Siesta

Lemme begin by saying that Siesta and I...we're good friends. Yesterday, Jenessa and I were so adamant that we wouldn't sleep bc we wanted to get on a sleep schedule...yeah we slept for 3 hours yesterday afternoon, woke up to eat (THE most delicious Spanish tortilla...everything Pepita makes is heaven. Olive oil allll over the place. Mmmm) and shower before going back to bed for the night.

This morning we toured Alcalá, a university town about 30 minutes west of Madrid. If I understood the tour guide correctly this morning (which is doubtful, considering her rapid theta'd Spanish and the ever-present feeling of exhaustion), Alcalá is the oldest university in Spain that's still standing. I think it replaced something else...but! It even had it's own laws and a prison and everything, it's own little city like the Vatican on a smaller scale. This city is SO OLD, the cathedral is from 1497 and it's in the Gothic style but certainly different than any Gothic architecture in England or France. I haven't taken any pictures yet...but I'll steal Jenessa's or take my own later. I haven't seen anything yet I won't be seeing every day for the next seven weeks:)

Our host parents are so great! They're both retired, so the students the host are their life. Another girl lives here right now, on a study abroad from Loyola in Maryland. She's been here all by herself since January and she'll leave in May. They travel ALLLL over the place so I've only seen her once. As was mentioned before, Pepita's cooking is fenomenal but she'd be the last to say it. Yesterday for lunch we had espagetis (spaghetti) and for dinner that amazing tortilla!! Here in Spain the tortilla is the basis of the meal and it is VERY different than a Mexican tortilla. It's made of eggs, potato, onions, and olive oil. Maybe a few other ingredients, but that's basically it. And it is DIVINE. Then breakfast today was bread with this amazing mermelada de melocotón (peach jam) and leche con Colacao (hot chocolate...Coloacao is a brand of chocolate powder). Lunch was sopa con lentejas y chorizo (lentil soup with sausage)...again, amazing. Lunch and dinner are usually followed with fruit and cheese. Today after lunch we had Valencia oranges! Honest to goodness Valencia oranges. Oh man. So sweet and delicious.

Right now, Janessa and I are going to explore Alcalá and take lots of pictures, vale? They say that like we say okay? or understand? It's all over the place. Love it. Love Spain! Love Alcalá.

Hasta mañana!