The Spanish Species

The Spanish are a special breed of human, nocturnal in nature, who's culture can have harmful side affects to an outsider trying to fit in.  For youth, life seems to revolve around many typical things that cross cultures in the XXI century: social networking, sports, beach, family, friends, academics etc etc.  The nightlife is where things start to get different.  I know before I have mentioned how the Spanish party; how you don't come home until 6am or 7am, how the discotecas are empty until at the very least 3am, etc etc. I am starting to realize that the Spanish diet (eggs, bread, potatoes, and ham) consists of just protein and carbs to help them party longer and harder...now that I think about it, eating supper at 10pm (the norm for many households) is a way to kick-start a long night of partying and the siesta after lunch (2pm-6pm) is to provide sleep so that a person can dance until the sun rises the next day.  It's smart because (from what I hear) hang-overs are few and far between and once you leave the clubs the bus lines have started up again.

Going back to the harmful side affects, I've noticed that I've been getting sick a lot lately.  The past 4 days I have been suffering a horrendously sore throat, 24 hour fevers, chills, clogged nasal passages, a whooping cough, congestion, bloodshot eyes, clogged ears (airplane syndrome you could say), achy muscles, etc etc.  This is probably the worse I've been yet.  I'm finally getting over it (as I sniffle and cough in my bed at 6:30am, light-headed from the twinge of a headache lurking in the depths of my head), but it was pretty bad.  A handful of days before this came about I was also sick, and before that I got sick during Carnaval, and I must say that I am not a typically sickly person.

Here I've been eating rather healthy too; oat cereal with milk, nuts, cut up fresh strawberries and bananas for breakfast, eggs come with everything and are on everything which is good protein, I eat vegetables here (my favorite is this cabbage Noni makes), I only drink water, I have a small cup of yogurt or strawberries after every meal, and the list goes on.  The only time I get sick is on the weekends (usually before Sunday)...If you put two and two together, and look on my calendar in my room, it's obvious that I get sick a day after a full night/morning of "discoteking" or "carnavaling"...The only way to stop this is to, of course, build up an immunity so Javi will be getting a few texts and phone calls from me to see if we can fix this problem.

Luckily, like I said, I am getting better because tomorrow I am flying to Barcelona!! I am super excited because before coming to Spain my favorite cities were Barcelona, Cádiz, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Granada, etc.  I've done presentations, papers, and all sorts of research on the city, Gaudí, and the Catalán culture so this is a dream come true! And with a flight from Seville for 21€ round trip: an INCREDIBLE deal.

While sick in bed the past week, I also planned a Birthday extravaganza for myself.  In the American tradition -as most of my blog followers know- the person turning 21 tends to get extremely drunk and parties with friends until they black out because they are finally legal and can enter any club...here in Spain, since drinking is legal at 18, I've been legal to drink for the past 3 months which kind of takes the novelty out of the BIG leap over the final restriction (minus the age to join the AARP).  This is a blessing in disguise I guess since I've never black-out nor gotten sick from alcohol and the idea of doing so isn't appealing to me in the slightest.  Instead, I am going to Prague with one of my best friends Carolyn!! 5 days in the Czech Republic with the girl who lives right down the street from me back at home!  The flight was extremely expensive and 5 days of food, transportation, lodging, etc is also pretty expensive, but Prague is definitely at the top of my list of must-see places.  It has always been the number 2 on my list right before Brussels, Belgium and after Spain in general.  The flight is booked and within a week of turning 21 I will be in the dark and mysterious Eastern Europe!