My Spanish family!

I’m lucky enough not to be spending the next four months as an orphan, since I have essentially been adopted by a family here in Granada. Because we are not studying in a Spanish university with Spanish students, some of our most important Spanish lessons come from living with a Spanish family.

My new family consists of a mom and her daughters, one of whom is studying law in Madrid and the other who is a model and fashion designer and travels back and forth from Sevilla.

The mom is very nice and has had American students before (one of whom is in the University of Michigan’s marching band, which I think is a funny coincidence!). But the fact that she has hosted students before is a good and bad thing. Good, because she knows what to explain to me. Bad, because she is comparing me to the others, all of whom appear to have spoken more Spanish than me. This is quite intimidating. But every day I’m able to speak more and understand her more.

Her oldest daughter, Claudina, is beautiful, extremely outgoing and friendly. It’s very easy to talk to her, and she knows a little English, which she is not afraid to use to help me out sometimes. Last week she took me to her friends’ apartment to do a P90X workout. So here I am, with a gorgeous girl who doesn’t sweat and her two handsome, buff and Spanish guy friends, and I’m sweating like a pig. But it was an intense and awesome workout (I needed to work off all this bread I’m eating!).

I was able to redeem my image the next night when Claudina and I went out for tapas with some of her other friends. Claudina is 26 years old, so her friends are all approximately five years older than me. Luckily, this doesn’t feel like too much of a difference. Her friends are very nice, and will slow down when I repeatedly plead, ¡más despacio, por favor! Before coming to Spain, I wondered if I would be able to meet and get to know actual Spaniards. I’m so glad that I live with Claudina, who is really showing me around!

Claudina and her mom (Purificación, or Puri for short) live in an apartment that is approximately a 30-minute walk from school. Most Spanish homes are built for the summers, which typically are very hot.  So, all the floors are made of tile and there is no central heating. We walk around in slippers, and in the main living area there is a circular table with a glass top, and a heavy, large blanket under the glass. Under the table is some sort of heating unit, which you put your feet on and lay the blanket over your lap. This is how Spaniards stay warm, and it’s known as a “brasero.” I have come to love the brasero, but once you leave it, the house is super cold! The worst time for me is right after I leave the shower.

The entrance to my host family's apartment building.

When we eat lunch and dinner, we sit around the brasero in the main living area and watch T.V. This was difficult to get used to, because at home in the United States, my mom rarely let us eat our dinners in front of the T.V. Exceptions included the Olympics and Downton Abbey. But now I enjoy watching T.V. here because it gives us something to talk about while we’re eating. It’s also interesting to see how Spanish television covers things happening in the United States. I see Obama a lot, and recently they’ve been talking about the cold and snowy weather. Sorry friends and family in Chicago! If it makes you feel any better, it rains a lot here.

My room! That little space heater saves my life every night.