My first night in my new casa was good. I ended up waking up at midnight thinking it was the morning. I looked at the clock and it said 00:43 (military time) and I couldn’t believe it. I went back to bed, but woke up again at 4:00am thinking it was time to get up. I think it was probably just the nerves and my body being confused, but I felt really well-rested when I woke up the next day so that was good. Miguel knocked on my door and said “Sarah, Sarah” with a cute little Spanish accent until I woke up and answered the door. I ate a banana for breakfast with Amparo while we watched a show where a guy gives English lessons so at least I could understand everything! After breakfast, Amparo walked with me to the bus stop and told me when to get off. I got to the University and we got a tour of the campus and met our professors. Afterward, we took a tour of Pamplona, the city that will be hosting us for the next 11 weeks. Most of it was Casco Antiguo (the oldest part of the city and also where I live) because it has all of the history. We ate lunch at a restaurant, and we had salad with tuna, ham (cured and definitely not the same as the US), fritos (a variety of fried foods like ham and cheese and calamari), some type of shrimp, green bean, and egg mixture, a leg of lamb, and each of us ordered a different dessert so we could try them all. It was all delicious, but I thought I was going to explode! La comida (lunch) is the biggest meal in Spain (as opposed to dinner in the US) and there are always at least 3 courses. Also, it usually lasts for somewhere between 2-3 hours. Almost the entire city has a siesta (mid-day break) where the city basically shuts down in the sense that almost all of the stores close down from about 1:00-4:00 so they can all go home and eat la comida with their families. I think it’s a really great concept and it’s only one of the many very old customs that they still have. It also shows the importance that they put on family here which I think is great as well.
After lunch, we took a tour of the Santa Maria Cathedral in town, and then we made a trip to a store called El Corte Inglés (The English Court) which is some sort of a strange mixture between a mall and a Wal-Mart. Basically, it has everything (Wal-Mart), but most of it is expensive. It’s a lot like a Dillard’s but with things like shampoo, cell phones, and a bunch of other things. When we left it was snowing like crazy, but everything is pretty close together so we all just walked home. I ate dinner with Miguel and Amparo, and they were really interested in how my day went. It was a little easier to understand them, and I definitely hope that it continues to get easier because it’s still pretty hard! After dinner, we watched Millionario, the news, and a movie called “Notes on a Scandal” which was English with Spanish subtitles so I could actually understand it! It’s so funny because Miguel really likes Millionario (reminds me of my Dad at home) and he gets really excited to answer the questions. Well, I suppose next is my orientation day for my classes and our first excursion…
