Where are you going after this? (It’s 4:30 am).

Where do I begin? We took a trip to Zamora and Toro on the 24th. In Toro, we got to tour a vineyard and see the process of producing wine! They had an art exhibit showing the entries for the winning bottle label and the barrels of aging wine. We also got to taste test it, and there were lots of weeny people trying the white - if I’m in Spain, I’m drinking red! In Zamora, we walked around, saw more old churches…and then we had a traditional rustic meal in a bodega (underground wine cellar turned into a restaurant). It was disgusting because Zamora is known for its meat, so there was sausage (which I tried - ok) and then bacon, but like thick slabs and you could see pig bristles on some of them and then pork ribs. Luckily, they made me a vegetarian meal like some others. I said I didn’t eat red meat and they were like, “Well, pork isn’t red…”, but I eat some meat, so it just got confusing. Anyway.

I also went out crazy Spanish style - that’s right, staying out until the morning (5 am to be exact). Andrea, Emily and I went to an Irish pub called Saint Patrick’s Museum, and this guy tried to card us at the door (basically unheard of in Spain) and said that he “didn’t see anything” as we went in. We later saw him at the discoteca! So we had a drink and randomly this guy starts talking to us about how beautiful the US is and how he just loved Las Vegas (ew?). The funniest thing though was when we were saying where we were from. Usually I just say near Chicago, since I don’t think people will know Indianapolis. But this guy did and said it was famous! He called over his friends and they were talking about the Colts and the Indy 500 and even said that there were movies, so I asked him to give me an example and his friend said…Indiana…Jones? Ahaha. We joined some other girls from the program, found another bar, and then we went to the discoteca Camelot, which is a 400 year old convent turned raunchy dance hang-out…I wonder if the owners were like, “Well, there’s this old convent we can revamp into a dance place?”. I had lots of fun dancing - I was pretty much the most hardcore one dancing, except for this French guy. Imagine a cheesy guy making weird dance pointing finger moves, wearing a plaid scarf and purple pants dancing upon a speaker. And we met lots of people, and some were creepy. And I even got a “You’re fucking unbelievable!” said to me. It’s this whole thing with blonde hair. It’s so stupid. Flirting is just so direct and obvious in Spain - where are the awkward boys that don’t make the initial moves?

The worst though was sleeping in the next morning because my mom’s son and kids spent the night. So I was awakened before 10 am by screaming playing kids! It was miserable, so I just woke up. At lunch, there was 8 of us: my mom’s two sons, one’s wife, 3 kids, my host mom and I. We ate something just like manicotti (not as good as my real mom’s) with spinach and chicken filling. Later I went to eat churros at a place called Valor. It was delicious, but I was kind of sick from lack of sleep.

And now my classes. I’m taking: IES required grammar class, 2 IES classes (Political Systems + Lit) and 2 USAL classes (Gender Relations in Spain over History + Psychology of Education which is super far away). I’ve only just been to Political Systems this morning. The teacher seems really nice and there’s only 6 of us! I’ll tell you how the other classes go later…

General observations this week:
1) Apparently eating only cold things in the morning is weird. My host mom asked why I didn’t want my cereal with warm milk? Spanish people also think that spicy food isn’t good for your health. So when something is flavorful, I think that just means it’s salty.
2) I have been taking full advantage of the siesta.
3) On Sundays, almost everything is closed except for a few cafes and bars, but everyone is out and about! Why? Families with their babies in strollers covered in plastic (for protection from the cold?) like to take walks going no where to no where. This past Sunday was empty though because it was raining and cold.
4) Have you been hearing about the strong winds along Spain’s coasts? Well, people have actually died. One woman was killed under a stone wall that was blown over, others on streets where trees have fallen and even kids I think in some building that collapsed. There’s also wild fires going on in another part.
5) I remember at the beginning trying to say “stews” to my host mom in Spanish, but I was using a word that I thought meant stews. Now I know why my mom laughed: I was saying worms! (Guiso is stew, guisano is worm).