familia, amigos, gatos

It's kind of weird being here and hanging out with people almost all day and realizing you don't really know them. That's not meant in a mean way, it's just...I don't know them. But it's not bad.
^ that's what I wrote a couple of days ago. But I don't think I feel that way now. Everything just seems less...tense. About a week in, people begin to relax and things get a little less "I need friends! Give me friends! I need MY group!" Less attention-whorey, less friend-grabby. It's nice. I think I shall write more of this when I write about BarTHelona. Fake accent emphasis added.

Mayte (la host mama, whose name is a combination of Maria and Teresa, her two first names, I think?) and I also had a moment the other day. Pues (well), I don't wanna call it a moment because that makes it too precious. But there was a definite shift. We hadn't seen each other the day before and when we reunited,  it was surprisingly joyful, and she talked very fast and Spanish and I talked faster than I usually do. She  took the time to explain the basics of the game -- the difference between red and yellow cards, why it was important that Barcelona win as opposed to Malaga (answer: because Barcelona would have a better chance of beating Real Madrid, and she HATES Real Madrid), who Messi is, really anything that a person who knew anything about futbol would know. We agreed that the majority of futbol players are muy guapo. Mayte laments the fact that I do not have a smart phone and daily extols the benefits of Whatsapp. Es gratis, she tells me, if only you had internet. We both look at my tiny, sad flip phone and sigh. She also keeps telling me I am wearing ropa de verano. In fact, as I type this, she is telling taking a picture of my "summer dress" to send to her disbelieving aunt. "Sonrie!" she tells me. I do, and it's an actual smile. Mayte cracks me up. She shops like a pro, loves little kids, has two tattoos and hates cooking (we've had a lot of frozen pizza recently). Secretly I want to be her favorite study abroad student, which is dumb, but I think she's cool and I just want her to like me.

But Mayte and I are not the sole occupants of the apartment. There is a third. His name is Gandalf, and he is a grey cat, as in Gandalf el Gris from "El señor de los anillos," and this should in theory endear him to me. And for the first week or so he and I got along. And then I realized that I did not like cats jumping up on the bed at 5 in the morning to sit on my face or clawing at my leg as I tried to let him sit in my lap or biting me as I tried to be AFFECTIONATE and pet him. I never wanted to make an enemy out of a Gandalf. If anything I wanted him to take me on a tour of the Shire. But this is not to be. He is a capricious grey cat and I am a dog person. 

And this isn't related to anything (trying to cut out extraneous thoughts but it is HARD) but there's been a couple moments that past couple of days where I've had a thought in Spanish before having it in English. It's surprising, and it isn't really happening enough to merit any kind of self congratulatory pat on the back, but it's still exciting. And it was also weird trying to write in English in the school's study center where it's OBLIGATORIO that you speak in Spanish (broke this rule within 5 minutes of stepping inside oops) and I was writing in English. Cognitive disconnect. Bleh.

More extraneous thoughts, but also Spain is making me enjoy life about a million times more than I ever thought I could.