A Taste of Home

Living abroad is difficult, no two ways about it. But, several things have given me a taste of home in the last few days:
1. Eroski. This is one of the Spanish "Hipermercados" or Walmart-esque stores. I've been three times in the last week, as well as to Carrefour and E Leclerc, two other chains. Now, anyone that knows me knows I HATE going to Walmart. It makes me all existential and depressed about exploiting children in the third world for cheap prices furthering American consumerism. But here, the hypermarkets are kind of comforting. Like a beacon of waste amidst an endless sea of European thriftiness and care for the environment. Ahh, it's good to be home.
Plus, they all have an ENTIRE aisle for olive oil, which I find very amusing :)
And, I got a 1.5 (or 1,5) liter bottle of lemon-flavored carbonated water at E Leclerc for .26 Euro. Best purchase yet!!!

2. Trujillo, a small town. Cáceres is only about 100,000 people, but it still has busy streets and semi-skyscapers once outside of the old city. The hours of about 6-8 are SO crazy on the streets, especially around Eroski and Carrefour (see #1). On Saturday, instead of sitting around on Facebook all day, I decided to make a day trip to Trujillo, a town of about 10,000 a short bus ride from Cáceres. Wow it was fantastic!!! I instantly felt right at home. People were just slowly going about their business on a chill Saturday afternoon, greeting neighbors in the streets, preparing for birthday parties, and sightseeing in this GORGEOUS town.
In the middle of the amazing plaza mayor (Osky square-esque in its function) stood a statue of Francisco Pizarro, Trujillo's native son. I spent the day in the two gothic churches, museum of conquest and Pizarro's house museum, and the Arabic castle perched atop the town, from which BREATHTAKING views of the Extremaduran countryside were visible.

The bus ride home was so great, and with the sun setting on a good day in provincial Spain I had the prime time to think about life - I wanted the ride to be a lot longer actually! Nice to travel solo again too; after such a long trip by myself beforehand, I started to feel like my coat and my hiking shoes were all I needed to call "home."

3. Start of classes. Being back at a university makes me feel so comfortable, and the thought of all the learning excites me greatly!!! Academia is a good place for me right now. I'm taking classes at the University of Extremadura in Interpreting Spanish Texts, Survey of Spanish Literature, Spanish Civilization and Culture, and Spanish Phonology. After the epic class intro from our Lit professor, and an entire day of speaking academic Spanish, I knew that classes are going to be one of the highlights of every day! Plus, it's looking more and more like I'll be able to be in a choir here, which would make my LIFE!

4. Excercise. As if walking 40 minutes to and from campus every day weren't enough, today I ran up the hill to the Virgen de la montaña (Virgin of the Mountain) shrine. I've walked up it twice with different groups of compañeros (in free time on Friday and Sunday) and seen the fantastic views of Cáceres and the countryside, but running up was intense - about 15 minutes of very steep terrain. My legs hurt now, but it feels nice to work out again and work off all that olive oil!

5. Bob Esponja. That's the Spanish version of Spongebob Squarepants, on everyday at 3:00. Enough said!

So, life is good. Probably going to travel again this weekend, maybe go to a bullfight on Saturday, then try to find the Superbowl on somewhere Sunday. Might be kinda hard...
Peace until then!