Una Familia Nueva

I have successfully moved into my new home for the next 4 months and am slowly adjusting to the differences.  I am not sure how things are going to work but hopefully things will get better and better.

I have also begun classes at La Universidad de Alicante which I take the bus to every morning around 8.  Right now it is only the intensive class which is 4 hours a day 5 days a week...this may seem like a lot but in reality it's only about the same as if you were to have 4 classes for an hour a day and this also means there is less homework since there is only one of them.

I have walked around Alicante by myself a lot and learned how to get around by on foot and by bus fairly quickly.  My host mom seems to think that I am to skinny and need to eat and there for has me on a 4 meal a day plan right now.  It seems as though I won't be getting off this anytime soon however I am working on telling her that I really don't need as much food and that I can bring only a piece of fruit as a snack to school and I will be just fine.  She has been sending me literally a whole cold lunch as a "snack" I have shared with others because I have so much food to eat and others have nothing.

My professor of this intensive language class which will be taking place the next 2 weeks is Rafa.  He is very nice and very good at teaching.  I am learning but also am bored because all of it is just review except the cultural and historical facts.  I will be talking to the program director on Monday about seeing if I can move up to the pre-advanced class or if she thinks I would be better off at the upper intermediate level I am at right now.

The day in the life of a Spaniard is way different than that of an American.  While each might get up at anywhere between 6 and 8 and enjoy some coffee and breakfast before heading out the door, that is where the similarities end.  For a Spaniard, the work day is 6 or 8 am until about 2 pm when they head home to eat a big lunch with their family before taking a nap or just relaxing in front of the tv.  Then they head back to work around 5 until between 7 and 9 depending on the job.  The family will then eat dinner anywhere between 8 and 10pm before sitting down to play cards or something until midnight when they generally go to bed or if you are young you leave to go out to the bars/clubs until all hours of the morning often not even going to bed before you have to start the process all over again.

~Adios~