Grocery Shopping

Shopping for groceries is not a necessity while living with a host family, since they provide all the food and meals for you. However, supermercados are a convenient place to purchase random snacks and alcohol that your host parents usually do not provide. Mercadona was one grocery store chain. Supersol, another smaller scale grocery store chain was located across the street from my apartment building, making it a frequent stop on my route to/from school to purchase all the essentials, like principe cookies (chocolate cream sandwhich cookies), chocolate, and boxed wine (55 cents for a liter, intended to be used for cooking purposes, probably caused stomach ulcers).
The larger grocery store chain is Corte Inglés, which I would describe as a combination of Meijer, Target, and every department in Sears. You can literally get ANYTHING here. I bought groceries, had a key made, and shopped for books all in the same place. There is a Corte Inglés a couple blocks from Cegrí, where we attended classes. During breaks, my friend Erin (food fanatic) and I would browse the Corte Ingles grocery store section. We would usually end up buying junkfood and olives, but it was fun to explore all the different varieties of food and drink that Corte Inglés had to offer. Below is a picture from one of our grocery shopping adventures, exploring the "Foreign Food" section.

"American cookies" a.k.a. chocolate chip cookies