Top 10 Things I Will Miss From Spain

1. Cheap Wine: I used to not be a wine drinker, but I began to order it at dinner and bars in Spain because one, it is cheap and two, I wanted to fully immerse myself in the Spanish culture while I was here and I now love it.

2. Good Dining Hall Food: I may be miles and miles away, but everyone knows about the health code violations in the Denison eating areas. Sick. So, not only will I miss a dining hall sans health code violations, but the food here is about 10 times better than anything Huffman, Curtis and Slayter have to offer.

3. Free Tapas with a Drink: At most bars and some restaurants here, when you order a drink you get a free tapa with it. For those of you who don’t know what a tapa is, it’s like an appetizer. It is the perfect amount of food when you just want to enjoy your drink and nibble on something, and it tastes a lot better than a breadbasket.

4. Siesta: I fully take advantage of the 3-4 hour period in the middle of the day when the shops close and everyone is eating lunch and relaxing.

5. Easy Traveling: Yes at home I can jump in a car and drive as far or long as I want, but you can’t really book a flight or take a bus or train to another country on weekends.

6. Principe Cookies: For those of you who have not been to a Spanish speaking country, you may not know what these are, but they are like backwards Oreos where the cookie part is like a graham cracker and the inside is chocolate. They are completely addicting.

7. Skyping: Skyping has saved my life. I do it with friends abroad, friends at school and family. On Thanksgiving my brother took his computer around the kitchen and showed me not only everything they had cooked for dinner, but also our stocked fridge, with soymilk. Yum.

8. Being on TV: My internship here has gotten me recognized in public in some instances and it’s crazy. I will definitely miss getting my make-up and hair done each week.

9. Maids: Living in the dorms we have maids that come in everyday to clean the bathroom and shower and mop the floors. And once a week they change our sheets and towels. I’ll miss that when I’m living in Beaver, and have to clean my own bathroom.

10. Weather: Although I cannot wait to go home for the snow, I know that when February rolls around and it is still icy and bitter cold in Ohio I’ll wish I was back in Spain in warmer weather where it rarely snows.

Let’s Carve The Ham

Turkey Day is approaching and all I can think of is pumpkin pie. Although the mashed potatoes with gravy, the stuffing and of course the golden brown turkey make up the holiday; for me it’s the pumpkin pie I will be missing the most since not one of those things exists here in Spain. So when the school told us that they would cook us a Thanksgiving dinner on November 27th, I’ve been wondering what exactly this dinner is going to entail. I’m assuming they will serve us ham because turkey’s don’t exist in Spain and ham is so abundant here that they have legs hanging from restaurant ceilings. They’ve also served us mashed potatoes in the cafeteria before, but they definitely do not taste like the buttery, soft mashed potatoes that melt in your mouth. And the closest thing to stuffing is probably their tortilla española, which I won’t complain about because I have grown to love it, but is nowhere near anything stuffing oriented. As for dessert, they’ve tried to make flan, which tastes a lot more eggy than it should and we’ve have ice cream, where the chocolate tastes grainy, and fruit salad which I can’t complain about. I know most of this seems like a lot of complaining and pessimism towards Spain food, but I love Spain food. What I’m worried about is Spain trying to do American food. The burgers they make are basically rare and as I’ve previously mentioned about the mashed potatoes I just don’t want them to ruin Thanksgiving. In the end, I may have to pull an A Little Princess and have to use my imagination and pretend like what I am eating is my favorite turkey day food (if you don’t know what I’m talking about go watch the movie). But, aside from all the doubt on their ability to whip up an old-fashioned Thanksgiving meal, it’ll be interesting not to sit at a table with family for the first time and instead sit with other students and friends. Regardless of all the changes this year though, I will still be thankful for a lot of things. One in particular is the fact that I’ll be home for Christmas and will get my pumpkin pie then.

Truco y Trato

This was my first Halloween that I didn’t dress up and it was possibly the worst idea ever. I knew that the day would eventually come where I would be too old to dress up for this holiday, but I never thought that that would be anytime soon. The U.S. is really good at “Americanizing” countries, so although Halloween is celebrated in Spain it is not nearly as hyped up or popular as it is in America. Here, the stores don’t decorate their windows with pumpkins or witches in fact; there was only one small, hole in the wall store that sold costumes. There isn’t specially packaged candy that fills the aisles of corner and grocery stores, nor are there horror movie marathons on TV the entire month of October. It’s completely different here, and so much more commercialized in the U.S. I went to Madrid to spend Halloween there thinking that it had to be big in a large city. I was wrong. Don’t get me wrong, there were people that dressed up, in fact a lot more people were wandering the streets in costume than I thought would. But this was a different kind of costume style. Gone were the superheroes and foam costumes bought in stores. Spaniards take the idea of Halloween, a night meant to scare and be scared, very literally. Everyone dressed up creepy. The girls didn’t wear skimpy clothing and don animal ears Mean Girls style. Instead, they painted their faces like skulls or with blood and the men did the same. Something clearly got lost in the translation. I think the saddest part was when I went out to the streets of Toledo to interview teens about their Halloween plans for my internship and they all said that they never went trick or treating and weren’t sure if they would even dress up for Halloween. I remember my parents taking me trick or treating in my neighborhood when I was little. Actually, I remember trick or treating until my sophomore year of high school. The best part was dumping my candy out on the table and trading with my friends and little brother. I’ll really miss buying all the Halloween candy that goes on sale after Halloween. The candy just isn’t the same here. I mean I long for Twizzlers. And as for scary movies, I have to watch them online. Next year, I am making Halloween a big deal. I’m already thinking about my costume.

The New President

Not just Americans, but the world watched Tuesday night as Obama quickly gained electoral votes to win the presidency and become America’s first African-American president. I know, I know, the elections are over and we have a new president so why keep talking about it? Well, besides the fact that history was made last Tuesday, experiencing not only a presidential election, but this presidential election in another country was fascinating, disappointing and relieving all at the same time. It was fascinating to be able to talk to non-Americans about what their views were regarding the candidates and let me tell you, everyone had an opinion. Surprisingly enough though, not everyone in Spain supports Obama. There is actually a large McCain group in Spain that held rally’s supporting him throughout the country. All in all though, the majority of people are in favor of Obama and not just in Spain. Being an American while traveling to different parts of Europe and talking with other American students who have traveled has provided us with many encounters with Europeans wishing to talk politics. It was almost intimidating how upfront some people were about their opinions both on the candidates and on the U.S. itself. However, I gained a lot of perspective on the influence America has on the rest of the world, both positive and negative. The most disappointing thing for me being in another country at this time was the time difference. Spain is six hours ahead of Ohio, so at 3 a.m. I was still waiting for polls to close. And what was worse was watching the crowd grow at Grant Park in Chicago and not be able to be there. All I could think of while watching the updates online was how much I wanted to be home in Chicago. To make matters worse, I had to watch the elections online because there was no channel at the school to watch it on TV. I have truly come to appreciate technology and the Internet so much more while abroad, it’s become my source to stay updated. Throughout this emotional rollercoaster that finally came to a finale Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning for me, I was so relieved and excited for so many reasons. Being from Chicago I am so proud to have our next president from the same place and I am so happy that this campaign is finally over and we will finally have a change that so many people are ready for. What’s more, I voted in my first presidential election and although it had to be absentee, I registered in Ohio, the swing state that ended up being Democratic. As much as I wish I could have been home for this experience, I cannot wait to go back and begin this new political adventure. Yes, we can is now yes, we did.