Things I will miss about Spain:
- Taking lots and lots of pictures of lots and lots of cool things. Europeans always say they're shocked at how big everything is in the USA, but I think estadounidenses are shocked at the size of and age of all the monuments here and the entirely different feel of the big cities.
- ¡SIESTA! I have the happy talent of being able to sleep at any time of day, in any contorted position imaginable, sometimes with the help of an obliging roommate letting me put my feet on their lap while on a train or leaning my knees on their lap. And I dream, too, so I guess I hit my REM sleep or whatever it is.
- Lots of opportunities to travel and at a waaay cheaper price than in the USA
- Lots and lots of time to read. I've managed to read about 30 books since I've been here. Back in college I didn't read too much for fun, since it was all I was doing in my Journalism and Spanish classes, not to mention sometimes having to write several 20 + page papers and writing for the newspaper...Since the last list I posted in my blog, I've read The Appeal by John Grisham, Sea Glass by Anita Shreve, All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve, and right now I'm reading Conflicts of Interest by John Martel
- My ridiculously cheap apartment... even though it's had so many problems since I've been here, such as the gas cylinder holder nearly exploding/having to be replaced, the washer having to be replaced, the hot water not working, calcium getting stuck in the pipes all the time until January, water pressure not working right until January, hardly any climate control whatsoever, dust bunnies constantly popping up for unknown reasons, the top shelf of one of our cupboards collapsing, the toilet in one of the bathrooms being completely useless in the past month and until we leave, stuff getting stuck in the wall sockets, the inability to sit on the toilet because my legs are too long and they hit the tub/so I have to sit at a weird angle...um...I think that's it. You get what you pay for.
- My nice long walks to and from school
- Everything being within walking distance in my little town
- Everything being cheap in my little town
- The generally nice temperature
- All the history in Spain
- Cool buildings and art
- Fans! I have a nice little collection going
- My novelty to the Spaniards -- especially being an Amazon woman
- Speaking Spanish every day
- The food -- I was warned about "jamón" before I came here, and it was as weird as described, with bajillions of pig legs hanging everywhere and making me nauseated.
- The Spaniards being sometimes uncomfortably direct in their conversation, e.g. "your accent is really weird" or coming up to me in the street to tell me I'm GUAPA or one time being FOLLOWED (yikes)
- The streets being insanely small
- STARING. People will just outright look at you until I look back and raise an eyebrow as if to say "what the hell do you want?"
- No carpet
- The utter lack of discipline for kids in the education system. I lay the smackdown on a daily basis at school and don't respond to kids yelling my name incessantly.
- Having my name pronounced "MEHHHK"
- Lack of personal space...I guess I got the Swedish genes in that respect, because I get kind of uncomfortable being touched by people I don't know well. Sometimes just in general.
- SMOKING EVERYWHERE! I absolutely hate it when my hair smells like smoke, my eyes sting, my clothes smell, etc.
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