COMPUTER TYPING!!! Ahhhh love it.

Bueno, I have realized that I never really explained what I´m doing in the Spain. Entonces, 
-I am studying abroad in Màlaga, Spain (in the south, on the costa del sol/Sun Coast) until the beginning of May, whereupon I hope to be able to do some traveling around Europe since HOLY COW, I´m in Europe. I have to stop every few hours, look around, look north east and realize that my feet are planted on land that is contiguous with France. It´s nuts. 
- I am staying with a host family, mi señora se llama Elena and my host pops is Juan Carlos. I´m pretty sure. I`ll double check on that one. My `mom` is very sweet and also is a very good cook of spanish food. I bless the ground she cooks on every day because it´s surprising how many students here tell me bummer stories of personal sized frozen pizzas and bocadillos (sandwiches) or salads for meals. :( No paella yet, but I´m not dying to have it, so we´re good. Today I had some kind of broth-y soup, small cooked and fried potatoes, and carne de cerdo (pig) in sausage form in this tomato sauce. IT WAS SO GOOD. Either I´m so hungry by the time lunch rolls around (14:30) that my sense of taste is compromised, or Elena can´t cook bad food. It might definitely be a mix of the two, but either way I am so happy here. 
- I had my first day of classes this morning! (I am 9 hours ahead of you. If you´re running on Sandpoint-Moscow time.) I was pretty nervous because our directors scared the crap out of us by being super serious and saying it would be really intense, but my teachers are so NICE and the subjects sound so interesting. Mis cursos son: History of Latin America.  History of Art in Spain (bth painted, architecture, etc) Women of Spain in the 20th and 21st centuries (pretty interesting, esp with Franco regression). Spanish Lit, and one more that I am forgetting. I have two teachers: Antionio, dresses very smartly, talks very slowly (too slowly), very sweet, very expressive face. then there`s Carolina (or something that starts with a ´C´. I forget at the moment). She has CRAZY huge hair, long black curls that stick out everywhere. She´s petite and well dressed (I should stop saying that. it´s a given here), and she teaches three of my classes. I am stoked on life right now because I literally understood every word she said without difficulty. Though I do know that she is making an effort to use small words, mime things, and talk slowly. Still, I feel quite accomplished. 
-I have class from 8:30-14:20 with an hour break somewhere there in the middle. Seems long, right? No class on Fridays. Boom. Also, once again, the content of the classes seems to be super quality and interesting. Plus there is little to no homework. Just presentations, papers, and tests at the end. (one of each per class). 
- It´s cold today.  It was around 61 degrees or so. Sorry bout it if you hate me for whining about 60· weather, but it´s cold for here. I wore a jacket. :(
- What else... I still can´t speak worth beans sometimes. I hear myself leaving verbs unconjugated and gross things like that. It´s embarassing. But hey. AMERICA.
-I broke down and bought Oreos the other day in the Supermercado. My first american breakdown. But no peanut butter to eat them with. D:  
-In my house, which is on Calle Conde de las Navas, number 23 in El Palo (you could try to find it on the Google maps, Two blocks away from the surf. but they write their addresses a little differently here, anyway- in my house we have a dog and a cat. The dog´s name is ´Romeo´though it´s pronounced ¨roh-MAY-oh¨. The cat is Tula and is grey, super long hair, and a weirdly squat face. I´m a fan. Romeo, however, is a french bulldog and I am running a pretty love hate relationship with him right now. Where he loves to lick and slobber all over my toes and jump on me and I kind of don´t like him in the least, especially the noises he makes while breathing. He sounds like he´s a fat man dying. But wetter. Also, he lives in the kitchen and is a meter away when we´re eating. Solid.
-I went running before class today and it was calming and beautiful. Usually I go down by the boardwalk and turn right, heading to the city center. Check it- there are little mini parks along the wall that runs along the ocean that contain different pieces of workout equiptment. Super stange. But kind of neat- I do a chin up whenever I pass. Gotta stay ripped for the rock wall back home.
-Don´t have access to a gym and neither want nor need one. 
-Carnaval is this week (and no, I didn´t miss spell that). The one in Malaga is super chill and pretty lame. It appears part halloween, part parades, part huge gatherings of people outside, part reason to party, part presentations. It lasts the week. I tried to stay up for the first day, supposed to be a big parade but it never came and I got grumpy and took the bus home at 2:00 am tired and grumbly. that´s another thing- no one sleeps here. ever. Even small kids in strollers are out at midnight and later with their padres. Another thing- I mentioned being dressed nicely, but the shoes! Females have shoes at least three inches high all the time. Even grandmas. Kind of strange. Old old old people don´t, but boooy howdy does everyone else. For me it´s ok because it brings them up to my height, but otherwise I might be buying me some high heeled shoes. 
-I found my address!! If you want to mail me a nice letter, a picture, a hilarious joke you heard on the street (why am I so funny?), o algo asi, send it to the ISA office:      Hope Woodruff  /  Antonio Baena Gòmez 2, 5ºD  /  29005 Màlaga, Spain     (except make those accent marks go aigu, slash up instead of down). If you´re sending packages, look up rules on how to do that for the spain. You have to list the contents. General contents, like ´food´, not like `peanut butter`.... hint hint. JUST KIDDING.  Don´t even know if you can mail food...  But write me!!! Either electronically (hopexc921) gmail, or old school paper and pen. which reminds me
-some people here are characters. I was writing in my journal (thanks, oz!) about yesterday, and one of the guys I was at coffee with was all ´´are you like, blogging or something? But on paper?`` I told him it was called journalling, writing things down so I wouldn´t forget, and he asked for a copy. Ah. (suse, it was Jersey). It´s a good time. You definitely have to have patience, both with your lack of communication ability but even more the lack of consideration or at least... there´s a word for it... total obliviousness in regards to not disrupting others. Talking really loudly, skyping really loudly.... merrr. :( it got me in a grump today and I tried to call my mam, but the phone didn´t work. But then I went for a walk in the sun with little mini parrots chillin above my head. not bad.  ALSO, terrible sorry (actually, not that sorry) for spelling errors. it is a combination of not having the squiggly red line underneath bad words and getting in the spanish mindset that every letter makes the same sound every time, so I end up spelling things phonetically or using part of its spanish equivalent. Party. :) Y eso es for now! Lots and lots of love, write me maybe. (once again. how does anyone exist without me home. I AM SO FUNNY. joke). 

Now time for better, worse, different!

Better: fashion. fashion fashion everywhere. everywhere you look, clothes and shoes and scarves and things are ridiculously cute AND THEY FIT. In the states, everything is way wide. Here, the norm is fit/thin, and it seems like everything I try on is tailored to me. Good golly I love it. Buit don´t worry! I am sticking to my budget. I´ve set five euro a day, more for excursion days. Obvs this didn´t apply the first few days, where I spent twenty a day. OOPS. but that was for food and things! No frivolous buys except for two coffees that were semi unneeded so far.
Worse: The grass variety that grows here sucks. It´s short, as coarse as turf, and is constantly being peed on by dogs.
Different: Front doors on the houses- no doorknobs. You use a key to turn and push.