After leaving late Tuesday night last week, I flew to London then Madrid then Granada, and finally took a bus to my city, Jaén. If that sounds like a lot, that's because it is, and the trip was only made more difficult by the fact that I had three large suitcases and my purse to handle by myself. I arrived at the bus station where I was met by the Bilingual Coordinator of my school. He was very nice and helped me get settled. We spent the day doing such important things as eating tapas at an outdoor cafe, buying a a móvil, and of course a hair straightener (obviously I had to buy that on my first day!)
Typical Spanish Tapas
Afterwards I settled into an apartment in the historic city center with two other American girls in my program (Holly and Molly). That weekend I discovered that the Spanish nightlife is very similar to Argentina's (i.e. the night begins after midnight and doesn't end until about 7 am). I also realized that I am either really out of practice or just getting old...or maybe a little bit of both. On both Friday and Saturday we had a botellón (when people buy alcohol and drink in outside with friends) in a plaza with some nice Spanish chicos from the local university. Then we went bar hopping, which is when I discovered two new favorites: Sal y Pimienta (yes...Salt and Pepper) and Trovedor, both of which are in el centro.
After staying out until about 5 each day you'd think the logical thing to do would be to sleep until midday. However, in Spain if you sleep until 12 you pretty much loose half your day because of the siesta. Each day everything shuts down completely from about 2 to 5 for people eat a big lunch and rest. Then everything opens back up around 5 or 6. So hitting the snooze button a few times may make you loose your day until early evening. This is something I'm still trying to adjust to.
Over the weekend, during my quest to find an apartment, I found an anuncio for a language exchange partner - a native Spanish speaker who wants to better his English in exchange for helping a native English speaker with Spanish. So on Sunday I met my new amigo de conversación at El Colombiano cafe in el centro for crepes (amazing) and bilingual conversation (also pretty amazing). We talked about cultural differences and politics, among other things. It was a great experience and I'm excited to continue learning more about Spain through this.
El Colombiano Cafe
Finally, today I papered the city with anuncios offering my native English speaking expertise (you know, since I'm a teacher now) through private lessons for individuals and groups. I already got my first call! Hopefully this will go well enough to aid in financing my travels.
Whew! It's only been a week and I feel like so much has already happened! Since I've been super busy and stressed over various things I haven't had a chance to really explore Jaén. I'm hoping to do that this weekend, and will have a new post up soon. ¡Hasta luego!
Besos,
B
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