Saludos de España!!

For those of you who were wondering, I am alive, well, and thoroughly enjoying myself in Southern Spain. This week marks my 7th week living in this land of beautiful people (inside and out!), historical richness, breath-taking views, and most importantly delicious food!! To celebrate I went to the beach- a place I have frequented quite often. I don't mean to rub it in to anybody who has experienced one of the wettest/coldest Octobers on record in Minnesota, but 75-80 degree sunny days full of sunshine and blue skies are not loosing their luster!

As of late I have been thinking a lot- a slight side-effect to only working 12 hours a week. I have been brainstorming different activities I can take up to absorb some of my abundant free time. Until now my hobbies have consisted of sleeping in 'til 10:00am, reading the newspaper, exploring the city, grocery shopping to supply my daily creations in the kitchen, playing Snake Xenzia on my cell phone, going to the beach, spending afternoons at random bars chatting with complete strangers, going to the gym, sitting on my balcony over looking the Mediterranean contemplating life's mysteries, watching professional handball on the Eurosports channel (Azerbaijan and Estonia sure look tough this year), making and attending tapa dates (What's a tapa? ), and lastly, my favorite, staying up late with my roommate Carlos watching American movies dubbed in Spanish.

It may seem I have found plenty of activities to take part in, so why am I looking for more hobbies? The answer is simple. I am not as interested in the quantity as I am the quality of the activities I choose to consume my free time. Now don’t be mistaken sleeping in, spending afternoons at the bar, and watching handball and movies all night have their advantages, but I hope to gain more from my experience here in Spain than just an elite group of bar-mates ranging from 40-75 years old, an extensive knowledge of European’s beloved handball, and an incurable habit of not waking up before the start of the “Price is Right”. There are plenty more activities I could potentially be applying myself towards that will ultimately enhance my stay in Spain.

From the preceding thought process, this very blog was born. I have decided to enter the uncharted realm of blogging as a way to document my experience, keep in touch with family and friends, express my ever so delicate artistic feelings, and perhaps critically analysis my daily trails and tribulations of living in a foreign place. I plan to take any reader of this blog on an all-access behind the scenes look at my life in Spain. I caution beforehand I really don’t know what I am doing, but I plan to be light-hearted, up-beat, entirely honest, consistently spontaneous, and always completely serious. Who knows maybe when everything is all said and done James Lipton will be calling for me do an interview.