Cultural Differences

The other day my friend asked me to identify a few of the major cultural differences that I've noticed. I realized that this is probably a question that many of you have. There are of course more, but I started a list and here it is:

1. The pace of life here is much slower than the US. It is not uncommon to see people taking long walks on the beach and not in any hurry.
2. Gyms are considering to be a luxury. They are pretty hard to find and memberships are extremely expensive. There aren't very many people that work out, which was really interesting to me, since everyone is so tiny. When I go running on the beach, there are very few people out running and most of them are men. 
3. The idea of personal space is very different. People get really close to you, even on the street. It almost looks like someone is coming up to talk to when you pass them on the sidewalk because they get that close. 
4. PDA is everywhere! So awkward! Couples are all over each other all the time; on buses, on benches, on the beach, on the street, literally everywhere! 
5. People do not walk while eating or drinking ever. It is almost impossible to find a thermos or a reusable water bottle. I finally found a few places that will serve "take away" coffee or "cafe para llevar", but they are very few and far between and some places get offended if you ask for "take away". 
6. Clothing-wise I don't think it differs much from the US, even in the trends. Leggings, skinny jeans, boots and high heels are worn a lot. I'm actually really disappointed in that. I haven't really been able to find anything that I couldn't purchase in the US. 
7. Eating times are also very different. Breakfast is usually between 9:00am-11:00am, lunch is between 3:00pm-5:00pm and dinner is between 8:00pm-10:00pm. 
8. Most stores close from about 3:00pm-5:00pm everyday for lunch/siesta. 
9. When you order water at a restaurant you are usually served a bottle of water that you are charged for. If you want tap water you have to ask for "agua de grifo". If you do ask for tap water you run the risk of offending the restaurant. Often times it is better to just suck it up and pay for the bottle of water. 
10. There are specific months of discounts or "rebajas" at all of the stores. The "rebajas" started at the beginning of January and will be ending at the end of February/beginning of March. 

The beach, a water bottle and fuzzy pink slippers...

The Beach...

 A 1.5L Water Bottle...

Fuzzy Pink Slippers...

You are probably asking yourself what theses seeming unrelated items have to do with each other. All of these items are key elements in just a little bit of normalcy in a country where nothing is normal. 

The Beach + A 1.5L Water Bottle + Fuzzy Pink Slippers = EMI'S GYM

I am going to stay in shape yet! The beach is used for cardio, it is where I go for my daily hour long runs. The oversized water bottle is my hand weight, used for bicep and tricep curls. It's not a very big weight, but it is just right for toning. The fuzzy pink slippers are used for pads under my elbows for both front and side planks; the stone floor in our apartment is not very conducive to planks. Combine those with a few wall sits, crunches and lunges and you have the makings for the perfect make shift gym. Gyms in Spain are considered a luxury and they are extremely hard to come by. If you do happen to find a gym, you then face the fact that memberships are outrageously expensive. 

However ridiculous it might sound, I was very proud of my resourcefulness and thought that I would share my creativity with all of you. Enjoy!

Granada, Flamenco and The Alhambra

This weekend we went on a weekend visit to Granada with ISA, where we visited "La Capilla Real y Museo", watched a live Flamenco show and visited The Alhambra. The flamenco show was by far my favorite part, I think I described it as tap dancing on crack to my parents, for lack of a better description. Those dancers must have incredible legs. The show took place in a cave, which was incredibly cool. If you're going to see a Flamenco show, might as well see it in a cave right? Unfortunately I don't have any good pictures of the actual dancing, I was front and center and could not get a good picture without feeling incredibly awkward, but here is a picture of some of me and some of my friends at the show.

Flamenco Show

We also visited "La Capilla Real y Museo", which like all of the other cathedrals had architecture to die for. I think I'm just about over cathedral tours though, I feel like it's true that if you've seen one cathedral you've pretty much seen them all. My dad said to think of all those poor people carving out those buildings and then I felt bad when I said that the tours were so boring. The thing is I do enjoy the architecture and I took lots of pictures in appreciation of their work, but beyond taking a pretty picture, I have no real interest in these buildings. All that said, it was a great experience and something that I would have never done on my own, so I have ISA to thank for that.

"La Capilla Real y Museo"

The Alhambra should have been the highlight of my trip, but I have the worst luck and had my first reaction to gluten. I'm thankful that this was the first time that I've gotten sick from gluten since I've been in Spain, it was just very bad timing. Note to self, do not eat the continental buffet style hotel breakfast. The Alhambra was still a very cool sight to see, my body was just not into the three hour walking tour after my rough morning. The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex originally built for the last Muslim Emirs in Spain and it's court, of the Nasrid dynasty. Here are a few of my favorite pictures and I'll post the rest on Facebook.

The Alhambra

Happy Valentine's Day!

Being the hopeless romantic that I am, Spain did not live up to my expectations for Valentine's Day. The way that the United States views Valentine's Day, is definitely one of the biggest differences between Spain and the United States. When I expressed my excitement for Valentine's Day to my "señora" the day before, I was sad when she informed me that in Spain you truly only celebrate Valentine's Day if you are a couple. This came as a surprise to me, maybe because of how I was raised or maybe because of how it is viewed in the United States. I have always celebrated Valentine's Day for the love that I have for all of the people in my life, not just for someone that I was in a relationship with. It is not common to wish someone a Happy Valentine's Day in Spain unless they are your significant other. This really became apparent to me after my friend asked one of her male friend's to go out for coffee with her, so that they wouldn't be alone on Valentine's Day and he responded very abruptly with "no". He explained to her that Valentine's Day in Spain is seen as a very intimate day and that it would simply not be appropriate.

Some of the other girls in ISA and I decided to throw our own "American" style Valentine's Day party, complete with chocolate, champagne and wine. We had a great night and I was even able to find a gluten free chocolate dessert! Yum!

Take away coffee and designer shoes? Enough said

Today was as close to a perfect day as I have had since I've been in Spain. I started the day with a wonderful run on the beach and spent the afternoon walking around town with my fabulous roommate. To top the day off I found yet another cafe that offers take away coffee and found brown suede shoes by Adolfo Dominguez for only 29 euros. Does it get much better than that? I think not. It's funny how little things in life can make or break your entire day. The combination of a taste of convenience from back home and new shoes by a spanish designer, are exactly what I needed. 

A fortress palace in the center of the city, who knew?

Aside from the Cathedral and the beaches, the Alcazaba is one of the most famous attractions in Málaga. One of the ISA planned visits was to visit Alcazaba, which is conveniently located on the outskirts of the center. I didn't even know what an "Alcazaba" was until I showed up for the visit today. Nobody told me that we would be seeing some of the most beautiful architecture and best views of the city and the sea. For those of you, who like me, do not know what the Alcazaba is; it is a fortress palace for the Muslim rulers of the city, built in the 11th century. It is also located next to the Roman theater that was just discovered 50 years ago and still being uncovered.

View from the top

Roman Theater

Home Away from Home

I made it through my first week in Spain! Not as smooth sailing as I would have hoped, but with every obstacle comes great reward, right?

I started out my journey in the "honey moon" phase, which rapidly came crashing down. Thanks to my amazing roommate and some great friends in the ISA program, I'm starting to truly appreciate everything that Spain has to offer and making it my home away from home. I unfortunately did not do as well on my placement test as I would have liked, but with some negotiation I will be able to stay in my advanced Spanish classes and work to receive credit for them. Surprise! Test taking is still not my forte...

On the up side, I found out that our university is located across the street from the beach. Needless to say I will be spending my breaks on the beach. Although the lack of "take away" coffee shops in Spain killed my idea of grabbing coffee in between class and sitting on the beach.

It has been hard to want to explore the city, especially at night. Málaga is experiencing some very unusual weather for this time of year. It is extremely cold! None of us were prepared for the cold weather, we all assumed that because we are on the beach, the weather was going to be nothing but warm and sunny. Thankfully it is supposed to warm up in the next week and hopefully we'll have more motivation to experience Málaga's night life.

This weekend we had our excursion to Ronda with ISA. Ronda is a beautiful city, but I feel like the freezing temperatures prevented me from truly appreciating it. Despite the undesirable weather conditions we did have the opportunity to go on an over 4 hour walking tour. We visited many of the cities famous landmarks, including "El Tajo", but the highlight of the tour was definitely "La Plaza de los Torros". I don't think that I could ever sit through a bull fight and enjoy it, but it was interesting to see behind the scenes and get our tour guide's perspective on the tradition. Our tour guide was an elderly man from Ronda; he was very passionate about the bull fights, explaining that they were rich in culture. He explained that the newer generations would never fully appreciate or understand the significance of the bull fights, but for him it was important to preserve the culture.

 El Tajo

La Plaza de los Torros

I'm hoping that as things start to settle down I will be able to establish some sort of routine. I feel like we have been going nonstop since we arrived in Spain and I'm excited to actually start living here. Today the weather warmed up a bit, which allowed me to go for my very first run on the beach. I can't imagine anything more perfect, but to end my first week in Spain with a run on the beach.

Nonstop Fun

Since it took me so long to find consistent internet, I'm going to play catchup for a moment.

Recap:
Saturday- Arrive in Madrid, bus tour
Sunday- Tour of El Museo Prado and El Palacio Real, Bars
Monday- Leave Madrid for Toledo, tour of Toledo; including countless churches
Tuesday- Leave Toledo, 6 hour bus ride, arrive in Málaga and meet host person and roommate

Pretty much since the time I arrived in Madrid, it has been nonstop. I wish that we would have had more time to take everything in, but I know that they were trying to help us see as much of Madrid and Toledo as possible in such a short period of time. I wasn't a huge fan of Madrid; which was disappointing, because I've heard such great things about it. Madrid confirmed that fact that I am not a big city person and probably never will be. Aside from being way too big and busy, El Museo Prado and El Palacio Real were phenomenal, just a lot to take in all at once, especially in Spanish. We chose to go out our last night in Madrid, to say that we've experienced Madrid night life, even though we chose to go out on a Sunday night. Spainards take their alcohol very seriously, we ordered Daquiris that were almost 100% tequilla at a very unfriendly bar, but found another bar that had very friendly bartenders and made excellent Mojitos.

I am very sad that we were only able to spend one short day in Toledo; which I fell in love with. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Toledo, do it! I am already planning to return to Toledo for a weekend trip. Toledo was a reassuring change after Madrid had me doubting my decision to study abroad in Spain. It is a very small town, with some of the most unique architecture I have ever seen. It is quiet and serene and the people are incredibly friendly. I almost wished that I had chosen to study abroad in Toledo instead.

When I finally arrived in Málaga I met my host "señora"and my roommate, who are both way more than I could have ever expected. My roommate gave me a quick tour of the city; which I don't remember any of, as I was so awestruck to listen to all of the useful information that she was giving me. Good thing we share a room. Málaga is breathtaking and beautiful, it reminds me of San Diego in so many ways. I am so excited to spend the next three months here.

School starts tomorrow with a placement test at 8:30am, I am not looking forward to that. I keep forgetting that I am here to go to school and not just take in all that Spain has to offer. I was pleasantly surprised though when I found out that I have Fridays off, I guess I can make that compromise.