los americanos estúpidos

I’ve found my sleep-related breaking point: 6 hours. Any less and I revert back to being five and have to stop myself from throwing a temper trantrum … thus far I’ve been successful but I’ll keep everyone posted. 

I’ve only had 1.5 baguettes so far today. My body feels deprived of carbs so I’ll have to make up for the lack of bleached flour tonight at dinner. 

Today we had our excursion to Toledo! It’s only about 30 minutes from Madrid but it’s so different. The city is much smaller and it reminds me of Tech; at school everything is made of Hokie Stone and in Toledo all of the buildings were very similar and the roads were all stone (I stumbled often but never actually fell.) The city is very hilly so it was unfortunate when ten of us got lost for 45 minutes during our free time. Dr. Panford was not amused to say the least. At one point my legs were so tired I almost rolled down a hill but there were cars coming and I didn’t want my dress to get dirty. 

In Toledo we went into two cathedrals; they were unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I felt lucky to be Catholic (hear that, Grandma?) because I could understand and appreciate a lot more of the architecture and murals than some of the other students. The cathedrals are beautiful and mind-blowingly huge, I had a hard time focusing on our tour guide because there was so much to look at. It’s crazy to think about how long it would take to build with no cars or modern machinery. I respect the Spanish! 

A few noteworthy things: THE ELEVATOR. In our building the elevator is maybe 1/5 of the size of a US elevator. Michelle, Annie and I barely fit and the weight limit is 320 kilograms. I don’t know the conversion but it’s entirely possible that we weigh more.  Stay tuned for news that the gringas in the building broke the elevator, feeding the stereotype that Americans are fat. 

CROSSWALKS. We’re used to strolling casually across the street because in Blacksburg cars (almost) always stop … not the case here. They don’t slow down even a little, even when we have the green arrow. My life has flashed before my eyes more than once but at least recently the flash includes chocolate croissants and Sangria so it’s not so bad. 

MODERATION: In Spain, the general consensus is that Americans are wasteful, gluttonous human beings. They think we eat too much too fast (probably true) and use way too much electricity and water (definitely true). Here, people take quick showers usually every other day (I’m allowed to shower daily for everyone else’s sake) and only turn on lights and water when absolutely necessary. We’re not allowed to turn on lights unless it’s dark and then we can only turn on one! They also think we’re ridiculous for driving big cars; I’ve only seen a few SUVs since we’ve been here. They’re right, but that doesn’t mean I’ll shower less often at home. I’ll consider being more considerate about electricity but this girl needs 10 minutes to bathe. Tomorrow we have another excursion. ¡Hasta luego!