Super Guay

I don't know if it was the relaxation at the beach or what. I have had the great past day and 1/2 or so. I was practically giddy in class (though that could've been due to lack of sleep). Monday morning I met the new chica of our house-Maria! She is from ITALIA and is here by herself. She is 17! Una chica valiente, no? Anyways, we took her to school with us and she is very sweet. I'm so excited because she knows more Spanish than English so when Erin and I are with here we talk in Spanish (mas practica!). At school yesterday grammar was the same old same old and in culture we talked about art (which we already knew a fair amount of due to our many museum visits). After school, however, Erin and I came back to the house to enjoy a little siesta (of course). Then, for a class I had to do two different interviews over topics of our choice regarding Spanish culture. Having already spoken a lot with Carmen (madre) about Spain, I had asked her daughter (also Carmen) if she had any free time for me to interview her. She is 26 and I wanted to get a younger person's perspective on what they do in their free time/night life. We were in a way supposed to compare what we had read in a book as "typical" to what they really do. She began with telling me that she could spend every day in Retiro park (which I understand). She said that you can feed the ducks out of your hand with bread! I will most definitely by trying that before I leave. However, she told me that she loathes the bull fights. She hates the cruelty of the animals and the way that people associate that with Spain. She said if that is what it means to be Spanish, she does not want to be Spanish. There are a lot of people opposed to the bull fights. One region, Cataluña, has actually made it illegal now. She hopes that others will follow, though she knows that in Madrid that will probably never happen, because it is the Capital and the bull fights bring in a lot of money. She also made a comment that the torreros (matadors) are famous but some of them can barely read! (I asked my professor and I don't know how true that is, but I'm sure there is a bit of truth behind that). Anyways, I also asked her about the Spanish culture of "salir." Or going out. We had read that it is typical for Spaniars to go out for the entire night, and top it off with churros in the morning at 7:00 before going back home. She smiled and said this is most definitely normal. She has been very busy with school, but she said normally you go to a bar or pub (they close at 3 AM) then hit the discotecas (they close at 5 or 6) then go for churros. As exciting as this lifestyle sounds I do not know how I would function! Still, she gave me several names of great places to go that are not full of tourists and "super guay" young people Spanish for "very cool" (me gusta!). There is so much to cram into our last week! I really enjoyed talking with her, and comparing the US and Spain. Trying to explain sororities was definitely a task, as she had seen may movies and TV shows where they were represented. She also did not understand a lot of our Samford rules. VERY different culture, haha. Anyways, after my great interview with Carmen, Erin, Maria, and I went to the weekly Copa de Bienvenidos. This is the welcoming for the new students each week. Normally we end up in our little Samford group. This week, however, we all kind of arrived at different times, and we Maria with us so we mingled a big. We ended up making friends with a guy from Switzerland, Australia, and Germany! I love it! I love having friends from different places! We watched a bit of the Italy vs. Paraguay game on the TV then decided to go get tapas at El Tigre (a place that had been on my list). I wish we had tapas bars in the US. You buy a drink and get free tapas (basically appetizers). There were so many people and we were stuffed in but we had so much fun. After tapas we headed to meet up with another group for churros, were we accosted by a Cuban man selling cigars and asking us if we like Bush. Nobody really responded, but he began to curse about Bush and said that September 11 and Katrina were his fault. It was quite interesting. He was not happy with the way Cuban people were treated in Florida (one of our guys is from Florida). However, he was nice after we began talking with him a bit more. Regardless, we had so much fun with our group and new friends and finally headed back around 12:00 (When I then began my homework. I'm such a rebel). Needless to say it was a blast. Making new friends and learning different cultures is why I am here. I can tell it is going to be a good week :).