I've been thinking for a salutation to start this blog for like 5 minutes and nothing has to come to me. So hola.
This morning my shower went smoothly and I managed to not soak the entire bathroom in the process. After I showered my roommate, Natalie, FINALLY arrived aka my life with my host mom just got way less awkward. However breakfast was still quite awkward as she put out a tray with a set of dishes (only enough for 1) with 2 glasses. There was nothing on the plate and there was only a roll/croissant type thing in a package. Natalie and I just kind of looked at it and wondered how this roll was supposed to feed both us. And why the F there were empty dishes set on the table. Where was the food? Or was she just tantalizing us? Natalie broke the roll in half and then gave me my half when Mercedes said something along the lines of I get my own? Then she brought me the same thing. Never was there anything that we needed a plate for. It was all very confusing. I need to learn Spanish.
I was somehow able to get Natalie and me to the school via the metro. I didn't get us lost once so I guess I'm basically a Spaniard now. We got there and went to the school where we had an orientation about typical life in Barcelona. Today's feature is interesting things in Barcelona that I hate:
1. WATER IS LITERALLY SO HARD TO COME BY. At a restaurant, water is more expensive than wine. I guess it's because you can't drink the tap water here because the waiters bring you a bottle of water that costs like €5 which is definitely way too expensive. At my homestay, whenever I drink water it's out of a bottle, almost like it's a 2 liter of pop. I just don't understand this and it's definitely hard to get used to. I wake up every morning basically feeling the Sahara desert is in my mouth and I just want to chug the entire 1.5 liters of water Mercedes puts out for me (what am I, a dog? I just used the phrase water was put out for me...) but then she just has to go buy more so I feel rude doing that. I'm just thirsty. I might be dehydrated for the next 4 months.
2. There are 2 kinds of milk. From my understanding, there's pasteurized and non-pasteurized. One kind you keep in the fridge and is called "leche fresco" meaning fresh milk (shouldn't all milk be fresh???) and the other kind you can keep out of the fridge for months. WHAT. I'm pretty sure that's what I was fed yesterday (again feeling like a dog) and I want to die. What are these people thinking?
3. They don't believe in ice. No drinks come with ice. If you ask for ice, they will bring 2-3 cubes. So evidently I will not be having a refreshing glass of ice water any time soon.
4. They dress nice. Every. Single. Day. We were telling the lady leading our orientation that us Americans will wear work out clothes (never having worked out) out in public and that female students don't usually wear makeup and do their hair on an every day basis. She could not understand why we would do this. Being in Spain makes me realize that Americans are pretty fat and dumb. Maybe that's why I stick out...
Anyway, I learned all about that in my orientation which was basically How To: Act Like a Spaniard 101. After that, I think I was just about as American as they come. After touring around many areas of the city (obviously taking pictures, not acting like a local) we went to a little stand for crepes and waffles. Because I'm an actual idiot I didn't realize that there were not 3 columns of the menu there was just the menu in Catalan/English/Spanish. I also did not realize that the crepe on the picture, which was featured with +Napa/+Cream, was a translation. So I ordered "un crepe con napa y cream"...the lady looked at me and told me they were the same. It was all very confusing. Then she started speaking English. I've taken Spanish for almost 8 years now (how am I not fluent? I don't know) and yet when she told me the price I just looked at her because I forgot what "sesenta" meant. She then repeated the price in English. This is going to be a long semester.
I made it home safely on the metro with Natalie. We are not sitting in our room and Gato won't leave me the F alone. It's like I'm a cat magnet of some sort. Cat hair in my bed is probably the best thing I need right now.
Spanish classes start tomorrow. I hope they go over numbers again, because this shit is embarrassing.
Angela
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