Day 5

So last night I blew out the power. Not once but twice. Apparently I can't use my power strip. Then today I was late for class because I was trying to be nice and wait on this guy that was going to school with me but it turns out he didn't have to be there at the same time as me. I arrived at the bus stop just as one was leaving then had to wait 15 minutes for another one to come by. Then 10 minutes on the bus then walk 10 minutes. I will have to start leaving a little earlier than I thought. It didn't matter though because they were giving an oral test one at a time so I got to go last. My first class is going to be a different class tomorrow because they put me in a class that focuses on speaking rather than listening. Then we studied irregular present tense verbs in my second class so I felt like I was in Spanish 1 again but it will hopefully get more advanced. There were English (from England), German, Italian, and Polish students in my class, although most of them are in their middle 20s. Lunch was wonderful. I had zucchini soup (sounds awful but it is really good), and these cheese and ham fried ball things that were wonderful. Estoy llena. I found out that Tandem, my school, plans trips for the students all the time. They do outings about 4 times a week so I should get to see a lot of places in Spain. Electives don't start for about another month, so right now I am done with classes at 1. Then, Erica and I have to take the DELE although I don't know why. We are the only Americans taking it. We have to take another grammar class in addition to the two we are already taking and the art and education one that start next month. The DELE is a test given by the Spanish government that says that someone is proficient in the Spanish language and understands the culture. I would not normally take it but Lander requires it. I am about used to the schedule. In Spain, lunch is eaten around 2 or 3 and supper is eaten at 9 or 10. And there is fruit for dessert. Nightlife doesn't start until 11 or so and ends at 4 in the morning. I can not be out that long and be at class at 9 the next morning.

Day 4

Yesterday, we went and learned the metro and bus systems. I know that I live where the gray line and blue line meet, but that is about all I know. It is going to be quicker for me to take the bus to school rather than take the metro. If I do decide to take the metro, I would have to take a bus to a metro station because the nearest one is about a 15 minute walk. We all have bus passes for all of September, but since it is still August, we have to buy a pass (one euro each way) everytime we get on the metro or a bus. We practiced by taking the metro to all of our houses because we would have to know where to go when we moved in today. My room is smallish. Think dorm room size. I have a bunk bed (which I don't have to share with anybody), a desk, a small table and a wardrobe. I have most of my things unpacked but I just have a few small things that I need to find a place for. In Spain, lunch is eaten at around 1 or 2. My senora, Luz Rivera, is very nice. She cooked noodles with tuna. We also had carpiccio (?) which I do not recommend. It is an Italian dish that is basically raw beef slices with a mayonaise and mustard sauce. I feel bad because I only had one bite. Then she kept offering me more things. Then for dessert, I had coco yogurt. Coco is coconut and not chocolate, just for the record. Senora Luz is very sweet. She speaks only a dozen or so words of English which is good because I will be forced to speak Spanish. But I have to ask her to repeat a lot of things because I don't understand her. Real Spaniards speak way faster than I thought. I am lucky if I catch a main word. Then I can at least guess what she is saying. Something that I really like about Spain is that siestas (afternoon naps) are normal. I can sleep for an hour or two and that is perfectly okay. And that is what I am going to do now.

Day 2

Breakfast today was a little different than what I am used to. I had a tortilla (think potato omlette), fruit, and a pastry. I also met the other 3 girls that are in my group. Then we went and toured Tandem. It is a small school, but the inside is beautiful. It has a courtyard with all kinds of plants with tables and chairs. This is definitely going to be a place where I study. Then we went and toured Madrid. We went to a Walmart equivalent with 6 floors! They have everything I will ever possibly need. Then we ate an early lunch around 1. We had samples of a lot of tapas but I don't even know what I ate. There was this ranch potato thing, salad, seafood sandwiches (?), potato casserole, and a lot of ham and cheese. I decided if I don't like anything else, I can live of ham and cheese sandwiches for the next 3 months. Everything here is so expensive, but since it is in euros, it looks reasonable until you convert it to to dollars. I bought a bottle of water at the restaurant for 2 euros, which is about 3 bucks. There are also souvenir shops everwhere. I haven't bought anything yet because I don't have anywhere to put the stuff until I get to my host home. We got back to the hotel and now it is time for a siesta-afternoon nap. We are going on a bus tour of Madrid later tonight so hasta luego...

Arrival

I just arrived at my hotel that I am going to be staying at for 3 days. The plane ride was okay. The first one was a small plane, and I felt every bump. Then, we had a five hour layover in Philadelphia which ended up being six hours. Fun *sarcasm. Erica and I just walked around the airport, got something to eat, but the internet connection was so bad that we couldn't get on. We landed in Madrid at about 8:30ish. I only slept about 4 hours on the plane because I was sitting straight up and there were noises and lights and too many distractions. Madrid is huge. The hotel we are staying at is within walking distance of the museo del Prado. We also passed the congress building and Starbucks. There are six people in the program that I am doing. I think one other person is here, and the other three are getting here about 1:30. So I am going to take a nap and then wake up when the other people get here so we can go grab some lunch. There is a six hour difference, everything is in metric, I have to convert to euros and no one here understands the concept of blinkers and right-of-ways (especially motorcycles). It will take a while to get used to, but it's going to be so much fun doing so.