3 days = lots o' stuff

So this is a forewarning: This will be a very long post because I have 3 days of stuff to cover :) I will just break it down for each day to make it easy.

SATURDAY:
So I went to Córdoba in the morning to try and take care of the whole student ID issue. Of course when I got there they told me I needed to go to a different police station so I’m planning on heading back tomorrow (Tuesday) because they weren’t open on Saturday. I already figured something like that would happen so I decided to explore the town a bit. I absolutely LOVE Córdoba. It’s the first city I’ve actually explored in Spain and since I love cities in general it’s not surprising to know I loved this one too. The night before I had Google mapped (on street view) where I needed to go so that was a big help in making sure I didn’t get lost. By the way- I highly recommend doing this (using Google maps on the street view) for anywhere new you travel to if you want to avoid getting completely lost.

Anyhow I was hungry, as always lol, and I stopped by a café with outdoor seating. I had seen people eating these pieces of bread with some sort of topping so I asked for one as well (and was able to choose from a variety of toppings) and a coffee with milk. Here’s a pic of the food which is just a piece of bread with olive oil,  tomato and ham (pan con tomate y jamón picado):

I slowly enjoyed my food trying to act like a true Spaniard. Mike (my boyfriend) has been trying for months to get me to eat slower but I have been stubborn about it lol…up to now. After getting some food and a dose of caffeine I wandered around more, making my way to a drawing store (papelería) to buy a drawing pad and a little notebook to write down all the words I don’t know and other notes. I also wound up walking through a street market type thing in the middle of town and purchased a dress, sandals and necklace (pics in my photo album) all for about 16 euro…not too bad. The rest of the time I just enjoyed the sun (it was about 86 degrees!), walked around and took pics just to make myself look extra touristy ;)
After I returned to Lucena (by the way the bus ride to and from is beautiful) I didn’t feel as if I’d done enough shopping so I walked around and window shopped for a bit…and later found myself actually INSIDE another store buying some shirts and a belt. I’m trying to fit in here but it’s hard when all my accessories are either in the States or lurking at the bottom of my bag and since I haven’t unpacked yet it makes it difficult to find anything.

 There was a big event going on that night in the large open area of town, it’s in front of the church. By night time the area was full of people. There was even a wedding that night, which I figured out because the recently married couple was riding around town in a horse carriage followed by cars honking their horns in celebration. As all of these events were going on I decided to stop by one of the restaurants for bite to eat. I didn’t recognize anything on the menu…once again…so I asked and ended up getting a half portion (which is still huge and is probably for 3 or 4 people…for a snack that is) of the Surtido Ibérico which is a plate of cheese and meats. The day basically ended there and went back to the hostel. On the way back I past what is probably my favorite store:

If you can’t tell this store is selling lingerie and baby clothes…apparently a good combo. Apparently this is common here as per what Esther (the coordinator of the language program for the school) told me. Maybe they should consider this in the states… lol.

SUNDAY:
This day was pretty mellow minus the fact I woke up at 3am here and couldn’t go back to sleep. I think I’m JUST starting to adjust to the schedule. When I finally got out of bed I walked around again- I’m trying to make sure I explore the town a little more each day. I probably walk about 30min-1hr or more just walking and exploring the town. I decided to start my day off on a good note, since my emotions have been running rampant, and have some sugar for breakfast. I purchased a torta con queso which kind of like a combo between cake and cheesecake. They wrapped it up so pretty and it just looked so good I almost didn’t want to eat it…but of course I did.

I don’t know if you noticed this unifying theme...food…but being the foodie that I am, I am forced to love the food and share it with you to the best of my abilities. I promise if you visit here you can actually try it and not just stare at the pics!

I wanted to enjoy the day and admire the town so I sat down, with all the old ladies and old men (seriously those were the only people sitting down outside), and decided I would draw a little bit. The buildings here are beautiful and complicated, old and new…I can just stare at them and enjoy.
After spending about an hour sitting and drawing I headed to Caramba (the first place I ate in Spain- it’s a local sandwich shop). It was pretty busy there so I sat at the bar- that’s kind of all there is though- and ordered a beer. This was the day I tried my first Spanish paella! They were just serving little plates of it for free…I think there was some sort of festival or holiday and that’s why. It was good although I want to really try the stuff with all the seafood and what not (this one was only rice, red pepper and pork- I think). I spent a good two hours or so at that place because the people are super nice, it’s owned by a family and they also run the place, and are very easy to communicate with. That was pretty much all that took place because the rest of the day I spent in the hostel organizing my music- itunes hates me- and talking on Skype.

MONDAY (aka today):
Today was fabulous. I keep finding myself smiling so hard and randomly laughing. People probably think I’m crazy although I do try hard to laugh out loud when I’m NOT passing people in the street lol. There are just things that happen here there that are so funny to me. For instance, when I walk into a bar/restaurant or even clothing stores (I’ve only been to one so far) they are playing current music styles…from the US. Why I find it funny is because basically no one speaks English here so I’m guessing they have no idea what the words are saying. I guess people just want to fit in so they listen to Black Eyed Peas and Rihanna because it’s “cool.”

Today I kind of had an agenda…I had to meet Esther (who organizes the program at my particular school) at the school at 11am where she tried to help me find an apartment. I’m planning on looking at a few tomorrow but I was also offered to possibly room with another girl, who will be attending the school, and it that doesn’t work one of the professors has a place I can rent for 150euro! So things are finally beginning to shape up which I’m SO happy about.

Esther and I left the school and she showed me around a little bit. I have already explored so I knew most of the areas she showed me. We ended up picking up her kids at school and I went with her back to her house. Her kids were great and were even teaching me Spanish words that I didn’t know. I ended up staying for lunch…which was DELICIOUS!... and I enjoyed it a lot also because I finally had people to eat with! The food was really basic but sooo good. The meal included noodles in chicken broth (it may have even been homemade broth because it had such a rich flavor), salad (lettuce and tomato) in a vinaigrette, pork covered in breadcrumbs and fried, bread and melon. I hung out with the kids a little longer but started getting pretty tired so I went to the hostel and took a long nap.

I find it funny because now, even though it’s been less than a week, every time I talk with someone in English I’m thinking in Spanish most of the time. I have no clue what’s it’s going to be like after 9 months! Luckily I do have to speak English at the school…otherwise I might forget it lol. Seriously though, I’m pretty sure I would.

To top off the night I went to the restaurant where I had the meat and cheese plate (surtido ibérico) and ordered ensaladilla rusa. I’m not completely sure what it all includes but it’s kind of like an egg salad but chopped into smaller pieces and has potato, peppers and peas in it. They also brought me out a common appetizer- olives! Oh and my new favorite *non-alcoholic* drink is Aquarius, it’s basically lemonade but tastes like it has a ¼ of the sugar and I’m told has more vitamins.

Ok well since this post is about the length of a novel I will stop here. I have a few more busy days ahead of me before school starts. Tomorrow I’m off to Córdoba again for my student ID and I will meet with a girl from CA who’s traveling, then move my things to a co-workers place and I will stay there for a few days until I move into a place. I will also be meeting with a guy who I met on couchsurfing.com and is from Lucena (actually the only person on the site in Lucena). So until then, chao!