crazy spainards

Class today was so much fun! Instead of doing our typical lessons on grammar, we just had conversation the whole time, I learned so many new things about the spainards!!
1. They wear their wedding rings/promise rings on their ring finger on their right hand!
2. In the US it's common for us to have people over at our house for social gatherings, or just to have friends over after school to hang out. Here that doesn't happen, because the houses are smaller so there's no room for everyone! Also, the homes here are more of just a place for family to be. Everyone lives at home until they're older, unlike in the US where kids are used to living on their own in college, and even after college if they move out of the house. This is why there are always people out in the streets, because that's just where they hang out! Also, drinks and tapas here are alot cheaper than say a drink in the US because it's common for people to just get a drink and hang out after work/school, and this way it's affordable too (well, I still couldn't do it every day but maybe once a week!!)
3. The reason Spanish people are so thin. My teacher seems to think it's just because they walk everywhere! She was telling us about one time when her and her husband vacationed to California, and they had to drive to go everywhere which shocked her. What surprised her even more was how there was a little workout center in the hotel. Here in Granada, there's a gym, but it's mostly for the tourists that come and stay for awhile. She said that when she was in CA, her and her husband would come home and have to go on the workout machines and walk for an hour just to get their exercise in since they hadn't done much walking that day!

I only have 4 more days of this class until my trip to Italy which I'm confirming details with my dad today! After researching flights, and trains and cost of hostels it adds up quickly! This will definitely be my big trip while I'm here. It's also amazing that flights from Chicago to Spain are half of what I paid for, less than $500, crazy!

I'm going to meet up with my U of I friend Sally tonight for coffee or something just to hang out and chat. She's going through the exact same feelings I had at the beginning of the trip and still do on and off so it will be nice to talk to her! The way they explained it to us before we came here, is over the couse of the 4 1/2 months we're here, we'll go through different phases. The first phase is the "honeymoon stage" where everything is new and exciting at first and you're so happy to be here! Then one day it switches and you're homesick and all you want to do and think about is going home. I'm having such a great time here so far experiencing everything Granada has to offer, but it's also nice to be able to talk to my family & Tom back home. Although, even that gets hard sometimes, because after talking to them it makes me miss them even more & sad that I'm missing out on some things back home.

The other day I treated myself and bought a fairly big bag of peanut m&m's, so I could get my chocolate fix in, and they're already gone! That's one thing I definitely miss here, American desserts (another reason why they're all probably so thin here!) We don't have snacks at all throughout the day, or dessert after any meal, so if we want one we have to go out and buy something! I've already found a good place for ice-cream & coffee :)

Well before I bore you all, I'll end this now! I'll update later with my finalized plans for Italy!!

Miss you!!!