Spanish Lifestyle

So the Spanish do it right. The lifetsyle here is amazing! Who wouldn't want a siesta time built into the day?! I've decided we have it all wrong in the U.S. When we're young we get nap time, but we don't really need it then. We just end up even more wired! But when we're in college, or even high school, nap time is really the most necessary then. Most people don't get enough sleep...we'd be so much more productive with a siesta time!...Drop Everything And Read/nap really was the best thing ever.

My typical day schedule: wake up not too early and have a small breakfast then go to 1 or 2 classes in the late morning depending on the day. If you're Olivia, you're lucky and don't have class till 5:30 pm. After or between classes, I have down time to do whatever (usually means running with Olivia and Grace to train for the Lisbon half-marathon in March). Then I go home, eat a 3-course lunch at 2:30 pm, and then siesta for 3 hours. Siesta can mean sleep or just go chill in a park or stroll around the city....the first week it always meant crashing in order to make up for not sleeping so much at night :D Siesta time is from 2 to 5:30 pm, so during that time all the shops close- EVERYONE siestas. The city becomes so quiet/dead. After the siesta, I have another class or two in the early evening (once again depending on the day) and then I'm done. We have more time to do whatever, such as explore the city, until dinner at 9:30 pm. Dinner is also usually a 3-course meal.

The typical nightlife schedule: Spaniards don't begin going out till late...probably in part because they don't start dinner till so late. Between 11 pm and midnight, they head to the bar or pub for a couple hours to hang out and talk. Around 2 am, they leave the bar and head to the discoteca and then at 4 am they switch discotectas (meaning go to another). I don't know how they do it! Going out can entail being out till past the sunrise! But it's nice on the weekend cause then you sleep in, wake up to eat lunch, siesta (so you can go right back to sleep), and then do it all again that night. It's definitely different!