¡Qué riquísimo!

First, let’s all shout hooray for having the internet! Now I don’t have to stay up until 1:00 AM writing blog posts so I can post them at school the next day. Actually, it was set up on Saturday, so I haven’t had to do that since then. Before, I was mooching internet from La Plaza de Cervantes and the school. It’s kinda sad how crippled I feel without my phone or the internet all the time. No, not kinda sad. It is sad. It’s slightly ridiculous how dependent on technology I am. But, I justify it by remembering that I use it to keep in touch with those that matter most. Anyway, I’m not here to talk about the pros and cons of technology. I’ll leave that to someone else. I want to share a little about the food of España, a much more interesting topic I think.

The eating schedule here is a little different, or a lot different. We eat breakfast around 8:00 or 9:00. Pretty normal. Then we don’t have lunch until 2:00 or 3:00, and dinner isn’t until at least 9:00. Some families even eat at midnight! Don’t worry, we don’t starve in between lunch and dinner. Generally, that’s the time to have a little merienda (snack) or eat tapas!

All the food here is so rich! It’s rich and heavy. I love it, haha. And everything is drenched in olive oil. And a lot of it is fried. Hmmm, sounds like America. Except people here walk a lot more, so obesity is not such a problem. Spaniards love their meat. And seafood. And bread. We eat bread with every lunch and dinner. It’s a good thing I kind of really like bread! They also love little, sweet things (hey, me too!). We have this drawer full of dulces that we just eat whenever. Yeah, I’m definitely going to have to work to keep my girlish figure. ¿Quién quiere correr conmigo? Nice alliteration! After every meal, we have either some fruit or some yogurt for dessert. So there, I’m getting my healthy eating in too.

Breakfast here usually consists of coffee and some sort of grain-based food, whether cereal or muffins or little graham-cracker-type cookies. Since we’re not coffee drinkers, Erin and I drink leche con chocolate (basically cold hot chocolate). We also have dulces with breakfast. Lunch and dinner are backwards here. Lunch is the largest meal of the day, which actually makes more sense if you think about it. You need more energy during the day than at night, although there is the food coma immediately following a big meal. That must be why they have a siesta! It’s all coming together now. For lunch we eat things like soup, fish or chicken fillets, and all sorts of salads. I don’t think they eat a lot of beef here. It’s mostly fish, chicken, and pork. Dinner is definitely reminiscent of American lunches. We eat little finger foods and sandwiches. It’s a pretty light meal, usually consisting of bread (of course), thin strips of meat, and cheese, or fried fish nuggets, or empanadas. Mari is an excellent cook and she’s going to make us the famous paella and tortilla española. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into that!

Tapas.

Breakfast!

Paella. Mmmmmm.

Today we went out and ate churros con chocolate. It was pretty delicious and a recipe I need to find and share. The consistency of the chocolate is sort of like pudding. That’s the closest comparison I can think of. Except, it’s a little more runny than pudding. But not runny like liquid. Lava. I’ll go with that. It has the consistency of lava, not that I’ve ever actually felt lava. Just humor me here.

Yes. I ate the entire thing.

What else have I been doing? Well, we don’t have another trip until this Friday so we’ve been seeking our own adventures. I had my second day of class today. I’ve been here a week and only had class twice. My kind of schedule. I haven’t even started the Spanish grammar class yet! Yesterday, a bunch of us went up to Madrid. We wandered through El Parque del Buen Retiro and paddled around in some boats. It reminded me a lot of Central Park.

We stood in front of La Puerta del Sol, the very center of Spain, where the 0 km mark is.

We ate lunch in La Plaza Mayor. Well, I ate before and just got some water, which cost me three Euros!!! Are you kidding?! Yeah, I didn’t know that when I bought it. Others got little pizzas that cost 14 Euros each. Lesson learned: do not buy food in La Plaza Mayor.

We also visited La Catedral de La Almudena. This one I got to take pictures in! So beautiful.

Last but not least, El Palacio Real de Madrid and its gardens. We plan on returning and going inside. Yesterday was Worker’s Day in Spain (which is why we didn’t have class) and lots of sites were closed.

I went to a Catholic misa today as well. It was a very interesting experience. There was a lot of reciting by the entire congregation, standing up and down, and only the priest took the sacrament. I can see why people think the LDS church is so different. Everyone participates in the meetings. Everyone takes the sacrament. We don’t have a priest, in the sense of other churches. We really are a peculiar people. I love it.

I already feel like I’m becoming a better person. I’m gaining more confidence, more tolerance, greater love for people everywhere, greater adaptability. And I’m having lots of fun while I’m at it. Thinking about doing a study abroad? Do it. It will be the best decision of your life.