Spanish Alcohol

I´ve decided that everyone here is an alcoholic! It’s in their blood. Every cafe, every bar, every restaurant has alcohol! Let me explain, so today I had coffee called a cubanito, from a little cafe to wake me up before clase. It was SO GOOD! It tasted like rich chocolate, coffee and a mysterious something else…maybe alcohol? But no way, I couldn’t believe it. So while I was drinking it, I noticed I was getting hot and I felt kind of whoozy. So after I drank most of it, I looked up at themenu and noticed the coffee said it had ¨leche, cafe, chocolate con cao, ron¨. I was like what the heck is ron???? So I asked the guy ¨ Que es ron?¨ and he showed me a bottle of freaking BACARDI! OMG!! I drank before I went to class at 9 in the morning! So I was really happy today in class and of course got most of the answers wrong. But I guess that’s perfect for today because en clase, Cultural de Espana (Spanish Culture) we talked about the importance of bars and alcohol in Spain!! So I learned all about Sangria, Calimocho, Cubatas, Whiskey and Chupitos and how to make them! My profesora even handed out instrucciones: Para Usar un Bar! Can you believe that? I have to say it was the most interesting class I´ve ever been to!
About the food situation...I have really lucked out!! Spanish food is really good, the only thing I don’t really like is paella (rice, seafood, tomatoes, eggs, a big mixture of things). And I´ve noticed when they cook American food like hamburguesas, it ALWAYS has a wonderful Spanish twist to it. For example, their ketchup tastes different, or they NEVER trim the fat off of meat, and ALWAYS use tons of aceite (olive oil) and the water never has ice in it. I am glad that Nico is a very good cook. I only say this because some of the kids tells me horror stories of their Senoras cooking them stuff like boiled eggs soaked in ketchup, or watery potato soup made of powdered fake potatoes, or of food that tastes like smoke, since EVERYONE and their madre smokes here, or super hard pan (bread). This certain madre makes her American kid eat every single thing she cooks, or she gets really mad and says, ¨Yo comi todo, you have to too!¨ But if your madre makes food that doesn´t sit well with you, at least there´s TAPAS. It IS possible for students to survive on tapas, which are the little snacks that los bares (bars) serve for free with your drinks. So here´s the legend: I guess way back in the day, the moscas used to fly around and land in the cervezas of the people in the bar. So the bartenders would cover the beer with a plate and stop (tapa) the flies from going into the drinks. However, it looked kindof ugly so the bartenders would put little bocadillas (snacks) on top of the plate, so it would look pretty! Then it evolved into tapas which can be anything from fish to fruit to Spanish tortillas to empanadas; really anything! Such a good idea!