The beach, school, and more :)

On Sunday some of my friends in the program and I went and checked out some beaches around Santander. It was a pretty day and now I can't wait until it warms up more so I can spend all my time down there after school every day :)

^Us having our first ice cream in Spain :)

On Monday was my first day of school! It was such a whirlwind of a day, but I learned a ton! My first class of the day is Gramática (grammar) and it starts at 9:15am and goes until 11am. Then I have a half hour break to eat snack, get coffee, etc. After I have Conversación oral (conversation) from 11:30 until 1pm, then my last class of the day is historia de arte (Art history of Spain), which is from 1:05 until 2:05pm. That's my day, then I go home and have siesta from about 2:30-5pm - so basically I eat a huge lunch and then sleep! 

Almost all stores close during that time and then open up again from 5 until between 8 and 10pm. After my siestas this week I have been taking the bus and going to "el centro", which is basically the center of the city where most of the shops and restaurants, etc are. I have walked around a bunch and gone exploring, and picked up things I need :) Some of my friends and I did homework and drank cafe con leche (coffee and milk) at a café in el centro this week too

I found a Koala store - I was so excited :) brings back so many wonderful memories of my favorite place - Australia!

Hector/Mauricio has been getting out a lot too! He loves Santander and has even spotted a few Spanish gnome señoritas in some of the stores we've been in

Me, Alex, and Paige

As amazing as the past week has been I have also had a couple of tough days getting used to everything. The experience really hit me on Tuesday and Wednesday, and I found myself very overwhelmed and missing my more predictable and familiar life in the states - and obviously all of my wonderful friends, family, and my boyfriend. Communication is difficult anyway (trust me, I'm studying it), but add another language into the mix and it presents even more challenges! I've done my best to work with it though and have been able to talk through a lot of my emotions and experiences with the great people in my program, my host family, and my family/friends/boyfriend at home :) 

I decided not to blog on those days because I didn't want to paint a sad picture of myself to anyone - especially because I am truly having such a great time! I feel really good today and have a positive outlook on my whole experience :) my blogs should be a little more regular than they have been the last few days! - I know that's extremely exciting for ALL of my numerous subscribers :-P obviously kidding haha. 

Les Extraño mucho!!! (I miss you all a bunch) xoxoxo