Submitted by Hallie Nygren on the 2016 fall semester study abroad program in Granada, Spain…
So far, I am having a great time studying abroad in Spain! I am living with a host mom, Pilar, and although sometimes it is difficult to communicate with her, I feel like I improve everyday while conversing with her during meals. In the two weeks since I arrived, the Spanish meal schedule has been hard to adjust to. Not only are the meals very different from ours in America, but they are also very spread out throughout the day. Spaniards start out with a very light breakfast, early in the morning. They usually eat a piece of toast with a tiny, but very strong, coffee with milk. My roommate and I usually opt for something a little heavier, such as oatmeal or cereal. We do not eat lunch until 3:00 pm, which is a long time to wait to eat if you eat breakfast before class at 7:30 am! Dinner is pretty late too, usually around 9:00 pm. The lunches are the heaviest meal of the day, while the dinners are much lighter. One day, we had a big plate of paella, a combination of rice, shrimp, beans and meat for lunch and soup for dinner.
It was hard for me to get used to eating such a big lunch and then only having soup for dinner because in the United States, I usually eat a lot for dinner. The meals are, in general, very healthy here. We eat a lot of vegetables and have fruit or yogurt for dessert. When I make food for myself at school, it is not necessarily always the healthiest, but rather what is the quickest and easiest to make. Also, lots of bread is eaten at every meal here, which is so different from meals in America, where it seems like many people avoid eating a lot of bread in order to prevent gaining weight/ being unhealthy.