La Vida Diaria : La Vida Desenfadada

While my daily routine is probably, but moreover naturally, similar to that of other American students, it still varies greatly from the way that my day progresses in the United States. Rather than working and studying during the first chunk of the day and utilizing my free time after this, the day is chopped into different blocks in Spain. In addition, there are certain things that I do during a normal weekday in Spain that I would rarely conceive of doing in the United States. While the way of life in Spain when focused on interpersonal relations may be seen as inconvenient, and at times may be perceived as a selfish way of life by foreigners, it has created the impression of a more carefree way of life during the mere four weeks that I have been here.

My normal weekday in Spain begins at approximately 8:55 A.M. when I finally leave my bed after hitting the snooze button two to four times. I then hop up in the shower, throw on some clothes, and head to the living room to eat a light breakfast. What I consider to be a light breakfast is considered by Spaniards as heavy. Each day I eat two eggs overeasy, two pieces of bread, yogurt, a muffin, and an apple. Next, I brush my teeth, get my stuff together, and head out at around 9:40 to go to class since it's about a twenty minute walk. I make my way through both relatively new and extremely old streets to get to class while also passing through landmarks such as the Plaza Mayor.

After I walk through the streets, I arrive at "El Patio de Escuelas Menores", which is where I spend a good portion of my morning. My first class is "La Historia del Arte" which begins at 10 A.M. While I enjoy history and the practice of making art, I am not a fan of this class. If we were to take the history and apply to actual physical art, I might be fonder of it. But for some reason, I don't derive any pleasure from learning about where Francisco Goya was born nor from memorizing the names of achondroplastic children who belong to an irrelevant royal family. I can admit though that I would have never learned these things otherwise. My next class begins at 11 A.M. in "El edificio Juan de Enzima". This class is Spanish culture, which I find quite more interesting. We learn about essentially everything that is extremely prevalent in Spanish culture such as food, festivals, and differences between various geographic regions. Next, I venture back to the Patio de Escuelas Menores for my class which is titled "Living and Learning Abroad" with Andy Noverr. I think that the students who are a part of this class can unanimously say that it is very entertaining. Never do I have to worry about dozing off in the middle of class. While it is different from any class one would find in Ann Arbor, I believe it is more suitable to the fact that we are in Spain and more practical in regards to what we should be learning while we're here: Spanish culture. It doesn't make sense to sit and peruse some essay or slave over a composition if these things can be accomplished in Ann Arbor while gaining a first-hand perspective of Spain cannot be acquired there. This class ends at 1:30 p.m.

After class, I head home to eat lunch with my señora at 2 P.M. We normally eat some sort of soup dish and then a meat-based dish. After lunch, I have been heading to my room to take siestas. I figure that there is no reason not to since all activity terminates and the city, so I might as well indulge in a nap. However, I hope this habit doesn't persist once I get back to the US. After my nap, I usually head to Salas Bajas with my friend Austin to use the weight room. This is about a 35 minute walk which results in a comprehensive view of the city each day. Apparently, Spanish people aren't as concerned with exercise as Americans (disregarding the multitude of lazy Americans) because the weight room is not stocked nor maintained very well. Thankfully, there are showers at the gym, so I can take more than just one shower a day. After the gym, I head home to do homework and study for a few hours. At 9 p.m., I eat dinner with my señora and watch television in the living room for about an hour afterwards.




After eating and hanging out with my señora, I throw on a pair of pants and a button up and head to the Plaza Mayor to meet up with people. Typically, we meet at around 11 p.m. in the middle of the plaza and plan out our night. Then we head to the bars and discotecas and have a great time. While I would love to do this in Ann Arbor, going out on weekdays frequently would not be the wisest choice during the academic year.

Another inadvertent part of my routine is observing the street performers, which mainly populate Toro and surrounding streets. While some of these are ridiculous and hardly constitute performers, such as the baby and the "clapper", the musicians tend to be tremendously talented. I have been particularly impressed by the accordion players. In the US, you don't get to see these often. After taking a closer look, the accordion seems to be a difficult instrument to play physically. There are so many movements involved, and one side of the accordion seems to contain just scattered dots which are use to make bass notes and chords. (Technological difficulties are impeding me from posting a video)