Pelirroja

In case you're picturing me as typical española, I'll let you in on a little secret: I am the only, let me repeat ONLY, redhead in Spain. Well, except for a few bad dye jobs and maybe one other exchange student from somewhere in Europe. Even being blonde here is not as much of a novelty.

Things I miss

So I've only been in Spain for three weeks. And what could I possibly miss already? Well, here's a partial list: long showers, chocolate, dessert, seedless grapes, baked food, a set schedule, green things like grass and fields of corn and nice shady trees, understanding people who speak Spanish without a lisp to their z's and c's or who turn their s's into air, fresh milk, public restrooms, not being under-dressed to go to school, good apples, street signs, people who are on time, and need I say chocolate one more time?

Then again, I am in Spain where I'm surrounded by siestas, fiestas, cervezas, buen amigos, really cool old buildings, amazingly good hot weather the way I like it, good looking men, tons of shoe stores, lots of new food to try, and more new experiences to have. And I suppose not everything is different; people are pretty much the same everywhere, even with a different language and cultural norms.

The middle finger

... in Spain has two functions: #1 being the same in the U.S., where people freely express their love for one another by waving it in salutation. In other words, mostly when kids decide to taunt each other and when someone's ticked off and when they're irritated by someone's inability to drive as if they had any brains, and when teenagers mess around.

#2 being their pointer finger. Alas, Spaniards don't seem to believe in the first finger as a grand tool to point things out. Instead they choose to use the middle finger from everything to underlining words on the chalkboard, to pushing their glasses farther up their nose, to pointing out a street on a map, to itching their face. So if you ever get the chance to travel to Spain, plan to take it in stride that over here, unless the middle finger comes with some choice swear words, it's probably not a hand signal that they hate people from the U.S.

The word is "tranquilo"

By now all of you should know for sure that I am currently in Cáceres, Spain, studying abroad for three months. I arrived in Madrid on Sept 10 after a looong set of flights through Detroit and Amsterdam. Kudos to me though, navigating airports I've never seen before. I managed to check my email in Detroit and wrote down the phone number for our Spanish coordinator, which turned out to be extremely helpful later when I couldn't find a single person from our group at the Madrid meeting point. Long story short, there are two arrivals areas in Terminal 2, and when they said "cafeteria at the end of Terminal 2" they actually meant "cafeteria at the end of Terminal 1 that is closest to Terminal 2". God bless the Info kiosk woman who called the number I had written down and explained where to find me. I joined the group for our bus ride south to Cáceres.

The first three weeks here have been excellent, although not without other kinks. It wouldn't be my life if something off-kilter wasn't happening alongside the rest of my schedule. Which is the reason I tend to worry... all the time. Which, for those of you who understand Spanish culture, just isn't a good thing. Sure, the Spanish mothers have a natural concern about their children getting places safely, but as una joven I'm supposed to just go with the flow of things. Tranquilo. Slow down and enjoy what's going on. Have a cerveza and tapas and just chill with some amigos. Stay out until 5:30 in the morning. Take a siesta. Etc. And all I can think is "just give me a set schedule and some written rules already!"