1/3 of the Way Through!

It is sooo strange that I am just that: 1/3 of my way through my study abroad. Two months in! And its funny, I read through my blogs and journal—soooo much has happened! You can read through the blogs so no need to recap things.

I am gonna go through some things I have noticed in Spain that are extremely different than the USA, things that I miss, or things I have learned about myself.

Side note: Listening to “How to Love”—LOL its Lil Wayne singing to a stripper that he loves?? Whatttt?? Hahhaha

1.       I like cooking! Maybe it’s because I always cook with someone or for my group of friend, but really I appreciate cooking sooo much more. My room mates are like impressed with my cooking—I was like, uh honestly before this I basically only ate mac and cheese. So, BAM! Even when I don’t want to really cook (which happens at least once a week), I just make arepas. So I am like more Venezuelan than when I got here—in Venezuela they eat them like once a day. Also- I realized that I only know how to cook Venezuelan style, aka what my mom cooks so a lot of garlic, cilantro, onions, and tomatoes.

2.       I hate showering here. Relax-I still do it at least once a day, but it is seriously the most frustrating experience. First of all, there isn’t a place to put the shower here. Well there is but it ALWAYS falls. So I am always holding the damn thing or put it on the floor and then it becomes possessed and attacks my shower curtain and a huge puddle of water forms. It is a battlefield.

Secondly, the water is next to impossible to get to the right temperature. Either it is SCORCHING hot or freezing. Andddd on the chance that I get it to a desirable temperature, it decides to go cold. Normally, this is where my shower ends.

The way I think people are intended to shower here is to turn the water off between like shampoo, conditioner, soap whatever. Annoying.

3.       Love mopping, hate sweeping. My floor is like red with rocks that are white and gray so it is impossible to see dirt. Good when I am being lazy, bad when I want to clean. I sweep so much and then I stillll feel grindy shit under my feet. Mopping is great though since you can actually see where you have cleaned and notice a difference. But, you have to do a good job sweeping before you get to mop or else you get like dirty water.

4.       Doing dishes isn’t awful but I SO miss a dishwasher-put it in and you know it will perfectly clean and ready to use again! I do have a preference on the order in which I do the dishes:

1^st- cups and glasses

2^nd-plates and bowls

3^rd-silverware

4^th- fucking hate doing pots and pan

5.       I am sooo much better about laundry here; as in it doesn’t sit in a basket clean for a week before I decide to put it away slash wear it again. Our laundry machine takes hours to do its job and hanging it does take surprisingly long but then once it is dried, I put it away in its place and folded(!) immediately. We share two clothing racks between four people so that may subconsciously affect me. OH and you know, hung dried clothes prevents (that’s not the right word but I can’t think of it in English- evitar) that problem you have with just dried jeans… “I swear I haven’t gained weight since last week..?”

6.       I think I have a studying problem. Marist and Tech have broken me. Like I get antsy when I don’t have studying to schedule my life around. I can’t even tellll you how many nightmares I have had about having all my tests the same day unbeknownst to me. So not having anything to study stresses me out…

7.       I am very much a people’s person, but I NEED my space or I get pissy. I hate doing nothing in my room slash apartment but doing nothing, per say, anywhere else is great. Walking around the enter, eating at the university, laying in a park is a wonderful way for me to spend my afternoon.

8.       I really don’t like being touched. Especially my face and hair.

9.       I’m still anal about my bed! No shower/worn clothes, no bed J

10.   I always tend to have random life conversations with people at restaurants, stores, markets etc. I feel like I always tell them things that I they don’t care about (the guy I buy my fruit and vegetables from knows that I am in the USA this weekend to visit my newborn sister, for example). Of course, it always includes where I am from—identity crisis.

11.   It’s “cool” to be from the United States. I come farther than most people.

12.   24hr clock, celcius, and the measuring units used in Europe (and the rest of the world) make SO much more sense. I think USA is the only (or of veryyy few) with the units we use. Even Canada switched back to the global units. Apparently the USA has been trying to change it for a while but it’s like ridiculously expensive to change the units of everything.

13.   Trying to explain what the USA is like really hard. Maybe I’ll do a blog entry on that later but Europe no tiene nadaaa que ver con los EEUU. We are just so big and diverse and spread out!

14.   USA government may not be perfect, but I think it makes a lot more sense than some of the European governments I have learned about.

15.   Spanish people and their siesta and no working on Sundays is soooo damn inconvenient. The expression “No pasa nada” I think is a perfect way to summarize the Spanish lifestyle. It literally translates to “nothing happens” but means more like “don’t worry about it.” They are just so lax here! And then they complain about the economic crisis.

16.   Children here are much more free to do what they want. There isn’t as much pressure from parents/schools/institutions/etc to do things in a particular way.

17.   People have no tolerance to cold. I am wearing a cardigan and people are completely bundled. Come on people it’s like 20C/68F.

18.   It never rains in Valencia. Literally. My roommates told me there is one week in September that it pours for an entire week. Other than that though-nada.

19.   I am addicted to my phone. I am obnoxious about pictures. (but we knew these things)

20.   I like how people dress here. Even the grungy Spanish girls with the dreads look much more put together than I would on any given day in the USA.

21.   I DO NOT understand the hairstyles of Spanish young people. Boys love to have their head buzzed but have like a mullet, of dreadlocks… And girls have like crazy shaved heads on once side. And dreads. So popular.

22.   Face piercings. Eyebrows, lips, nose. I would say at least 50 percent of the young people have them

23.   Eating schedule is bonkers but I like it. There big meal are at 14h (lunch) and 21h (dinner) are so much more social! At least an hour and a half is dedicated to eating the three course meal. And it really isn’t that much food but it is so much more enjoyable not like, lets shove food into my throat in 20 minutes to go back to studying/working/class.