La Vida Espanola

¡Buenos días!
I hope this post finds everyone happy and doing well!  Spain is still amazing... :)
Last weekend was very laid back.  I hung out with my host family, explored Alicante a little (went to the 2nd castle), attended church on Sunday, and met with some other foreign students from Germany etc. for coffee in a popular spot in Alicante.  The coffee we had was more like a chocolate pudding - very rich and delicious!  There is this really cute ice cream place on La Rambla (a main street in Alicante).  The flavors there are so different too.
Classes have been going well.  Definitely a different kind of work than at Loyola.  Í love it because I feel like I am doing my homework all the time - living life in Spain, speaking the language, eating the food, immersing myself in the culture... I am always learning!  My host family and I like to watch a Spanish TV show called ¨Pasapalabra¨ or a show about Spaniards all over the world.  It´s great!  The other night we watched Million Dollar Baby in Spanish, too.  My vocabulary is growing although it is still difficult for me to comprehend what Spaniards are saying when they talk so rapidly but it will come.
The second weekend in February is a big celebration called Carnaval.  Everyone dresses up like it is Halloween and the celebrations last for a week - always the week before Lent for Catholics.  So this weekend a few of us are going to go costume (disfraz) shopping :)  I´m not sure what I am going to be yet! 
This weekend I am also hoping to meet with my intercambios.  Intercambios are Spaniards that want to improve their English, so they will help me with my Spanish and I will help them with their English.  I actually have TWO intercambios because I didn´t think one was going to work out - because we have opposite schedules - but now it will.  Dos Intercambios - How lucky am I?  Their names are Javier and Pedro.  I can´t wait to meet them!!  I´ll definitely post on how that goes!
Feli, my host mom, has been teaching me how to cook a few dishes such as tortilla espanola, paella, y cocido.  So delicious!  Tonight I think we are having ¨pulp¨ which is octopus!  So excited!  Feli tells me she is so happy that I will eat anything and like everything because some of her past students never ate fish or vegetables etc.  I love all the seafood!  I can´t wait til my parents send me soem measuring cups and spoons so I can make them some of our family´s dishes.  My favorite side dish that we eat is endives with salt, vinegar, olive oil, and blue cheese crumbles - Mmmmm :)  I also really like the cocido, which is cooked in our equivalent of a crock pot.  It has garbanzo beans, pork leg, chorizo (a type of sausage...), carrots, and a few other veggies in a wonderful broth (or as they say:  salsa). 
It is definitely good that I had an open mind when I came here or it could have been rough!
Anyways class is about to start!
Hasta luego,
Sarah