the worst blogger ever

Just me with Europe's most popular tourist attraction in the background, The Alhambra

Wow I'm legitimately the worst blogger on the face of the Earth. I had a lot of dreams about how often I would blog and so far... eh. Well no time like the present to start.

I've been in Spain for rough 2.5 weeks. It's been great. The initial week was a little difficult but I'm adjusting well. I am staying with a woman named Isabel as well as her daughter who is around my mom's age. It is typical for older children to stay with their parents for extended periods of time. Part of it probably has to do with the economic situation in Spain. Currently 25% of the population is unemployed. Talk about high unemployment. That's more then 3 times the unemployment in the US. Also everyone HATES the government. Like it's pretty consensual. I haven't met one person who says anything good about the government.

In the last 2.5 weeks, I've done lots of stuff. I've hiked the Alpajurras, gone to Sevilla and Ronda with IES, started classes, and eaten a TON of tapas. Literally, so many tapas. The awesome thing about Granada is free tapas come with drinks. I haven't ordered a meal since I've been here. Just drinks. It's cheaper that way.

There are lots of cultural differences here too. In terms of meals, lunches are huge. but they also eat later and a lot more than we do in the states. Like they wake up and have coffee and breakfast (I always have bread whether it's toast with jam or magdalenes), then they have a small snack like an orange or something, then they have a HUGE lunch. I'm talking three course lunch. Then another small snack and then a very light dinner. I haven't seen my senora make dinner since I've been here.

Also the floor. Nobody likes the floor. They think it's dirty. So they wear slippers everywhere. Luckily I knew this before I came so I brought slippers with me. They're pretty cozy and since my mother and Joe have been attempting to adopt this whole no bare feet tradition at home too, it's been growing on me.

Other things: People don't exercise. I went for a run today and literally had people yell things at me as I passed them. I was also blatantly stared at. In addition, people blatantly stare at you a lot. Every girl wears a pound of make up and knows how to walk in heels. It's kind of impressive. People litter. Everyone walks everywhere (maybe that's how they stay in shape). Life is just later here. They eat lunch from 2 to 3:30 pm and then have dinner at like 9 or 10 and then go out to the discotecas at like 2 am. I left a discoteca at 4 the other night and there was a long line outside of it. People were going into the club at 4 am.... it was a bit much.

Now for some pictures:

Me and a friend in Ronda, Spain

Just being outdoorsy and hiking the Alpajurras

Plaza de Espana in Sevilla. It's super pretty and Star Wars was filmed here.

The courtyard of the palace of Pedro V. Just simple living you know.

I'll try and post more consistently now. Sorry I'm the worst. In the meantime CC did this awesome video while I was gone which I don't really expect you guys to understand but it's still pretty cool. Also this was 4th week aka the night before finals. ALL OF THAT TUITION MONEY ISN'T GOING TOWARDS NOTHING.