classes and cuisine

Classes:
Mondays are really full. All four classes. Literature del siglo de oro (golden century), History of Spain, European Union and finally, from 6-9 at night, Drawing. For the art class I have to go to a different campus (by metro), I´m headed there soon. I shall now expand a bit on the classes. The Lit class is going to be fun. Gonna read some Cervantes and other classic stuff. The prof is really interesting. She knows a lot, too. History of Spain has thus far been somewhat unremarkable, but I´m excited to learn it. European Union I have only had twice, but I love it. The prof is a bit intimidating, and I´m going to have to work hard, but I´m going to learn a lot. The drawing class is a regular university class (the others are taught by reg. professors, but only offered to the BCA students. a little bit lame. not much, just a little). The professor sometimes breaks into Catalan and I can follow her, but not understand well. I don´t know if the whole term is figure drawing, but last week was and we drew a naked model for 3 hours. (Not something Goshen does....) I think it will be neat, and hopefully I will make some friends.

Cuisine:
Breakfast: Cafe con leche. y azucar (of course). I usually dip some little galletas in my cafe... they taste a bit like animal crackers, but are big and flat and round. and yummy. bread (white baguette) with margarine and jam. a new and wonderful addition: cheese! The past week we have had those cute little triangles of cream-cheese-ish stuff all wrapped in tinfoil. yummy. I sometimes eat a peach or an apple at breakfast too. And Ana got a box of Muesli with dried fruit from her daughter or something? So sometimes I eat cereal, too. I am content with breakfasts.
Lunch: If I am gone during the day (have classes at the university) I get a bocadillo (sandwhich on baguette bread) and a piece of fruit. The bocadillo generally has jamon del pais in it, which is a cured (not cooked) ham that looks a little like raw bacon. Its pretty good, but I get happy on the days when my bocadillo contains jamon dulce, your reg. sandwich meat and a slice of cheese. I like cheese. If I am home for lunch (2-3 in the afternoon) we have various dishes. sometimes a pasta dish. sometimes fried fish. sometimes a plate of cooked peas. sometimes lentils. I like nearly everything. (Somehow after my childhood years of incredible picky-ness with food I have become rather open to most food set before me. cool, huh, mom?) We usually have a little bit of salad (iceberg lettuce) with vinegar and olive oil. Sometimes I get a cut up tomato with chunks of garlic on it. Quite tasty. But I wouldn´t want to go out for a couple hours after all the garlic... =) Dessert is a piece of fruit. Again, usually apple or peach, but sometimes melon or grapes or a banana.
Supper: supper happens any time between 8-9:30 at night. Sometimes later. But usually its 8:30. Supper always has more than one course. Similiar to lunch options. Last night was a light supper and the main dish was a tortilla. Don´t think ¨tortilla¨ of latin america. This is basically an omellette and has nothing to do with flour or corn. The ¨tortillas francesas¨ are just egg, and the ¨tortillas españolas¨or de patatas have chunks of potato in them. quite tasty. The night before we had lentils and fried anchovies. (yup, ate those, too.) There is currenly a jar of snails on the counter and I wonder if they are for the grandkids to play with, or if I shall soon get a meal of them. Either way, its kind of fun. =)
Other random notes: If I go out to a bar to eat with friends (not very common, becuase when I can eat for free, why pay?) its easy to find food from all over. The most common thing in Spain, though, is a tapas bar. Tapas are little appetizers or entrees that one generally eats with a cup of wine or bottle of beer. They are things like meatballs, patatas bravas (fried potatoes with tomato), fish, etc.
Panadarias are all around and today on my search of a public library (found, but closed) I took advantagea and bought a yummy pastry. They smell so good when you walk by... I think I might start stopping more often (surprised? didn´t think so...) and spending my change on breads instead of at cafes... we shall see. its easier to sit and chat with friends at a cafe...