Greetings From Europe!

It is truly surreal to be living at the beach. I’m wondering if the weather will ever be bad, because the sky stays so blue. Going to the beach is a popular family outing on the weekends, and on Sundays everyone packs picnics of tortillas de Espana.

Yesterday (Saturday) we had our initial orientation to Cadiz with Carmen. Carmen and Juan are our API hosts and site directors. Juan met us in Madrid, while Carmen met us on the train in Seville. She is very nice, but doesn’t speak English. Juan at least speaks some. Anyway, Carmen gave us an official tour of the city and took us in the Torre Tavira (Tavira Tower). This is the highest point in Cadiz, and the view was great. It was initially used as a watchtower for the city, but now it serves as a tourist attraction. Of course, it was a clear day, so we could see forever. Also inside the tower was a Camera Obscura, which basically is a moving picture projected onto a white screen. The aperture of the Camera was on top of the tower, so we were able to see what was going on at street level inside the tower. It’s hard to explain, but it was interesting.

After we finished our tour of Cadiz, we were free to do whatever we wanted. Paqui packed Saira, Ashley, and I lunches and we went straight to the beach. It was crowded, but we were able to find a place to lay out. We are on the Atlantic Ocean, but the water is crystal clear blue, much like the Caribbean Sea. The waves are very small, but it’s kind of nice. We went to the local beach (Caletta Beach) but there’s also a much larger beach for the tourists, and that beach has waves. We like the Caletta Beach because it’s closer and feels very safe. I’ve found that topless is totally accepted here, even for little girls. I’m starting to wonder if they sell little girl’s bathing suits with two pieces, because none of them seem to wear their tops. It’s very strange. The guys wear conservative swimwear compared to the women. We stayed at the beach until about 7, when we couldn’t really stand the sun anymore. Ashley and I loaded up on sunscreen, and I still got an obvious tan. Saira, however, didn’t wear any sunscreen at all because she’s Pakistani and has very dark skin. She said she’d be fine because she never gets burned (famous last words), but she was feeling it today (reminds me of John). The sun wasn’t even close to setting, because it doesn’t set until 11 around here. No wonder everything is done late at night here. After dinner, we met up at a bar with the other people from our program and some students they met in the residencia. We stayed there for a little while then walked to the beach and then out to the Castilla de San Sebastian. It’s a nice walk and there’s a lighthouse as part of the castle complex. It’s on a long peninsula out into the ocean, so the water crashes on the rocks all around it. It’s really cool, especially at night because you can see so many stars. We ended up walking around until 4 a.m., but of course the city wasn’t dead. Some people we met said the nightlife truly doesn’t end until 5 or 6. I don’t think I’ll be able to do that. We also met Paqui’s grandson tonight, they had taken him to the beach and were also taking him to mass. His name is Felix and he’s so adorable. He has blond hair and blue eyes, which is very uncommon around here.

We slept in until 11 this morning and when we got up, Paqui had already packed us another picnic lunch for the beach. Everyone in Cadiz goes to the beach on Sunday. It was hard to find a spot by the time we actually got there, but we managed. Saira actually put sunscreen on today, and the sun was HOT! We played in the water a lot more frequently today. We also had tortillas de Espana, which is also the typical Sunday dinner here. They were delicious, but not all that refreshing on the hot day. We didn’t do anything but go to the beach, which was very nice. After dinner, we studied a little, but did more talking than studying. I’m not sure I’m ready for class tomorrow.

Hopefully class will go well, and I’m sure it will go by fast, as it always does. I just hope I can keep up, guess I don’t really have a choice. I’ll update soon on class. Feliz Dia de los Padres!