lessons learned, spain week one

1. I truly am loving Spain, but I LOVE America.
2. Real spanish sangria has fresh fruit and cinnamon. And it is delicious.
3. Being blonde here is like having two heads. When there are 5 together, we are a walking monstrosity.
4. Automatically being Blonde and foreign looking in Spain means that you can't understand a word of Spanish... It's quite a surprise when people talking about you "rubias" in Spanish realize that you actually can speak their language.
5. Nick's Patio actually sounds like heaven when you are walking around in Spain unable to find any place to eat or warm up between the hours of 5 am and 6 am in the morning.
6. Whoever opens a 24-hour restaurant in Spain will be the next Bill Gates.
7. Toledo, Spain is one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been. It is also a bubble. Naturally, the Notre Dame of Spain, and it already feels like home.
8. My host sister is one of the funniest, coolest people I have ever met. She likes to sing "Survivor" by Destiny's Child, even know half of the words she pronounces and clearly doesn't know what she's singing.
9. American music is the best music around--in clubs, restaurants, buses, stores...it doesn't matter how many years old it is...yes, they will play Avril's "I didn't steal your boyfriend." Similarly, any American song that comes on in clubs is automatically a guaranteed good dancing song.
10. My host mom is an amazing cook. New favorite food-- Tigres. ("tigers" in english). They are stuffed mussels with onions and peppers. I ate them tonight, and died and went to heaven.
11. Mazapan is the best treat in the entire world. Amy and I are going to look up recipes and perfect our skills in making them to bring them back to America. You all are welcome.
12. Calling American numbers through g-mail is free. It is also amazing. E-mail me when you're free and whenever I have internet and a free minute I will call you!
13. Every day is an adventure. Never spend a moment not doing something that makes you happy, makes you laugh, or makes you even better than a second before. Love what you have, don't worry about what you don't. We'll all be alright. Count your blessings, and I'm counting YOU.

besos, besos.

Post scriptum: Lessons continued.
14. Supposedly a pickpocket distraction in Spain: A gypsy comes up to you with a baby and throws it at you to catch you off guard, and your natural maternal/good human being instinct would make you catch the baby, while the gypsy takes your purse and runs. Since everyone knows that I am the furthest thing from maternal, I told my friends I would naturally let any gypsy baby thrown at me hit the floor. Which is worse...that? Or Amy, saying she would run off with the baby and throw it away? I at least suggested the baby a la Moses story... sending it down a river. But now that I think of it, if you catch the baby and the gypsy runs off with your purse, then are you automatically stuck with the baby? LESSON FOURTEEN: stay away from gypsies, and/or babies, and/or purses.

15. Love new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, one is gold. But for me, all my friends are golden. I love my new found friends in Spain. You guys are gems, and the semester has only just begun...