First day of school in Ibiza

Yesterday evening I went to the beach. It’s only 10 minutes away from where I live – which is pretty much in the inner city. There were so many seashells and it was pretty beautiful down there – not a lot of people, since it’s more of a beach for the locals.
I’m still getting used to the “siesta” – how most shops aren’t open at the times I would usually go shopping, but instead open up in the morning, close midday and open up again early evening till late. I like it – I really do! I love the fact that it’s completely normal to go home after school/work and nap, then go out later again.

So today I had my first day of uni here. I woke up super early because it was storming outside and I had to go get some water. Once I was out of bed (and hence my 4 blankets. Yes. 4. They don’t have any heating here!) I couldn’t fall asleep again, so I had a good 2 hours before I was supposed to  meet up at school. I hate being late, but if there’s one thing I hate even more it’s being lost and stressed, so I decided to walk 20 minutes before I was supposed to be there. 6 minutes later I was in front of the school – but couldn’t find the entrance (actually I had previously found it, but since the door was locked I figured there would be another entrance somewhere else) so I called the school – turns out, they didn’t even open till 8.30 despite that being the time we were supposed to take our entrance test! (I was there 8.15) WELCOME TO SPANISH CULTURE WHERE BEING PUNCTUAL IS NOT IMPORTANT. 😉 (and being late is normal!)

As I waited I met 3 other people that were also attending the courses. All of them spoke English (thank god!) as well as German, so we were all able to communicate. Two of them are in my current class. A guy (20 years) and a woman (49, but says she’s 50 because she can’t pronounce 49 in Spanish). The woman is hilarious. I think she must have had at least 30 facial surgeries – can hardly breathe out of her nose due to excessive nose jobs with platinum blonde messy hair and tight clothes. We are 4 people in my class, the last one is a man from Australia, whom does not speak one single word of Spanish (the rest of us have some sort of basis) and he completely messes up all the time, which thankfully he can laugh at too, which makes the class really down to earth.

(First day of school outfit)

I had classes from 8.30 till 12:45 and we have two teachers that switch throughout the day to help us get used to different accents. Both of them are really nice. In general the classes were quite easy but definitively useful. I can introduce myself, greet people, count to 1999 and have a simple conversation with others, which I think is quite an accomplishment taking into account that the last time I had Spanish was in 7th grade and my memory is awful. I won all the competitions in class as well, so I’m really happy that I haven’t forgotten everything. 🙂

The cooking is going quite awful too. The people who know me, knows that I’m not an excellent cook, but being in a kitchen where everything seems to be from the 60’s – gas stoves and “microwaves” (thus a tiny oven that can’t turn off unless you unplug it) and a kettle, which means that if you want boiled water, you have to heat it over the gas stove. Jesus! I had to ask how to even turn one such thing on! But it’s improving, it definitely is. I hope. Here’s a small picture of my dinner…………

After classes I went home and relaxed for a bit, then went back to the school where I met up with Ksenia (one of the girls that I met in the morning) and Jeron (the 20 year old guy from my class) and took a tour around Ibiza town. The streets are so cozy – I can’t wait to stroll the streets of the really old city!

There are lots of unique stores, for example a “fashion pirate store” with Ed Hardy clothes. Turns out it is one of Christian Audigier’s (the famous designer) favourite stores and apparently he knows the owner personally and therefore often comes to visit with bottles of champagne that he opens outside the store and offers random by passers,  to raise awareness of the store.
We were told that Ibiza was once sort of like Tortuga (for those of you who haven’t watched Pirates of the Caribbean, it’s pretty much where all the pirates went to “have a good time”) and the locals still have a neutral bond with pirates, due to the history. They even have a statue praising pirates!

Turns out there’s a lot more to Ibiza than just the partying! 🙂