Things you probably don't know about Spain.

1.) Pillow cases here have holes on both ends. I do not yet a see a purpose behind this but I will keep you posted if a situation should present itself. Also, pillows are the length of what we call "body pillows" in the U.S. And if you're a two pillow kind of girl, you have to fold yours in half to achieve greater neck support. Economical? Fairly.

2.) Beer is in fact cheaper than water and a better deal. Buy a beer for 2 euro and you get a small meal. Buy water for 2 euro and you get no refills and no food. And it's in a bottle, which I hate because it's environmentally horrible. So I bring the tin bottle Alysha got me for water and order a beer for delicious food!

3.) Doctors are not paid as much as American doctors. The system is socialized here. This makes for doctors who just really LOVE their job, not their paychecks. I like this.

4.) Spain refuses to seed or pit any of their fruit (all grapes have seeds), but they take the time to de-crust their sandwich bread. Why?

5.) Evidently, girls in their twenties here are more than fine with dating 15-19 year old boys. It seems to be culturally normal. So Collette, you're in the clear! Haha. Kidding.

6.) Three o' clock in the morning is either slightly early or just the right time to arrive a club. In America, said clubs close at 2 a.m. In Laura-ville, bedtime was a couple hours ago.

7.) One of the most common drinks here is "Calimocho." Which is half coke, half red wine. Hah! It's actually pretty good.

8.) The handle to the flush the toilet is located at the top of the tank in the center. I certainly hope I never have to get into the tank because you can't just take the lid off with a handle drilled through it. This could be a potentially embarrassing situation if I can't fix my own problems and have to knock on my landlord's door. Aah!

9.) The trash is picked up between 1 and 2 a.m. I see their reasoning (to a degree); the streets are more empty and this is important when most of the streets are one-way alleys. But man, in Natasha's and Brandon's rooms (as well as Alex's and Chelsea's) that stuff is LOUD in the night.

10.) If you say "thank you" in the wrong situation, it can be slightly offensive. Or if you say thank you too much, it can also be offensive. I have not conquered this yet (as I say thank you for EVERYTHING) but I am beginning to understand. In America, we tend to say thank you more to strangers and public servants than to our family--we're close to them and helping each other out is sometimes expected. So if you say it too much here, you're distancing yourself from the person you are speaking to. You are kind of saying, "We're not that close."

Now you know!