A few comments on Spain in general

A few comments on Spain in general:

1. I´m getting really tired of spending my euros on water. Since you can´t drink the tap water, you have to buy water at every restaraunt (and refills aren´t free!). I always specify ägua sin gas,¨otherwise I´ll get stuck with some nasty seltzer water. So we´ve been making attempts to buy big bottles and jugs of water at grocery stores. Today I purchased 1.5 liters for .37 euros (about 50 cents).

2. There are dogs and cats everywhere! Literally, I´ve seen atleast 100 dogs. Sometimes they´re on leashes, and sometimes not. Most of the time the cats are roaming around and digging in the trash. You can even bring your pets in public places. Oh yeah, they also poop right in the middle of the streets as well, so you´d better be careful not to cut your foot!

3. Apparently tight jeans and neon orange and lime green business suits are in. I don´t really know what to say to that.

4. PDA in excess! Ick. Even on the streets, there are just people standing around making out, no exaggeration here.

5. I guess it´s hard for me to comprehend smoking in public places since in Columbus we don´t have smoking anywhere. All restaraunts are smoking, and all the monuments we went to yesterday have little white buckets strategically placed around the exhibit so people can throw their butts in it. In the airport in Madrid, there are designated smoking areas. However, the smoking areas are made by three walls put together (like a cubicle with 1 side open), which are about 5 feet high. If these Spaniards knew anything about diffusion they would realize it doesn´t matter!

6. Service is horrible. I guess this is common throughout Europe. Once you order the food you´ll get it quickly, but if you don´t flag down a waiter for a menu or the check, you´ll easily be sitting there for 2+ hours. I guess that just demonstrates the crazy American way of hurrying through everything, but I still find it annoying.

I still can´t believe I´m in another country. I mean, it does seem foreign to me, but when I look at a map or a globe, it´s hard for me to comprehend that I´m äll the way over there!¨ But it has been fun so far, and I´m already feeling more confident in my Spanish.

I´d better head back to the hostal, where the others are waiting for me to go see the ancient church. Tomorrow we head to Seville, where we are spending 3 days, so hopefully I´ll be able to find another ¨cafe de internet¨when we get there.

Hope everyone is doing well--look for postcards! :)