Sunday, we had a tour with our professor from WMU where he told random facts and showed us the main roads. My mom, my sister Irene (aye-ray-nay) and I went out for lunch then came home and ate more. This place is ALL ABOUT FOOD. After dinner we watched TV and I slept some more. Sleeping has been a little difficult with the time change and all of the travel. I'm taking full advantage of all of the siestas after we eat lunch.
On Monday, I had my first day of school. From my house the the Universidad de Burgos, it's a 20-25 minute walk. It's a nice way to start and end my day of classes, as the scenery is beautiful and it's unintentional exercise (bonus!). The majority of the path is line with trees that grow together and form a natural canopy over the walkway, which is nice for when it's super sunny, it's not too hot.
Next to the tree lined path (called the Paseo del Espolón), there's a river that divides the city. The way they talk about the river here, you'd think it was like the Mississippi, but in reality it's maybe 30 yards wide and I could probably walk across the entire thing without getting my hair wet. Either way, it creates a nice ambiance on my walks.
Tuesday, I had another day of classes (from 9-1:30). We have a language and grammar class in the morning, followed by a break and then a film study class and another one about the life and culture of Spain. Afterwards, my brain always needs a break. We had lunch (the biggest meal of the day), then I siesta-ed before meeting the group for another tour lead by the director of our program from the Universidad de Burgos (basically a more detailed description of the city). Afterwards, we found a bar that has beer, wine and tapas (small plates of food) for a euro each. Pretty much their version of a dollar menu. After raiding their dollar menu, I returned home to make cookies with my sister. She recently spent a few weeks in the US and fell in love with our cookies. She brought back $40 of M&Ms from their store in NYC and a bag of toll house chocolate chips so she could have the recipe. The entire process of baking was probably hilarious for any outside. Our kitchen is really small, and everything is metric, so besides the obvious language issue, we also we facing difficulty converting the measurments and temperatures to the metric system. The entire baking time was in attempts at Spanish and English and lots of pointing and "how do you say ____"s, but it was so fun. Also, they don't have cooking spray or mixers here, so the process was even more rustic (and makes me appreciate those things back home).
My other sister returned from her vacation in southern Spain and enjoyed our tasty treats. We got to eat cookies for dinner (MY MOM IS THE COOLEST) then I faced another night of difficult sleep.
Wednesday was a bit more eventful. After class we had a huge ceremony to welcome us to the study abroad program. The newspaper took our picture, and we sat in a room and listen to people talk about how great everyone and everything is. Afterwards, we had a luncheon in the cafeteria with wine, beer, soda, juice and so many yummy finger foods. (side note: the cafeteria serves beer and wine at all hours, there's a tap for beer and bottles of wine, as readily available as a Coke is at any cafeteria on Western's campus) I walked home after class and ran into the fiance of my director (from wmu) sitting at a bar right outside my building. I sat and chatted with her for a little bit before my new professor here showed up and joined us. He bought me a beer and explained all the fun ways to drink it (with lemon to make a summer shandy or with a bubbly water to make it more refreshing, different sizes, names etc.). The previously mentioned fiance told me about of great stores to go to, so I ventured out with my friend Monica to make an attempt at buying clothes. We spent a few hours shopping and stopping for tapas or a cerveza con limon before I came home and hung out with my family. We chatted and joked, and I finally felt like I was in on the entire conversation rather than observing like an outsider.
Today I had classes again and I think I hit my first (of many) wall. My sleep deficit caught up to me and I wasn't able to speak well in Spanish at all today. I got frustrated during my first class but felt better in the others. I came home and took a 4 hour siesta to alleviate my overwhelmed feelings. I woke up and had a text that my friends were out shopping, so I again ventured out to meet them and make another attempt at Spanish. We shopped and stopped for sangria at a bar around the corner from my house. It was soo tasty and fresh after walking around in the heat.
I returned home for a one on one dinner with my mom and we discussed our weekend plans. Tomorrow, we're going to the pool to lay out after class. Saturday we have a field trip planned to a small city near by. They're doing a reinactment of their city's history, so that should be pretty interesting. Sunday, I'm going with my mom to San Sebastian (http://wikitravel.org/en/San_Sebastian), to see her mom and sister. This is a beach town along the northern coast of the country. I think a few others are going to take the bus up and stay Sunday night, so we can have two beach days, as we don't have class Monday. This is a little more of the lifestyle I was used to before coming here... lots of time in the sun on Pine Lake.
-I got lost walking home my 1st day of school (was in the right area, but not the right street)
-I ate ice cream in the plaza while people watching
-I successfully made several clothing purchases (everything here is 70% off!!!!)
-I lost and found my cell phone (not a big surprise if you've ever spent more than 5 minutes with me)
-I successfully gave directions to a tourist (...I must be doing a good job at blending in)
-Had a beer bought for me by one of my professors (then during his class today, he made me tell the class all of the things he told me about beer yesterday)
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