My first week living in Spain!

Hola Todos!

Today I have been living in Santander, Spain for exactly one week! So much has happened already I don't even know where to begin. The adventure started at the hotel in Charlotte when I got a call at 4 am from US Airways saying our flight to Philly was cancelled. The next day it was still snowing, hailing, freezing rain so plans weren't set until the last minute for our flight. A group of about 8 of us almost had to stay another night in Charlotte and wait for a flight to Madrid on Saturday. Luckily the program director got our whole group on the same flight to Munich, Germany and then on to Madrid friday night. Instead of US Airways we took Lufthansa, a German airline, which turned out to be even better because they had good food and free beer and wine on the plane :) Our group was all split up on the flight, so I was next to two Germans probably around my age. Finally at around 11am we arrived in Madrid to meet Peter Standish, one of our program directors at the airport. Already exhausted, we took a 5 hour bus ride up to Santander. I had a slight problem walking with my gigantic suitcase, backpack, coats, and carry on which resulted in one bag breaking, but I made it with all my stuff successfully!

The excitement soon turned to anxiety as we all waited in the parking lot of Santander's futbol team, Racing, for our families. We all stood with our suitcases wondering what in the world we were going to say once our host moms and dads picked us up. All but two students left when my Señora arrived. The housing coordinator said my previous "family" was crazy and I now had a new host family. It's turned out to be even better than I expected. I live with a single lady named Ana who's in her mid 50's. She has a huge family with 11 siblings and hundreds of nieces, nephews, and cousins. It's definitley true big families are very common in Spain.
Since my "mom"Ana doesn't have a car we took a taxi to our flat in the Puerto Chico neighboorhood which is luckily located right by all the bars, restaurants, and the city center. I have about 10-15 other students from the program in the area which has been great for meeting up and never having to walk alone. Living with Ana is really great. Since it's just us two I have a lot of opportunities to talk to her in Spanish. She's very accomodating and helpful, especially when I'm struggling for five minutes trying to figure out how I want to conjuigate one verb. She's also a very good cook. My gift of a cutting board from home was perfect. One thing I've learned from her is how vibrant and outgoing Spaniards are. They will say exactly what they're thinking and with a lot more enthusiasm and passion than Americans. At our first dinner, she pointed out a huge painting in her living room of her grandmother and said, "that's my grandma, I like the colors in the painting but she's very fea y gorda (fat and ugly)

As far as food goes I've had quite a variety. I've had everything from salad and pizza to a mystery meat that was blood red even when fully cooked. I've tried everything though, even the lunch of fried eggs, collards, potatoes, and a hot dog. Breakfast is fairly similar to the US, I've had cornflakes and some kind of fruit. I've become addicted to fruit! It's so fresh here since they buy everything from the market near city hall. It looks just like a movie, there's tons of tables set up outside with different vendors and the most colorful and juicy fruits and veggies I've ever seen. My first night here I was so overwhelmed I think I just said yes to everything. Thus, I believe Ana thinks Kiwi's are my favorite food; I've had one with every meal since I got here. The best fruit by far here is strawberries. I don't know what part of Spain they come from but they're giant, deep red, and very sweet. One of the first nights Ana had her cousin Carmen over for dinner. What an overwhelming experience. She spoke very fast with a heavy lisp. Everything I said she corrected me, but I need that help! Anytime someone comes to dinner wine is a must. The first kind I had here was a tinto, or red wine.

Getting to know the city has been a lot of fun. Every day is an adventure figuring out what street I'm on, where to meet people, and the strange schedule of siesta I've always heard about. It's still taking some getting used to. Most stores open at 10, close at 130, open again around 4 and then close at 8ish. If your out on the streets at 230 you would think no one even lived in Santander. Go out at 7 and every person in town is out shopping, meeting up in cafes, or having tapas. The city is so vibrant at night!