I’ve just come out of about two weeks with no internet. Our entire suburb was down – we’re all a bit annoyed at Vodafone at the moment!
It was an interesting experience. Being removed from the internet made me feel a lot further away from home than I’d felt before, for obvious reasons.
However, my Spanish grammar did improve drastically without Google Translate! With only a Spanish/English dictionary to guide me I was forced to become a lot more aware of verb tails, personal pronouns, tenses and the like. I’m certainly glad to have it back, though. My three economics questions of homework took me an hour each to complete last weekend.
Anyway, have some How-Is-Spain FAQs! Because I figure, if these are the questions that everyone is asking me, they’re probably what most people reading this want to know. Right?
How’s the food?
Excellent!
Almost all of the food that I have eaten has been very intense in flavour. A lot of the food is spicy, especially the soup. Olives also feature heavily in Spanish cuisine!
My host mother doesn’t really like red meat, so I haven’t been eating it all that much – once a week at most. We have soup quite a bit, lots of eggs, and lots of seafood. My host grandparents send up the most delicious fruit from Valencia once a week – I’ve been having two mandarins a day since arriving!
It might sound like an odd thing to say, but the bread in this house is SO tasty! Isabel is friends with the local baker, so we buy all of our bread in fresh rolls, rather than from the supermarket. Mmmmm.
And, yes, I have had paella more than once. It is delicious.
(I’ve also been cooking dinner twice a week! On Tuesdays and Thursdays, when my host mother has to stay at work until about 9.30pm. I’ve been introducing my host siblings to the food my friends and family have taught me – Mum and Dad’s fried rice, the satay sticks I make with Louise, The Cramers’ steak and spaghetti!)
Despite all this, I’ve managed to lose 2 kilos since I got here! It must be the hockey.
Are Spaniards as attractive as popular culture would have us believe?
Some of them are!
Have you been shopping yet?
Not yet.
Well, okay, I have been out and bought things like toiletries, and groceries. And I did go window shopping in Soria. But, no, I haven’t been out shopping properly. I’ve been living in the same week’s worth of outfits for a month and a half now!
I’ve made plans to go to central Madrid with my friends sometime soon, though! So hopefully I’ll be able to spam those of you interested with pictures of new outfits soon.
So – it’s basically just one big, five-month-long holiday for you, isn’t it?
Definitely not! While this has been and is one of the most amazing experiences of my life, it’s not something I’d consider a ‘holiday’.
Honestly, I’m just living day-to-day life out in a different country. I still have school, still have to get up with an alarm, still have chores and still basically live for the weekends.
Yes, the fact that I don’t have to worry about school does make it a bit easier. But the fact that I can’t understand most people kind of balances that out.
Don’t misinterpret – I’m loving it! But it’s not a walk in the park.
Have you met anyone reminiscent of Fawlty Towers’ Manuel?
Yes, actually. Quite a few. (And they weren’t exaggerating it with Manuel - the Spaniards I’ve been around really do say “Que?” that much!)
Have you met anyone reminiscent of Inigo Montoya?
Unfortunately not.
How’s the weather?
Strange, and very erratic.
Most days so far have been chilly enough for scarves and coats, and windy but not unbearable. Some days are lovely – 15-20 degrees, with a nice breeze. And of course, some days have been rainy and snowy.
It’s definitely warming up though! We’ve had days of around 25 degrees this past week. Spring, here we come.
Do you miss us?
Of course!
That being said, homesickness has been eons less difficult than I expected it to be.
Homesickness comes to me at weird moments. I describe them as ‘moments’ because that’s really all they are – I’ll just be listening to my iPod on the bus, and ‘The Apology Song’ will come on, and I’ll be sad because Michael and Louise aren’t there to sing along with me. But it goes as quickly as it comes, usually.
Exchange orientation leaders assured me that there would be times that I “would want nothing more than to jump on the next plane home.” I have yet to experience that. While I miss my family and friends often, it’s certainly not all-consuming. I’ve been Skype-ing often, and I really am having an awesome time.
And, far out, I’m already finished with a THIRD of my exchange! That doesn’t compute. It honestly doesn’t feel like I’ve been here for 7 weeks.
When do you have school holidays?
There’s only one set of school holidays while I’m over here, and they’re pretty soon! For Easter, my host sibs and I get a week and a half off of school – starting on the 14th. My host family and I are travelling to Valencia together. I’m looking forward to the break!
My family are in the minority of Spaniards that aren’t religious, which is quite a relief for me. Some of my friends are going to be spending most of the break in church, but for us it’s really just a vacation (as well as Daniel’s birthday!).
Isabel has offered to take me to the re-enactments of the crucifixion etc, if I’m curious. I might go and watch – I’ve heard it’s pretty spectacular.
The summer holidays here start the day after my flight home. Talk about bad luck. But – Isabel’s going to see if she can convince the exchange program to give me the last week or two off, so I can see a bit more of Spain!
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