all settled in now in Spain. I have a place to live, people to hang out with, and school to do. I got here on Sunday the 16th after a nasty time flying over here.

I had to leave Minneapolis at 1 and I arrived in Pamplona at 11AM the next day. A woman named Raquel picked my up from the airport and brought me to my piso (floor). She was very friendly and told me I had nice Spanish. I then unpacked, met my roomates, took a long nap and we went out for a drink at some irish bar place.

My roomates are both from Madrid and work in mail. They are quite old but nice; one is in his thirties. One of them just moved in last night who actually goes to my school so I bet I will talk to him more. They watch a lot of tv and told me what futbol team I am supposed to like.

My apartment is pretty bad though. Every piece of furniture in my room is broken and my bed is as comfortable as a futon. I find my trashy apartment hilarious but my friends all have nice ones so it may get old. A maid comes everyweek day and does our dishes and laundry. Our clothes are iron and folded and placed in the living room each day. They said kids here are spoiled by their parents and I totally agree.

I live above the woman who is incharge of my apartment and she makes us all meals each day. For breakfast we have these cookies and some choclate milk. It is the typical breakfast and I love cookes so oh well. Lunch isn´t until 2 or 3 and she will give us two plates and a huge loaf of bread to eat. Dinner is really late and I usually eat mine before the typical nine o´clock. We have to reheat everything so I imagine it would taste a lot better fresh. It is hard to eat so much for lunch but it makes the most sense to be the largest meal. The food is fine and I have eaten normal food so to speak. I love the bread though and I eat prolly to much of that.

My apartment is in the college kid section of the city and I live near a nightclub which is supposed to be popular. When i get home from friends I often seen huge mobs of people leaving or entering from there. The clubs don´t close until 6 or 8 in the morning so it is a huge thing here. I live near a supermarket and the city park.

The first week i got here was pretty nice. We had orientation stuff and I met a lot of people. All foreigners... The funny thing is that everyone could speak English and some of our tours were in English. We learned about the school being Opus Dei officialted and about the insane rules the dorm people have. One of the statues on campus of Mary everyone must pray to when they walk by it. I don´t think the Da Vinci code would be a popular book to bring on campus.

I have met people from so many countries but most of my friends are from France, Germany, Poland, and Denmark and the Cheq rebuplic. I always tell the cheq´s that they are my family it is pretty funny. All of the students seem super rich and the Scandanavian students are. The problem is that everyone is way older than me. Most of the students are 20 - 23 years old. Every country has its own little stereotypes but people are still jsut people. We all have apartments so we all meet up at usually the French people´s and hang out until the wee hours of the night but it is usually morning.

WE went on a tour of the city and we all bought cell phones. The problem though is that they are really expensive if you call to another company. I will have to buy a card for mine today and i don´t think it will last really long. They have similar malls and shops. The city is all apartments and the first floor of them is businesses. Everyone lives on top of businesses and no one lives on the first floor. They have tons and tons of banks here and panadelrias. They all eat tons of bread so I guess they find it a need. Everyone takes the bus or walks all around. i have never walked so much in my life. I guess I am an american so it is never a need.

All of the international students speak English but the french don´t so I am glad to be friends with them. Everyone knows all of our politics and has a 2 cents to put in. It is tough being an American in a foreign country but oh well. I just laugh and agree with it all.

Classes start tomorrow and I am glad. We have had a lot of freetime and there is so much walking around. I will get into specific details later this is just an intro. if you have any questions let me know.