vale vale!!

Oh my where to even begin?! it's only been two days, and it's starting to look like Spain is going to treat me well! The city of Santander is urban and mostly everyone lives in apartments. BUT it's right on the beach, so it is the best of both worlds! When we first got here, we stayed in a hotel right on the beach, and our house mother came to pick us up the next morning. I'm rooming with Adriana Perez (spring 09 weenie) in an apartment. Our house mother (Maria Paz) is an older lady, she's super sweet and cooks us way too much food!!! I swear I'm going to gain 10 pounds during these next few weeks, ha. She lives with her husband (Marino), daughter (Mercedes) , and two grandbabies. They are both girls, one is 5months old (Ludi) and the other is 1 year old (Mariana), oh my they are absolutely beautiful! And I cant wait to play with them :)

Honestly, it was awkward at first trying to communicate, but after while Adriana and I got more comfortable. We even gave our house mom, a gift from Texas. It was texas state shaped bowl, and little cowboy boot ornament with the texas flag on it. Ha, I think she liked it?! She also showed us some photos, and told us that most of her family are "granjeros" or farmers and live out in the country. Her daughter (Mercedes), actually goes back to the country every weekend with her daughters: Ludi and Mariana to be with her husband because she works in the city and he is a farmer out there.

fashion, time, chilling out.

Everyone is so put together, even when they are just walking the dog! I really do regret packing tshirts, because those are non existent to Spaniards. It's quite refreshing actually, and i cant wait to go shopping here! Which leads me to time...the stores open from 10am-2pm, then closed for siesta, then open again from 4:30-8pm. and thats just the weekdays. Saturday afternoons and sundays, all the stores are closed :( also, spaniards seem to never be in a rush, it's so cute to see the older couples just walking slowly holding hands down the street. and if they are 15minutes late, they dont care. (which i really like, ha). Just walking down the street, you would honestly think that no one works here, because there are always people just chilling at cafes outside, or in the plazas playing with their kids. and i love that :)

la vida de noche

nightlife, we went out as a group last night to la plaza canadio, which is where all the bars are. It's basically a square and everyone hangs outside drinking and chilling out .And i realized then, how funny it is, how different all the UT people in my program are. bc I hardly doubt that i wouldve met them in austin! Also, bars and clubs dont close until 6am! which is super late for the average american. But hey, i think that is why the siesta was invented, bc you can just always nap and recuperate then.

palabras nuevas (new words)

vale- means "okay" and is only used in Spain. Ha took me a while to figure it out!
calimocho- wine and coke
sangria- yall know what this is, but just want to point out that a bottle of this or wine at the supermarket is as low as .87 cents...crazzyyyy


I'm soo sorry for taking forever :( but I'll make sure to put up new posts again. I'm already learning so much and I want to write everything down and be able to remember it all. I'm so glad we are doing this, bc I love to read and keep up with what yall are doing!! I definitely miss Cullen, you gorgeous girls, and my family..but at this rate I think the time here is going to fly by!

con amor -M