¡Finalmente en España!

These first few days in Spain have been like a dream. Although it has rained everyday I'm fascinated by the architecture of the city, there's an old part and a new part to the city. The old part surrounds the cathedral, where St. James the apostle was burried. The cobblestone streets are so close together that no cars even drive through the area. It's a really popular area for bars and cafes. The new part does have streets where cars can drive, though its nothing like traffic in a big city in the US. They call the new part the ugly part of the city "más feo"  but I don't think it is ugly at all. There are atms (cajeros), cafes and cell phone stores everywhere!!!! There is also a lot of shopping in the new part; all the stores have big sales (rebajas) right now until the end of the semester. :) I'm still exploring the city; everything is new and exciting! I saw a latin salsa dance club last night that looked like fun, looks like my sister Jackie will have some salsa competition when I return home! And just so everyone knows, yes, every Spaniard, male and female is drop dead gorgeous :)

Traci, a classmate from Loras, and I at La Alameda, a big park in the middle of the city 

So here´s a quick list of all the things I did this past weekend:
napped
walked around a lot, for at least 3-4 hours on Saturday
window shopped in clothing stores and candy stores!
drank coffee in a café built in 1873
napped more
spent time getting to know my family, mom-Mila, sister (12) marta y brother (10) Alvaro
ate lots of delicious authentic Spanish food, Mila loves to cook and is really REALLY good at it!
got lost walking around the city alone, only for 20 minutes!
napped even more, jet lag is killing me!
purchased my first beer at a bar (it only cost 1,80 euros!), while watching fútbol on tv :)

So far, my favorite things about Spain are my family and the beautiful ambiance of the city, among all the rain.
My mother is very accomodating yet very laid back, she gives me a lot of freedom which is nice. My siblings are oh-so-adorable. Their ages are really fun: 10 and 12. Tonight i was in my room and I heard Alvaro just singing nonsense words and making a song, and he was belting it out! They just do things that are so typical for kids that age, I forget that it's normal for kids even in different countries to be the same (so that moment was kind of a stupid wake up call that no matter where you grow up, we're all the same) but Alvaro and Marta are so much fun, they fight with each other yet get along really well and are just super goofy. Another thing, I gave them oreos as a welcoming gift and they freaked. Those cookies were gone in three days! My mom loved her present, an Isabel Bloom snowman (my mom, Mary Kay thought it would be a good present to demonstrate a little bit of Iowa's culture) which she thought was so adorable even if they dont have snow here.

This is my room! I love it! lots of natural light