I’m not sure if this is jet lag or what, but it’s 6 o’clock in the morning and I cannot sleep!  So I figured I’d finish my blog entry… my internet pooped out on me last night, and I wasn’t able to finish it.

The thing about my internet here at the apartment is that I have to borrow it from neighbors.  It’s never a great connection, sometimes I can get it to connect in my room, sometimes I have to sit by the window in the living room; it’s never fully reliable.  But I’m not too worried about it. =)

Oh the adventures I have already had!

Last night, my friend Kelsey and I decided to hit up the town.  It was our first Saturday night, and although we were both tired from traveling, we didn’t want to waste it. (Besides, we can sleep when we get back to the United States, right?)  We headed out at 11 PM, and the bars were still pretty empty.  The first bar we went to was called “The Blues,” and it was kind of a more mature scene, probably 25+.  The music was a mixture of Spanish and American tunes, which we loved.  We realized when we got there that we weren’t sure how to ask for a drink, so we just pointed at the bottles of Bacardi wine coolers that we wanted.  Drinks were about 3.5 euros, which is probably somewhere around $5.  We then decided to find a different bar, maybe one with dancing, etc.  We walked around the block a few times, which were loaded with tiny hole-in-the-wall bars, several per block, and we finally went into one called “Zanzibar.”  We fumbled through asking the bartender for drinks, and one of them struck up a conversation with us about the university.  Then this guy standing next to me at the bar started chatting with me too… After a few minutes of conversation, he invited us to go to another bar with him and his buddies.  So we did.  It was a great time, lots of conversation (which is difficult in a foreign language when there's loud music playing) and a little bit of dancing.  I feel like we just laughed the whole night.  Isma is quite the character – he is full of jokes, but to our dismay, all of his jokes are jokes on words, which tends to be difficult to pick up in the second language.  He even had some English jokes to tell, such as about his name.  Ismael, Isma for short, and as he explained it “Ismael, like in English, ‘a smile,’ “ he says in his thick Spanish accent.  Or “Isma, like ‘It’s my life!’ “ which he sings in Bon Jovi style. (AT, this reference made me think of you.  Also, It’s My Life came on at the bar later that night, and everyone started singing.  Awesome.)  At the end of the night, Joel walked Kelsey home, and Isma walked me home.  At about 6 AM.  Yep, I think I’m gonna like it here.

Yesterday, some of the girls and I met up to cruise the town.  For being four chatty English-speaking girls, we don’t get as many funny looks as I’d thought.  It really is incredible how nice everyone is in this town.  I tend to be pretty obvious, walking around with my map fully unfolded, blatantly looking for street signs, and there is always some sweet-looking older man or lady looking to offer me advice. (Don’t worry, Mom, my purse is always zipped closed tightly and close to my body.  I’m on guard.)  So the four of us – Jesika, Marissa, Kelsey and I – started cruising down the main street near the waterfront, the Bay of Santander.  We were in the hunt of some good helado (gelato), and I suggested that we stop by a place I’d gone the day before.  The guy selling the helado had spotted me as an English speaker, and had used the opportunity to speak English with me.  So we moseyed in to the shop… he took one look at me and said “Hello, how are you today?”  It was great, he was able to tell us what all the flavors meant in English, and then we started chatting in Spanish.  We found out that his name is Cesar, and that he’s going to the academy in the winter to become a firefighter.  He asked us all what we were studying in Santander and what our majors were.  We talked about how people are overweight in the United States, and why almost no one in Spain is (although we seem to be eating a ton).  He also told us about Racing (pronounced “rath-ing”) the local soccer team.  We exchanged Facebook info, and then were forced to leave when some new customers came in.

We walked back along the waterfront.  When we attempted to take a self-shot picture of the four of us, two elderly couples stopped and insisted on taking them for us.  Although we were afraid of someone running off with our cameras, we thought they looked pretty harmless, which they were.  They were all hollering at one of the men, “Hey, get their feet inside the picture,” “Why are you so far away, get closer,” “Are you going to take it at that angle or should you center it for them?” and he just chucked amiably.

From left to right: Marissa, Jesika, me, and Kelsey

A picture of the bay

El Ayuntamiento.  To be honest, I'm not sure what this building is for, the map says it's a place of interest... I just thought it was pretty.

Everyone has dogs in this town!  This one was running around while we waited for all the girls to show up outside El Ayuntamiento.

Me in La Plaza Porticada.  There are LOTS of plazas around town - some are small, some are big like this one, and they're used for weddings or as social gathering spots or sometimes it's just the center of a roundabout!

This is right in front of the previous picture.  This guy is Pedro Velarde, a military man who is known for leading Spain to victory May 2, 1808 in the war for independence.  Yes, I just looked that up on Spanish Wikipedia.

El Banco de Santander (Bank of Santander)

Another cool statue in town.  Notice the palm trees in the background?

As we were strolling down the waterfront, we saw a few nuns walking out of this large building next to us, and Kelsey excited said, "Hey, it's a nunnery!"  Indeed, it was a huge cathedral, complete with a viewing area to see ancient Roman ruins protected by glass plates in the downstairs church.  The air inside the churches was thick and heavy with incense.  Although the cathedral was open to tourists, people were in the pews praying, and no video or photography was allowed.  The cathedral was beautiful, not because it was flashy or overly ornate, but just because it was so steeped in religion and history.  As we stated among ourselves, the building itself was probably older than our country altogether.  It was a very religious experience, being in that environment, and for 20 cents (in euros, obviously) I lit a candle for Grandpa Ed.

The cathedral (on the left) from across the plaza

Yesterday was pretty sunny, probably around 70 degrees with the sun out.  I wore sandals, jeans, a t-shirt and a scarf, but put on my jacket a couple times when the clouds covered the sun.  It seems to always look like a rain cloud could come through, but so far we've only had one rainshower (which I got stuck in, and several people pointed me in the direction to buy an umbrella).

Just a note about the Spanish men - they are attractive!  Not like you see an attractive man every now and then, more like they are all consistently very good-looking men.  It's eye candy for us!

There are nine girls here in Santander from Oregon - Me, Kelsey, Marissa, Jesika, Mollie, Christine, and Ashley from OSU, and Lilia and Genesis from EOU.  I learned at our orientation that we will be having classes together, with just the nine of us, to which one of the girls said, "Well, we'll either be great friends or great enemies by the end of the term."  Lol.  By the way it's looking, I think we'll be great friends.

I believe in my previous blog I wrote about how I had bought some body wash... funny story on that.  It's the Dove body-hydrating kind, and in the store it was on this little form near the end of an aisle, surrounded by other body washes and hair-coloring kits and the like.  So I was in the shower yesterday, and with my hands (since I have no washcloth or sponge... I think they use sponges here) started applying it to my arm... It was certainly not bodywash, it was lotion.  It had an oily texture that instantly made my arm water-repellent.  Whoops.

This is lunch yesterday.  A bowl of beans in a meaty-tasting broth with a tiny piece of sausage inside, what tasted to be fried chicken, and a nectarine.  Quite tasty.  I ate at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  Conchi's water tastes a little like chlorine, but it's not too bad.  And last night at about 8:45, she fed me dinner, which was three pieces of fish cooked similarly to the chicken above, and a bowl of tomato chunks prepped with vinegar, oil and salt.  Delicioso!

And what would be a horticulturalists blog without some pictures of plants?

These trees are everywhere!  Beautiful bark

I saw this plant from across the street and had to get a closer look.  It had HUGE leaves.  Once I got closer, I realized it was a rubber tree! (For some reason, this plant made me think of you, Amanda)

 This picture above is a common sight on the streets.  They're huge recycling bins.  Some are for plastic, some for cardboard, some for composting, and some for trash.  Go Santander for keeping the city clean and green.

Gerardo, my boss at Van Essen, told me that Spaniards last names almost always end in "Z"... how right he was!  These papers were posted up in the doorway at the university.  I think they were grading sheets.

Today is my first day of school.  We're meeting one of our professors at 9:15, so I'm going to leave the house at 8:45, which should give me plenty of time.  I'll eat breakfast before school, then eat lunch when I get home, at around 2:30, which is when I'll meet Conchi's niece, Marta, who eats here every day.  After that, I'm going to go buy a phone, and then possibly go on some more adventures.  My new friend Isma wants to show me around El Sardinero, which is the touristy beachfront area on the eastern side of the city.

More updates on the way.  It's time to get ready for school!