My journey began early in the morning on Monday, August 19th, when my alarm clock woke me up at 4:40 am. Of course I had not slept much at all the night before, with so many things going through my head- nervousness, sadness from saying goodbyes, and mainly, so much excitement. Mom, dad, Courtney and I all took a shuttle together to LAX (mom and dad were also leaving to go on a little vacation the same day.) Courtney and I got dropped off at our terminal, and mom, dad, and I quickly had to say our goodbyes so they could get to their flight. It was difficult saying bye, but we all knew what an exciting adventure this was going to be, and they are visiting me in November, which helps:) So Court and I got our boarding passes, checked our luggage, and made it through security without any problems. I guess I'll fast-forward a bit so I don't bore you...once we arrived in Dallas we had a 4 hour layover, and when we got there and were waiting for the flight, we started to see more and more USD students arriving- turns out there was a huge group of us all on the same flight to Madrid which was awesome. I got to see some people I hadn't seen since the school year, and everyone was so excited for the semester we're about to spend together. The flight was alright- very long, and unfortunately I hardly slept at all because I just couldn't get comfortable in those tiny little airplane seats. Surprise surprise. First I was cold, then I was hot, then I would put my legs in one position, then someone in the aisle would kick me, then I would move them and finally start falling asleep and then they came around with food and I had to wake up...you know. That's just how it goes. But we landed safely, and thats all that matters.
Arriving in Madrid and getting to our host mom was quite the experience. Keep in mind that we had gotten about 3-4 hours of sleep in the past 48 hours, so we were not thinking completely straight in English, nevermind in Spanish. First, we had to go through immigration, then it was down to the baggage claim. We waited foreverrr to get our luggage, of course one of my bags was almost the last one out. While I was trying to balance all of the suitcases and grab the last one at the same time, they all collapsed on me and left me with a nice large black and blue bruise on my thigh. Wonderful. Once we finally had our luggage, the next challenge was to try and carry it all. Two girls with 4 huge suitcases, 2 rolling carry-ons, 2 purses, a backpack, a large carry-on bag, pillows and blankets, and our jackets. What a sight we were walking out of that airport. After finding a taxi that could fit all of our luggage, and using our first real Spanish phrases in telling the driver where to take us, we were off to our new home.
Our host mom greeted us with wide open arms and is so excited to have us staying with her. Her name is Conchi, and she's older, probably around mid-60's. She lives alone, but her daughter, daughter-in-law, and friends are in and out all the time, so there's always someone around. The apartment is relatively small, but a good size for what we need. There's 4 small bedrooms, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and a living room/dining room area. Courtney and I each have our own rooms, with a twin bed, desk, nice sized closet, and a window. We share a bathroom- its a pretty nice setup. Here's my room- don't mind the mess, still haven't finished unpacking!
So one thing that has been quite the challenge- Conchi does not speak any English. I try so so hard to understand her, respond, and have conversations, but it is so difficult!! Especially the first day, when she was so excited and talking so much, and Court and I were exhausted and just wanted to sleep. It really does take a lot of effort to listen and process what she is saying- its pretty exhausting. But as hard as it is, I'm actually really happy that she does not speak English. It's forcing me to use my Spanish, and hopefully in a couple months I will be able to have conversations with her and I will be a lot more fluent in the language when I come home.
Conchi is a great cook- so far she has made us scrumptious dinners with salad, bread, rice or pasta, chicken or fish, and fruit for dessert. For breakfast, we have coffee, fruit, and a croissant/bread-type item. There's this melon here that is sooo good...it's kind of like a cross between honeydew and cantaloupe, and pretty sweet. Fruit is one of my favorite things to eat right now, because its so refreshing when its so hot out. Luckily, the water in Madrid is safe to drink, so I have been able to drink the tap water. And believe me, you need ALOT of water here with how hot it is.
It's getting late so I will summarize, but basically, yesterday we had our orientation at the University, and got to meet our professors for the travel seminar, and everyone who will be helping us out this semester. They provided us with lunch, which was Subway. I found that kind of interesting..that I just traveled to Spain and the first lunch I have is Subway, which is around the corner from my house in Fountain Valley. But ah well. After lunch we went on a bus/walking tour around Madrid, and got to see a lot of really beautiful and important parts of the city, such as Plaza de Colon, Puerto de Sol, and the Palacio Real de Madrid, which I have pictures of below. We saw a lot of buildings and plazas that I had seen pictures of, and it was incredible to see them in real life. It was a long day, but so neat to actually be able to see the beautiful city we are living in, and realize the amazing history that is behind it.
Today we took a day trip to Toledo, which was absolutely stunning. We were able to go inside churches, a synagogue, walk around the historical city, and have some free time to eat and explore. All of the architecture, the time it took to build these magnificent structures, and the peace and tranquility you felt walking into some of these churches was just unreal. It was hard to choose just a couple pictures from today, because there were so many amazing ones. So here's some of my favorites.
The view right when we got off of the bus
Having some fun modeling with the mannequin outside one of the stores in Toledo
You really can't beat this picture perfect view of the city!
Things that are different/interesting to note that I have noticed so far:
1. THE HEAT
Oh my goodness. It is so extremely hot here. Like in the 100s during the day, and only down to about 90 throughout the night. And mind you, we have no A/C, no fans, no nothing. So sleeping has definitely been difficult. I sleep with the window wide open- theres no screens or anything, and I feel like it barely does anything. Hopefully it cools down soon, or we might have to go out and buy a fan or something. And with all the walking we've been doing...yeah, talk about burning some calories.
2. GETTING INTO OUR APARTMENT
So this probably sounds dumb, but okay first of all, it's extremely hard to work the keys. First, there's a key to get into the apartment structure. I think I've finally got that one down. But then, there's two separate keys to get into our apartment...and there's like 4 key holes. So now I know which 2 we need to use, but I still just cannot figure out how to unlock both of them. Each time we've come back so far Conchi has either heard us and unlocked it from inside, or Court has done it. Guess I probably need to figure that out soon :/ Also, okay, so most of you are already aware of my fear of elevators. Now let me tell you, the elevators here are about 100 times worse. They are tiny, very very run-down looking, you can only fit 2 people at one time, and oh my gosh I don't like them at all. And we live on the 6th floor, which, mind you, in Spain is really the 7th floor because the first is the "planto bajo" or ground floor. So, long story short, I've been giving Court and I quite the workout everytime we come home, because there is no way I am taking that elevator, so we get to climb 7 flights of stairs. At least its some exercise right?
3. TRANSPORTATION (the metro)
So, Court and I have had some fun trying to navigate around the city. The first day, we decided to go out and explore to see what was around where we live, so we just started walking, and turning down streets. We found some interesting places- lots of bars, some cute shops, phone and electronic stores, convenience stores, some other things. What we did not realize, was that we really did not know how to get back. So we spent quite awhile turning up and down streets, trying to find familiar places, oh it was interesting. But we did finally make it back, around 9, which we had no idea it was that late. (the sun sets so late here!!) Then, our first experience with the metro- oh my goodness what a process. first you have to find which is the closest stop to you, then figure out if that line goes where you need to go, then figure out if you need to make any transfers to different lines, and then you have to buy the tickets, make sure you're on the right line going the right direction...it takes some getting used to. We've finally kind of got the metro part down, but we still are having trouble figuring out how to get home once we get off the metro. Yesterday we got off one stop early, and spent hours walking around the city trying to figure out which direction to go. Luckily, with the help of some maps and our iPhones, we finally found our street. Today, we made sure to get off at the right stop, however, we must have turned the wrong way when we got off, and proceeded to find ourselves all the way back at the stop we had gotten off at the first day. So, needless to say, it was quite a long walk. Also needless to say, we have some learning to do still.
4. MEALS
This is a short one, but I just want to point out that the eating times and portions are so different here! I'm used to my big egg and meat breakfast...none of that here. Simply coffee, fruit, and bread. Then you don't eat again until your main meal around 2/2:30...how do people go that long with so little food?!?! I'm still snacking in between, but maybe eventually I will get used to it. Also, dinner is normally around 9 or 10, which is something different. Nothing too major, but something to notice.
5. GOING OUT
Last night we had our first night out...ordered my first drink ever! Yay being legal! We went to Puerto de Sol- definitely the place to go around here. We took the metro there (which is another story in itself) but finally made it there around 12. We were thinking oh, it's so late, I hope things are still going on...yeah we had nothing to worry about. Getting off at the metro, there were people EVERYWHERE. at midnight on a Wednesday! It was crazy! People coming up to us giving us flyers for bars to go to, street performers out in the plaza, lights and music, it was amazing. I definitely will have to get used to this time difference in going out! But we had a great night, met up with other USD students, went to a bar named Donovan's, and just talked, met new people, ordered a couple drinks and had a great time. I think I'm gonna like this Puerto de Sol :)
Alrighty, I think I've written enough for my first post. Sorry if it was boring or long...hopefully I get better at writing these as I go. But I am having a great time...still can't believe I'm actually here. Tomorrow morning we leave for our 10 day travel seminar, where we get to visit all kinds of cities in Spain- Cordoba, Valencia, Sevilla, Barcelona...I'm excited:) Not excited for the 8 hour bus ride to Barcelona though:/ Ah well. I better get packing! I will try to post at least once every couple weeks. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed my adventures so far!
*FIESTAS Y SIESTAS*
(btw thats our phrase for the trip, you'll be seeing that alot ;))
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