vale, vale!

Lessons learned in Spain:

--My host family is probably the best. Maite and her 6-year-old daughter are incredible! Irene is very cute, loves Justin Bieber and Hannah Montana, and is quite hilarious. She will get in little spouts where she just talks so fast and I can hardly understand her, but it is entertaining to watch. Last night I turned on my iPod and she danced to Justin Bieber in my room, singing little parts of the songs. It was cute. We asked her if she loved Justin Bieber. Her answer (so matter of factly) was, "Claro!" (of course). Some people are with host families who are old ladies that are very strict ... I am lucky!

--Sometimes one letter can make all the difference in the world! Case in point? Irene was eating cherries one night. I was showing her that I could tie the stem in a knot with my tongue. She was first horrified that I put the stem in my mouth, shouting not to eat it. I was telling her that my name in English (the way it is pronounced here) sounds like cherry. But, I mistakenly called the cherries cervezas instead of cerezas. Yeah, cervezas = beer. She had a good laugh about that.

--The city is beautiful! And, no matter how much they feed us or how much bread we eat, I don´t think it compares to the amount of walking we do. Yesterday a few friends from my group and I just went exploring, saw an AMAZING view of the city, and tried granazado de limón (basically a lemon slush drink). We also saw gorgeous architecture. I can´t wait to show you pictures! Unfortunately, the computers here at school don´t allow that.

--Here in Spain, "vale" is a slang word meaning "OK". Spaniards say it ALL THE TIME. Also, they drop the S's from words quite frequently. I felt like quite the Spaniard yesterday when I said, "Buena noche" to my host family instead of "Buenas noches".

Ok, this post was long, but I wanted to share some of my adventures! After the first two nights, things definitely were looking up and I don´t feel so homesick anymore. I am here to enjoy and explore! I also met a very nice girl in my class today from Virginia. Hopefully we´ll become friends here!

Vale, vale. Chao!