Tim Foster

7:35 a.m. – my alarm rings and I force myself out of bed in the dark front bedroom of my house on Calle Caleros in the old quarter of Cáceres, Spain. “Buenos días,” I say to my host mother. “Muy buenos,” she replies. I shower, get ready and eat a light breakfast of cornflakes, yogurt and crackers – nobody really eats a good breakfast here. Out the door with a Spanish orange, and another day abroad has begun!

I start the day with a 35-minute walk to campus. There’s not really student housing on campuses of foreign universities, so most people take the bus. The bus takes about as long as walking and I’m cheap. Plus, I like the time to listen to the Radio Nacional de España podcasts and to ponder the deeper meaning of life as I walk past green fields of cows and tranquil red-tiled country homes. Now this is Spain!

I arrive at the Universidad de Extremadura where I’m enrolled in classes of literature, culture, history and phonology (yeah, I didn’t know what that was before I started studying it either). Classes are great, and the all-Spanish-all-the-time has really improved my language – almost as much as trying to communicate with my host mom has helped – she’s got a ridiculous rapid-fire southern Spanish accent!

I return home for comida around 4. If that seems pretty heinously late, it is. But, as the meal is usually big enough for Thanksgiving dinner, I can get by. After lunch, while the rest of the world is on siesta, I take the time to start my homework, check the all-important Facebook or do some reading. I never have been much of a napper. My afternoons are spent strolling the whitewashed streets of medieval Cáceres, listening to classical guitar and practicing my flamenco for nightly bailes (yeah right – I’m likely in the library catching up on all the homework I miss out on from my weekend trips and the journaling I make myself do).

I do take the chance to check out the city every once in a while. Cáceres is both a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is in the running for the 2016 European Capital of Culture, so it’s got a few things going for it! There are so many free museums and gorgeous stork-bedecked towers on the car-less, meandering rock streets that it’s hard not to get pulled into the romanticism of this Moorish-infused middle ages gem of a city. In the evening I head back to campus for the UEx choir, probably my favorite part of every day. Not quite the Creighton Chamber Choir, but what an experience! And I thought I had trouble following directors in English— I get home and eat a light dinner at 10:30 p.m. I’m still trying to get used to the crazy eating schedule here. I’m in bed by – oh who am I kidding – 2 a.m. I get less sleep here than I do in the States, which is saying something.

My weekends are spent sightseeing the best Spain has to offer – Granada, Córdoba, Madrid, Segovia and Ávila so far. Cathedrals, castles, Baroque organs, Moorish palaces, aqueducts, museums, sketchy hostels, long bus rides and meeting great people to share my travels with have been some of the highlights. With the upcoming Holy Week break, I’m sure to have some great adventures!

Though I miss everyone back home and the rain keeps falling (apparently the rain in Spain falls mainly in Cáceres), I have to remind myself my new favorite Spanish phrase: “Al mal tiempo, buena cara,” in bad weather, put on a good face. And that’s not the only thing I’ve learned: You too can discover the joys of mullets, everyone smoking, a glorious excess of olive oil, the discovery that subjunctive really does exist and living with no personal space bubble. You can also learn to give dos besitas when you meet a new friend, Spanish enthusiasm for Canary Island bananas (which in my experience are FAR inferior to my beloved American ones) and the passion of some of the most outgoing and convivial people in the world, if you just live in Spain for four months! I’ve even started to pick up the local extremeño accent (lack of all pronounced s’s), which I’m pretty proud of.

Above all, things are slower and more relaxed here, a quality that can be so endearing but at times completely drive us uptight, goal-oriented Americans loco! Sure, obligations and accomplishments are important, but they can always wait until mañana. “Hay que aprovechar,” you’ve got to enjoy yourself, I’ve been told time and time again. I think that’s a lesson we could all stand to take to heart, while we still have the opportunity. Now about that flamenco – Who said learning can’t be fun?