Rockin' Santander.

Hello All,

It has been a little while since I’ve posted anything and updated you all on my status here in Spain. Everything is going really well. I am very much enjoying my time here. When I last left you all, I was in Madrid on my way to this beach city of Santander. As soon as we arrived, we were thrown into the culture by meeting and leaving with our host moms who spoke no English. It hasn’t been a big problem for me. In fact, I prefer it that way almost. We do live very close to the place where we are attending classes which makes it very convenient. It is about .8 miles to the school and another .4 miles to the beach.

We are at the beginning of our last week here, only 4 days left until I begin my solo trip. I will try to recap these past two weeks as best I can. I effectively live in a house the size of a shoe. This is not an exaggeration. My college apartment next year is bigger than the entire area of this house. It makes my freshman dorm look like a palace. I’m not complaining, just comparing. Our host mom’s name is Julia Lama, a 56 year old Cuban who left at the height of Castro’s ascent to power. Wit that being said, she obviously has some interesting stories. Her cooking is fantastic. Not fantastic in the sense that I love everything that she cooks but in the sense that she has a lot of things that I do like. I’m not sure if I would eat it for the rest of my life . I could, mind you. It will sustain you, just not always appease the taste buds. Certain foods are more bland hear than in the States. Also on the contrary there are foods that the US has never even dreamt of coming close to. Almost anything with their chesse is fantastic because it is so rich and tasty. In Europe, a lot of Ham is used. It seems to be a VERY popular meat and rarely will you find a cut of turkey. Since I don’t eat ham, this has posed a little problem, but not much.

On the topic of school, which is after all, the reason that I am here. The classes are fairly the same as they would be in Macon, GA. We meet for 4 hours a day on Monday through Thursday and have Fridays for little excursions planned by the program. The classes are similar because, well, they are being taught by professors from Mercer. Two of the Mercer professors, Dr. Fernando Palacios and Dra. Lydia Masanet, came to Spain with us to head program and teach the classes. The first class that we take is “Real Language and Application”. This is EXACTLY what it sounds like. We sit in class and talk in Spanish. There are no tests, barely any grades, and even fewer requirements. We are asked to go out and talk to others as the homework. We also learn “colloquial” terms used by the population. In case you aren’t familiar with the term “colloquial”, it pretty much means all of the swear words and slang that a group uses to communicate effectively. As it turns out, the knowledge of these types of words is essential to communication with my generation just as it is in the States. I can now cuss with amazing efficiency in Spanish. Haha, I am just kidding ;) Along with this class we take a Spanish Culture and Civilization class which is a bit more formal. Not much, mind you, but just a bit. Here we have learned about all of the inhabitants of Spain and how they influenced the culture that we are seeing today. We see how the Catholic Kings reigned and what reforms they put in place that still remain in some form or another. You all should know by now how much I dislike history, so this class is obviously not my favourite. (I am doing well in both classes)

Throughout the trip we have had several little outings to different places around Spain, I already told you about Toledo and El Escorial and the Museums and what not so let me tell you about what we did while in Santander. It was, what appears to be two Fridays ago now that our tour guide, Raquel (I still have to tell you all about her), most of the group, and Dra. Masanet all took a bus about 2 hours or so outside of the city to a Range/park called Picos de Europa. What this is actually a giant mountain range that people can climb up and down and have a nice hike around these mountains. We didn’t get to climb the mountain, much to my chagrin. However, we did get the opportunity to hike down the mountain. To those of you who, just now, have said “well, that’s stupid” or “that’s easy”, I assure you, it was neither easy nor was it boring. When we arrived at the base of the mountains the morning of our excursion, it was about 15 or 16 degrees Celsius. Ladies, and Gentlemen, this is cold. Fortunately for us, we did not have to endure that for very long. We got into a cable sky-lift and proceeded up through the thick clouds that covered the entire summit of the mountain to an unloading station about 3/4ths of the way up the mountain. When we arrived, out of the clouds, I assure you it was one of the most intense moments of my life, visually. The entire group immediately reached in their bags and, wielding their cameras, proceeded to take as many pictures as their memory cards would allow. Our guide pointed the way and we began to climb about 200 meters to begin our descent. For four hours, we walked down these mountain ranges stopping for lunch about 1/3 of the way through.. It was an eye opening experience because, not only did I get to see the

beautiful scenery, and get fresh air, I got to know my classmates and my professor better. This was both good and bad because I found out that a few of my classmates are extremely annoying., as we all have the potential to be. Their potential, however, runs rampant through their system and erupts through their mouths, seemingly before consulting their brains. With all of this, Picos de Europa was my FAVOURITE trip, second only to Toledo. The other trip was much less appealing. I’m still not positive where we went. It was something like, Santillana del Mar, Altamira, and one other place. There was nothing too terribly special about these places. There were some okay markets in the Santillana del Mar, so while I wasn’t paying very much attention to anything, I shopped. :/

Okay, A little bit about Raquel, our jefa(boss). Raquel, is your typical Southern Spanish woman: tall, long dark hair, dark eyes, breathtakingly beautiful, funny, passionate, and sincere.

She has been with us since the moment we stepped out of the Madrid airport. She has planned our trips, has shown us around, has helped us when we needed it, and joked and laughed with us. She does speak English but prefers to speak in Spanish, naturally. It is hard to sum up Raquel in such few words and I’m sure that I’m not doing her justice but I am at a loss.

The nightlife is one of the most different things here. Santander is not a large city but come Wednesday through Sunday nights, there is an abundance of people that fill the Plaza Cañadio. This is the main plaza that conveniently sits in the middle of all of the bars and discotecas in Santander. Unlike the States, where you can go out at 11 and be back home by 2 or 3, at the latest, the bars and clubs here don’t even get good until 1. There are a number of discotecas that will not even open before 1 and don’t have people in it until 1:45. It is easy to lose track of time and stay out until 6 in the morning. This is easy because none of the clubs or bars have cover charges and so it is easy to hop from bar to bar with your friends and enjoy the music, drinks, and company of all of the establishments. In addition to this, people are very friendly at 4:30 in the morning. Outside of the bars you meet several people and wind up just standing and talking to people for hours. 4AM on the weekend is the best time to get to know someone in Spain, that is a fact. This Thursday is the last day of our stay here in Santander and I am a little sad. I have met some very interesting people hear that I will hopefully never forget.

Things that I miss: Mom, talking to Kris everyday, the gym, cooking, my king size bed, my car (although walking is good), continuous internet, movies, free water.

Things that I don't miss: paying for Gas, having nothing to do all day, torrential downpour,