Embrace Jayce: What a Life This Is

This might just be my last blog in Spain. Luckily, I'm traveling Europe for another month after this, so I'm not done yet!

I should break this blog up into a few posts but we all know that would take weeks. I'm just going to spit out my thoughts in an unorganized fashion, so try to keep up.

Vamos.

My host mom cooks every meal for me, but rarely sits down to eat with me. I always felt it was a bit strange, and then one day she told me that she doesn't like food. I told her that her taste buds must be broken. Who doesn't like food? I'm almost positive she's just saying that to avoid talking to me in Spanish. This is a true testament to how bad my Spanish is if someone is willing to give up eating for 6 weeks to avoid listening to me struggle for 3 meals per day..

They don't refrigerate a lot of things that require refrigeration. I've smuggled yogurt, meat, and eggs out of the house and into the dumpster because of lack of refrigeration.

A few nights ago around 1am, a drunk man stopped me when I was walking past a bar on my way home. To emphasize how drunk he was, I must point out that he asked me what my name was 7 times during our medium length conversation. He continued to tell me about how he has family and friends but he is empty and sad on the inside. My goal was to escape without him crying to killing me. After about 30 minutes, I succeeded, and I hope Pablo is doing better now!

Two weekends ago we went to Barcelona. I'm going to describe the city with individual clauses to leave some mystery in your mind: English everywhere, painful imported sand, 1992 olympics, impressive Gaudi architecture, sneaky waiters, interesting nightlife.

This weekend we took a day trip to Picos de Europa in northern Spain. The two girls that planned the trip didn't tell us we'd be scaling the side of a mountain. We literally climbed up the side of a mountain, and it was the most fun I've had in a long time. There's something about putting your life in danger than makes you feel alive. It was an incredible experience and I can't wait to do it again.

Well, that's all I have the patience for right now. I leave Santander on Wednesday. I'm headed to Pamplona (running of the bulls), Seville, Rome, Prague, Vienna, Trier, Cologne, and Munich.

See you soon!