I don't think this is real life.

I'm not sure where to start. I guess I'll save the best for last.
After Toledo on Friday, the whole group went to the Cave bar. We had a blast! I feel like I am at summer camp, but for forever. And I love it. I experienced my first 6:30 am metro ride home, because the metros close at 1:30 and we don't want to pay a cab. Walking home with the sun coming up is the least fun thing in the entire world. Saturday consisted of sleeping, cleaning and an early night with the girls. I attempted to take the bus again, and failed, again. But, according to the man, Ben King himself, if I'm not getting lost or yelled at, I'm not having an adventure. So the adventure continues...

Sunday is the part where I don't think I am in real life. There's no way. And as much detail as I give won't be able to do this story justice.
My friend Lauren who is in the program asked Maria and I if we wanted to go to her intercambio Joaquin's "cottage" for the day. She said it is a little outside of Madrid and we will be back by dinner time for our dinner with my intercambios. We climb into his European car in the morning and off we go. About 5 minutes into the drive, I fall asleep. I wake up about 40 minutes later (it was a little more than outside of Madrid), and there is a light snow on the windshield. Guess my light sweater outfit was inappropriate for this day. We are in the mountains at this point, and it is gorgeous. Rolling green hills with a thin layer of snow, really large cows, and not a car in sight. Quite different then the metropolitan city of 5 million that I have grown so used to. I even saw my first truck on the way! Felt just like home. We turn off the road after about an hour of driving, and we have to be let in a gate. I think nothing of the nice gate and the "Font Vella" sign. As we are driving in, you can see the valley below us and the curvy roads with beautiful old spanish houses. I start taking pictures from far away out the window of this one house on the hill. Minutes later I realize that is our destination. We drive up, and Joaquin mentions his father likes him to bring guests to the back house, not the mansion. So we drive up a hill, past an Iglesia and some horses, to another beautiful spanish house on top of the hill looking over the valley. We get out of the car and it is snowing and we are looking over a mountain range in Spain. Surreal. Also, I think Joaquin needs to learn the meaning of "cottage," because this definitely was not what I pictured when he described it. We get inside, and the housekeepers are already at work preparing a meal for us. There are two fireplaces in the living room, and thank goodness because it was freezing. Not only did I dress wrong for the occasion, but because I am from California they think I am just a little sissy lala when it comes to the cold. Which I probably am. Anyways, I am trying to take in everything that had happened in the last 5 minutes, and why the heck does he own this vacation destination. Turns out, his family owns Font Vella water, comparable to Aquafina in the states. When we drove in we passed a huge water plant, and I didn't even put the two together. His cousin came over for lunch and brought two friends. The man was German but born in Spain, and studied at USC during college and got a masters from UCLA. No big deal. He was so nice and spoke english really well. His girlfriend is a fashion designer in Madrid and is launching a line in New York this season. Also, no big deal. Lunch was delicious. Of couse there was jamon, but the main meal was a beef and potato stew thing with salad and homemade cheesecake. Spoiled. We sat around the table talking and laughing and discussing funny words in spanish and english for hours. The spanish loooooove to eat for hours on end. Somehow we got on the subject of "love handles," and they didn't understand that concept. Probably because they are all so skinny. I also only understood about 40% of the conversations during the 3 hour lunch. But, it's good practice. Afterwards, we toured the main house. The three stories of spanish elegance and architecture was out of this world. The house was built in the 1860's, and I lost count of the number of bedrooms after 11. Did I mention they have their own church on the property? Also cute and spanish. Apparently people rent out the property for weddings and can stay in the house. After all of this, Joaquin took us to a small village just up the road called Siguenza. As we drove into the town, which was all built of matching stones and precious bricks, a nice large castle appeared. The snow really made the town look even cooler then it already would. We got out and went inside a huge Cathedral, and  then toured the castle. Every village up the road has a nearby castle, right? We were short on time so we had to cut the visit short, but we are definitely going back. And I thought we were just going to have lunch at a cottage.

We got home at 8:30, and had guests coming at 9 for dinner. We also forgot that EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays in Madrid, so we had to order pizza. So dumb and so American. Zadith and Jorge loved it, and I think they had a good time. We were so tired and kept hinting that we had homework, but they didn't leave until 11:45. These spaniards really really really like to stay a while during the meal. We had a great time laughing at my spanish, and laughing at the way Jorge says Spiderman, Speeeederman. So cute, these spanish people. This weekend was so much fun, and I don't know how I keep having more fun then the day before. I'm still running on excitement, not sleep or rest or nutrients, just pure excitement. After going to bed at 3 from homework, and waking up at 7 and having class until 3, then dinner in Gran Via tonight and it is now 1, I am still going and am happier than ever. I don't think I will ever be bored. I wonder if excitement can get you through 5 months....

the first time not knowing spanish really becomes a problem

First of all, I just booked my flights to Rome and Paris. Rome this weekend with Adriana, Beau comes to Madrid next weekend, and Paris the following weekend with 6 other people from my group. Then southern Spain and Cadiz a few weeks later. THIS IS NOT REAL LIFE. Once again, thanks mom and dad, family members, ya know, anyone who is helping me to see the entire world.

We went to a bar called the Cave bar the other night, and it looks just like a cave. SO COOL. The drinks come out of the crevices in the ceiling into your glass. The drink also looked like milk which is gross but it turned out being delicious. I loved it. We might go back there tonight.

I had my first tutoring session with with Cristina yesterday. First of all, we all left school together and everyone was going to Gran Via to go to El Tigre and I was going to meet them there after my meeting. This is where the adventure starts. I had to get off at Pavones, which everyone was teasing it was the ghetto of Madrid. Someone even compared it to Oakland. Rude. Anyways, I found a friend to help me find my way to her house and Cristina was so nice. She is 14 and learning english and french, and is very very smart. Her mom doesn't speak english. Difficult. She is learning past perfect and present participle and things like that. I had to reteach myself before I taught her. And, her english teacher is teaching her wrong things. A sentence she wrote was, "I have lived in Madrid since 1996." Her teacher corrected her to "I have lived in Madrid for 1996." How dumb. Thank goodness she has me! Afterwards, I was walking back to the metro to go meet my friends at Gran Via and passed the bus stop. I've only taken the bus once, I don't know the stops, I have never been to Gran Via or Pavones, and I was all alone, and it was night, but I decided to take the bus. After waiting for 15 minutes, (the metro was another block, 3 minutes away and I thought I was taking the shortcut...), and on the bus for 45, I realized the place I was resembled Bakersfield. Not my beautiful city of Madrid. I also turned around and I was the only person on the bus. After trying to ask where we were going and why I wasn't at Gran Via, the bus driver yelled quickly in spanish and the only thing I could understand was him saying salida. Or exit. He then opened the doors and I got out, not even at a bus stop. Cool. Not. I realized I was pretty far from the heart of the city, where I needed to be. And, who likes to be anywhere that looks like Bakersfield? I saw two high school girls who knew less english than I know spanish. After 10 minutes of me trying to explain my issue, they proceeded to walk me 5 blocks to a metro, find me a map, draw out where I needed to go, and walked me down to make sure I got on the right bus. If I had any bills smaller than 50 I would've paid them. (And if I was rich.) I was so happy and grateful for these 15 year old spanish girls I almost cried.  I asked where they were going, and they weren't even getting on the metro. They just went out of their way over 45 minutes to help a lost, upset American girl. There are some great people in this world. 2 hours later than expected I arrived at Gran Via. Everyone had left except 2 people. Oh well, at least I knew where I was. I need to learn more spanish. I got a Mcdonalds ice cream cone to make me feel better. It worked.

I've been drinking at least 2 cafe con leches a day. I love the taste, and I need it to get through the day. At 80 cents from my nice cafeteria friend, it's an affordable addiction.

And now we get to today. HOLY TOLEDO! I know why the phrase is so, it is the coolest place in the world. It is an ancient city surrounded by ruins of walls builts hundreds of years ago. I was in awe the entire time. We went to a Mosque, a Synagogue, and a Catedral built thousands of years ago. The catedral was by far the coolest thing I have seen since I have been here. Architecture that is unbelievable, and history to go with it. Things like that make America look like a puny baby. (I still love the states, don't worry.) But really, it was so cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but obviously I did so I will post them. They are blurry and through my jacket but hey, being rebellious on a class field trip is risky. It was also supposed to snow and let me tell you, I was prepared with many layers and hats and scarves. It ended up being sunny most of the day and rained while we were at lunch. Whatever Spain, whatever. Our lunch was a three course meal with a drink for 10 euros. Score! I got paella, a rice with seafood thing, and spaghetti. (I couldn't be thaaaaaaat adventurous in one meal...) Then flan for dessert, yum! And sangria of course. Toledo was a great experience. I got to say Holy Toledo! all day, how could it not be cool? The bus ride back was 45 minutes and everyone was knocked out. I'm afraid I'm going to sleep for 2 straight months when I get home. As long as I get to see everything here, that's okay.

Maria and I are cooking for my intercambio and her friend on Sunday. They made a comment about American's not knowing how to cook, so the pressure is on. It should be fun though. I am so lucky Maria is my roommate, she is great. Tonight, we were boiling hard boiled eggs and making chicken and veggies, and almost caught the apartment on fire. You have to light the stove with a lighter, but our long lighter is out and we ran out of matches. So we have to light a paper towel and put it on there. Well, there was commotion, the paper towel lit too quickly, the stove wasn't on, I threw the paper towel on the counter to not burn my hand, it landed on a real towel, the fridge was open, Maria grabbed it and while she did this I turned around quickly (we are laughing/screaming a lot at this point), and when I turned around I smacked my head into the open cupboard and fell straight to the ground. It was by far the funniest moment of my trip. Kitchen is still in tact, our dinner got made, my abs hurt from laughing and I have a small knot on my forehead, but all in all we survived.

no me gusta el frio

this is funny

trabajo! trabajo! trabajo!

Well, looks like twice a week I will be tutoring a spanish girl with her english and will be getting paid 15 euros an hour. Sweet! Not sure how I am able to do this, and she will probably teach me as much as I teach her, but I am really excited. She's 14, and I get to go to their house and see a traditional spanish lifestyle. I think I'm really getting the full experience out of this trip. I also had coffee with my intercambio, Zadith today, and her friend Jorge who was the one that moved me into my apartment. They were really nice and fun, and were forcing me to speak in spanish. Definitely good for me, definitely hard. But they laughed at my hand motions and made it easy to talk to them. I was late to class because of this coffee date, but explained to Sara that I was practicing spanish therefore shouldn't be in trouble, in fact I should be rewarded. They want to take me out and explore the town, and I want them to cook for me and take me salsa dancing. Having local friends is pretty sweet. 

Last night Maria made mexican rice and I made a chicken with tomato, basil, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese thing that was delicious. I finished mine in about two seconds, and looked up to see Maria shocked. I then told her she should see me eat chipotle.... then I thought about chipotle and got sad. But, we are becoming quite the housewives. She has a mexican chicken stew thing brewing in the kitchen right now that will be ready when we get home from shopping. So cute. 

I'm booking my trip to Rome this week, and meeting up with Adriana for the weekend. We are going to do all of the touristy things and see everything we can. CANNOT WAIT to eat delicious pasta and italian food. 

In class we learned all about the Basque region, and the language. My teacher is from the Basque country and it seems like an interesting place. I haven't been this stoked to learn things in a long time. I like my classes at home, but here I care more about learning everything I can and soaking it up, as opposed to getting a good grade and memorizing things for the test. Thats how college should be. I spent my free time today writing down all the words I learned today and writing down other words I didn't know. And, that is for my sole benefit because I need to learn it to survive, not because I'm being graded. I hope that's how doctors feel when they are in school. And I wish I felt that way always. Maybe when I get home I will. Or I'll just change my major to spanish. I mean I did want to change it to architecture recently, but those dreams were crushed when I learned I graduate next year and am cut off after 4 years of schooling... shoot. I'll just find a spanish husband who is loaded and he will pay for me to go to architecture school and then he will teach me spanish. Hope you are laughing right now mom. I am :) I think you may be the only person who reads this, and I just write in it to assure you that I am in fact still alive. So, for todays post, I'm still alive mom. And dad, if you are reading this as well. 

Well, off to get a blanket because it is COOOOOOOLLLLLDDDDD and the feeling I felt when I woke up this morning was one that I hope to never feel again. I also am getting a warmer jacket, to prepare for the snow on Thursday. Never complaining about my 5 minute walk to Chico campus in January ever, ever again. Psych who am I kidding, I know I will. 

boo

something else I don't like about Spain.... leaving my window open all night in the 20 degree weather.....

Pictures!

da group

Maloneys

School!

Cafe con leche

Trumps Iphone

Palacio Real

Taco Bell!

hace frio!!!!!

I feel like such a spoiled California girl. I complain about weather when its 40 degrees back home, heck I probably complain when its 50. So the 22 degree weather we had during the day today made me not happy. We've had such great weather until now, and I thought it would stay nice. But, it is supposed to snow Thursday, and I'm concerned for the well being of the spaniards that drive because they drive terrible when it's not icy/snowy/gross. My clothes are currently on the line drying, and are probably frozen. Today, when leaving our classroom, there was white rocks on the ground, and I said outloud, what is this stuff? Turns out it's salt for when it ices over, and about 10 east coast people were shocked that that came out of my mouth. I should ask someone in private these things before I embarrass myself. My outfit today consisted of: TWO pairs of leggings, thick socks, leg warmers, a shirt, a long-sleeve over it, a sweater, my long peacoat, a scarf, beanie, and boots. And was still cold. But whatever, I'm in Spain.

I learned today that in Korea, Hoon goes to school from 7 am to 11 pm. No wonder asians are so smart. I also tried a hot dog at school. That's the last time I'm branching out.

Last night we went to a pub to watch the Packers/Bears game, and I was surrounded by my Chicago friends so I was alone in rooting for the Packers. The only reason I probably didn't get beat up was because of my claim to fame that Aaron Rodgers eats at my restaurant. And then the bears lost and everyone cried.

I really like top 10 lists, so here is my top 10 favorite things about Spain so far:
1. Euros are like monopoly money, they are pretty and one and two euros are coins. So it's like you're just spending quarters, right?
2. Our apartment, its homey, cute, quaint, we have seen maybe one neighbor, our doorman loves us, we have like 5 deadbolts, we have to light our own pilot light for hot water, the water pressure is a dribble, and I just love it.
3. Chinese babies on the street. They're cute.
4. My roommates. Lucked out on that one.
5. Lack of tv, iphone, constant communication, texting, etc.
6. Bottles of wine for 1.90
7. My go-phone. I don't know how to text on it but I love it. I might put my iphone sim card in it when I get home.
8. Not being able to find anything familiar in the grocery store
9. Spanish. It's pretty.
10. Having to wear a watch because I don't take my phone places.

Not so favorite things:
1. Euros are like monopoly money. Its going to become a real problem.
2. COLD
3. jamon.
4. Running to the metro early in the morning

That's all. I love Madrid.

mas o menos

Thursday was a long day after staying up too late the night before, and having class and meetings to go to and not enough time for a siesta. We ate patatas with some sauce they called spicy, but it really just had a slight smoked flavor to it but it was the closest thing to a baked potato I've seen. I tried to go to bed early, but of course didn't, and struggled in class the next day. During our break, my teacher came back to the room with a cafe con leche and said "you really need this." What a nice lady. The coffee concept is much different here. In the states, you sip on your coffee for a long time, it is large, you take it with you, and everyone has a slight different preference. Here, you get a cafe con leche, which is the most standard coffee, in a maybe 2 inch tall tiny glass that is half full with a shot of coffee, the rest warm milk, and served with a spoon and sugar packet. You drink it really quickly, give the glass back since it is glass, and go on your merry way. If you want a bigger, watery coffee, you ask for cafe Americano. Funny. I do love cafe con leches, and they are usually 2 euros or less. Much better than the watery starbucks prices. Just another thing I am afraid I am going to come back to the states snobby about. I hope not.

We had our first run in with the laundry aspect of Spain. The washing machine is located in the kitchen, and can hold maaaaaybe one pair of jeans, a shirt, and a sock. I wish I was kidding. It also doesn't spin the clothes for you afterwards, or maybe it does and we can't figure it out, so the 3 items you put in there come out soaking wet. But here is the best part: you then get to line dry them. Hanging out the window with clothes pins and putting clothes on a line is so out of our norm that you just have to laugh. And if something falls down, you nicely ask the doorman to go get your stiff laundry. Good thing we love our doorman.

My friend from home Jackie came over last night and we made snacks and hung out before we all went out for the night. We went to two different grocery stores looking for things and the second grocery store was not happy at all that we brought in bags from another grocery store. This involved yelling in spanish. Each time I have gotten in trouble with a spaniard where they yell at me, I have always been with someone who knows that they are saying and can respond. Can't wait for when that happens when I'm alone and I just cry and run away because I don't know what's going on. We took the metro to a cafe/restaurant/bar and had cafe con leche while waiting for our friends. Went to bed around 6 am last night, the spanish lifestyle calls for no sleep and I'm doing my best to keep up. It is definitely a struggle.

mono

Mono not only means monkey in spanish, but also cute, which happens to be my favorite word. That and rude, which is maleducado. Now that I've learned those, I can come home. PSYCH. We made a roomie dinner tuesday night, chicken, rice and veggies. We felt pretty spanish as well because we started eating at 8 and didn't leave the dinner table until midnight, just like those spaniards do. My cafeteria friend gave me my donut for 10 cents when its usually a euro, and also asked where I am from. Soon I think I will be getting a free tostada every day. Yesterday, Maria and I went on a mission to get pizza, and once again my lack of knowledge of spanish worked against me. Anchovies on my pizza instead of artichokes. Grossy. Maria, being fluent, then told the man that I get sick if I eat fish so he made me a new one. Thanks! A bunch of our group went to a bar last night called Maloneys, and felt pretty American. Most of the people in there were international students or Americans, the bartenders spoke english, they played only American music, and there was beer pong. It was tons of fun though, and we ate too many cheese puffs. Tapas at bars might be my favorite thing about Spain, snacking is a favorite hobby. Getting home at 5 and having class at 10 is probably not the best idea, but hey, you only live in Spain once, right? (You're welcome mom.) In my spanish class, we played a scattegories type game, and me and Hoon, the Korean were on a team, against the three other boys, and needless to say an asian and a woman make a pretty amazing team. We've had a few rematches and we are just unstoppable. I think I might be learning as much about korean culture as I am spanish. Two for one deal I guess. Korean noodles from the chino stores are also becoming a staple item. We bought all that the store had today. I wonder if I will ever be not tired.

constant hunger

Still haven't found food I like. We googled and found a Taco bell that was on the other side of town and it was the most dissapointing part of my trip so far. I saw the bell from afar and literally sprinted up the escalator to eat this comfort food. It not only took 10 minutes to order because I suck at spanish and I am picky, but it was awful. So sad. But you can order cerveza there, which is weird but I stuck to coke. Maria and I also decided that since we both need our haircut, that getting one at the mall would be a good idea. PSYCH it wasn't. My long hair I have been growing out for so long now looks awful. But I'm in Spain, so once again I'm not complaining. And it was only 9 euros. Maybe that should have been a clue to not get a haircut there. Also, my lack of spanish didn't help. We shopped around and I got a pair of shoes for 5 euros. Score. And some ice cream, which made up for the gross t-bell.

The spanish man in the cafeteria loves me. Every time I go in there (3 times a day at least), he gets a big smile on his face, says hola guapa (beautiful) and goes out of his way to help me. He is an older man and knows as much english as I do spanish (zero), and laughs at me every time he sees me. And when he tells me how much it is, and I don't understand and just hand him all my coins, he loves me even more.  Its good to have the cafeteria man on my side.

I bought a bag of m&m's today and realized why American's are obese. Because everything is supersized. The bag was tiiiiiiiiny and I wasn't satisfied, but if that is what you are used to then it's normal. Well, homework time. Buenos noches EEUU

habla ingles? por favor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am finally getting on a normal sleep schedule, well sort of. Two nights ago Me, Meghan, Maria, Tommy and Michael went to a theater to watch amor y otras drogas (Love and Other Drugs.) It was in english but with spanish subtitles, and they assign you a seat when you buy your ticket. I kept reading the subtitles to practice my spanish and would get distracted and end up missing parts of the movie because I was reading. But the movie was really cute and had a much deeper story than anticipated. It was a Friday night and the city was popping. It was weird how many people go to watch the American movies, because a spanish theater in the states would not be nearly as popular. The movie and music scene here is hugely dominated by American culture, we hear our music every where we go.

The next day we had a tour of the palace. The Palacio Real de Madrid was the most breathtaking thing I have seen so far. It has over 2000 rooms and each room is so extravagantly decorated with Italian, French, and Spanish culture. This also made me want to be an architect again. We only went in about 20 of the rooms, and we sadly weren't allowed to take pictures. Things like this make me realize I am really not in the states, we have nothing close to this kind of history and culture. The palace overlooks the city and we took cool pictures. If I ever figure out how to put them on here I will. We took a tour around other parts of the city as well, and ate lunch at Mercado de San Miguel which was FANTASTIC. Finding good food is a constant goal, as my pickiness and opposition to jamon makes it hard to eat. It was like an indoor market, with a bunch of permanent booths and tables. It was really cute as well. We ate fondue and pigs in a blanket type things, with sangria from a tap and an apple pastry for dessert. Everything was pretty cheap, and you could just get a bunch of snacks from the different booths. Maria and I went home and took a nice nap after our exhausting morning of touring and we are trying to be like the spanish by taking siestas. We then went to sol to do some shopping. It was packed with people, I wish I had an overhead view of the streets because it was shoulder to shoulder. This kind of lifestyle is hard for me to comprehend and it makes me appreciate my small town life. Riding a metro everyday to be constantly surrounded by strangers (who don't share my language) is quite the shock. We got a few key items and then went home to hang out for the night. Some friends came over and we eventually made it to a club called Kapital. We got on the last metro of the night which was pure luck. The club was fun but I was tired and went home before the group, this jet lag is still trying to make me not fun.

Today we walked around Parque del Retiro, which is amazing. So lucky that is my neighbor. We got some sangria and went to the Prado museum. It was full of ancient art and if I wasn't so tired I might have appreciated it more. Scott and I sat on a bench while Zach looked at other things and we felt like we were on a field trip trying to cop out of the boring rooms. I don't think I have ever walked this much in my life. I am constantly sore, but that with my lack of eating is probably going to make me small like all of the other spaniards here. I can't figure out if they are all so skinny because of all of the smoking, or because their food sucks and they are always hungry like myself. Who knows. I did eat Mcdonalds for dinner last night, and those 9 chicken nuggets and fries went down in minutes. It was nice comfort food and even thought I don't like Mcdonalds very much at home, its something I know I can eat and be satisfied. That being said, I also had a happy meal for lunch today. Sorry bout it. My goal list of things to do while I'm here keeps growing. The newest items: graffiti something. They graffiti everything and everywhere! It is gross but in some parts it adds to the character of the city. But my graffiti will probably be a heart or USA or my name which would be dumb and get me in trouble. So I don't think my graffiti would count as a negative thing. I also want to be bumped by a car. The driving here is out of control. They will not stop for pedestrians, or other cars for that matter. So I want to be lightly tapped, not enough to hurt me, but enough to say I was hit by a car by a crazy driving spaniard. Well, time for bed. Gotta go learn more spanish. I did order my breakfast today, and knew how to say I didn't want to eat it there, but only by saying "no aqui! no aqui!". Hey, it works.

I don't like paragraphs.

I haven't seen one truck.
Jamon is everywhere. There must be an excessive amount of pigs in Spain.
No one uses their blinker.
Driving in general is just crazy and dangerous.
It stays dark until 8 am.
My spanish knowledge has tripled in a week.
People don't eat or drink outside of eating or drinking places. Like on the metro, no one has a cup of coffee or eating a snack. Which is probably why the metro is so clean. Can't complain.

I'll add more later.

Week 1

So I guess this is the easiest way for everyone to hear updates and the fun fun things happening on the other side of the world. Lets start with the airport. Steph and Alexa came with Mom and I to drop me off. It was a fun drive, fun lunch, and fun people watching and finding the best kids to take home with us. Finally it came time to board the plane, and I think I started to realize I was going to Spain. Tears started rolling. I hadn't thought about it at all, or prepared myself to not be with my friends and loved ones for so long. We said goodbye, and I went through security and got over the crying. A few steps later, I made friends and forgot I was ever sad. We found people to switch our seats on the plane and got to sit by each other which made the 10 hour flight much more bearable. We got served wine with our horrible dinner and I attempted to sleep but my restless leg syndrome (not a joke) didn't let me. A few miserable hours later, we arrived at the Heathrow airport in London. For some reason they made us stay on the plane for 45 minutes and so we had to run through a maze (literally. I thought I was in that movie Mousetrap) to hardly catch our flight. Oh and this is like 4:30 am our time, it had been a long day. The next flight was almost empty and I finally got to sleep. We then we arrived in beautiful Madrid. The airport was cool, just a long building with a weird roof. Reminded me of Hawaii. While waiting for our luggage, I thought I heard my name followed by a few sentences in Spanish. I thought, no way was that my name. Sure enough, they repeated it when I obviously didn't respond or do whatever they were trying to tell me. I thought this was hilarious, what a preview of what was to come the next few months. Me not knowing what anyone was saying or what was going on. I come to find out that my luggage was still in London and it would arrive at my Universidad the next day. Shoot. Oh well, I'm in Spain. We then took a bus to our hotel where we were staying the first night. Seeing the city as we drove in was surreal. It was a little rainy but still gorgeous. We ate dinner at the hotel the first night, chicken and some soup that no one could decipher the taste, but was still good. We tried to go to bed early, but everyone's body clocks were still way off. Our hotel bathroom had a bidet. Weird. Wake up call was at the great time of 7 am the next morning and then followed by terribly long orientations. We were let loose for lunch and we all looked so lost and confused, not knowing where to eat. Myself and two other guys ate at the first restaurant we saw, and had bocadillos, which are sort of sandwich things. Really they just add bread to things. Our waitress went and bought the bread fresh after we ordered. We got calamari bocadillos, chorizo bocadillos, (some sort of comfort food, tasted as good as linguicia), and jamon bocadillos. The three of us were the only Californians, and it was funny that we all banded together without knowing it. My friend Scott and I went on a mission to find a bank during free time and because of our lack of spanish knowledge, did three withdrawals from an ATM because we couldn't read the directions, and this ATM charged us 15 bucks for that stupid mistake. Sorry parents.

We finally got to move into our apartments later that day. The whole week is a blur so this might all go out of order. But, a nice man named Jorge who is a student at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos took me to my apartment and laughed at my spanish. Our apartment is on the third floor on Calle Maiquez and we have a doorman. Its just like Seinfield, you can buzz people in. But our doorman is African, (I almost put African-American but realized that he probably isn't American...) and speaks spanish and tries his best to speak english to me. Its cute. I met my roommate, Meghan and was so happy because I loved her instantly. She is from San Diego and goes to Cal Poly. Her boyfriend is on the National water polo team here and is awesome as well. They took me out to tapas that night, which means little portions or something. I guess they originated because they wanted to promote not drinking on an empty stomach, and they were little bread things with some fish or something on top. They would also put them on top of the beers to not let sawdust in. Anyways, it was pretty great. We got these fried cod and egg and cheese things, cured ham, tortillas which were actually potatos and egg things that looked like a keish, fried fish, and peppers. We also had drinks and they brought out bread. I also tried anchovies on tomatoes on bread, another tapa they gave for free when you order drinks. I've gotten so brave.

The next morning Meghan walked me to the metro before my orientation because I had no idea where I was going, and we got coffees on the way. Half-way through my spanish test at orientation, I had to run out and felt really sick from the coffee. Big bummer. I also only got 24 of the 85 questions right on the spanish test, which was 23 guesses. Not bad, not bad. We then had what felt like a gillion hours of orientation, waiting, and meetings. Not fun. A few of us needed to go to the city center, Sol, to get prepaid phones. We took a train from Vilcalvaro trying to get to a different metro station, and ended up on the outside of the city, at a station called Vilcalvaro. Confusing. We ended up finding our way and took a few trains and metros and got to see different parts of the city during the sun set. We finally found a place to get phones and all came out with cute little plastic phones that don't even have a volume button and no one knows how to put it on silent. After a night of coughing and being more exhausted than I thought possible, I was rested and ready for my first day of school at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos!

We woke up yesterday morning and rushed to get to the metro to be at school at 9, when my class starts, Meghan and Maria's at 9:30. After arriving at 9:15 and seeing that there was no one in my classroom and running down 4 stories to figure this out, while trying to speak spanish, my class started at 10:25. Phew. We went and got breakfast at the cafeteria and I had no idea how to order toast in spanish so I used some sign language and kept saying pan caliente, it worked. There are only 5 of us in Spanish I, and we learned the alphabet. I'm right where I belong. One boy in my class is from North Korea, and can't speak spanish very well, or english. The poor kid is going to be so confused in June. But he tries. Today, he told us his girlfriend is pretty and nice. He's adorable. I have a bunch of friends from Chicago and I hope I come home with a Chicago accent. And NOT a spanish lisp. We practiced that all day, it's strange. Maria and I went grocery shopping and spent over an hour in a tiny supermarket because we had no idea what to get. Every single thing includes jamon, its different. I also had to explain garlic salt to the worker, and that also took some sign language and saying blanco over and over again. We eventually succeeded and cooked a dinner that was familiar food of salad, garlic bread, chicken and veggies, and ravioli with alfredo. It was the first time I've been full all week.

We went to a little sports pub that is a hole in the wall that Meghan's boyfriend was at, and it was so fun. All the locals were there cheering on Atletico Madrid or Real Madrid, and the rivalry was great. It was fun being in a non tourist spot and hanging out with locals. We took the metro to Plaza Del Sol after the game, and I ended up running into a friend from home, Jackie, while waiting for the metro. It was crazy and exciting, such a small world. I knew she was in Madrid, but this is a big city. As soon as we got on the metro, I ran into another friend from the program too. So weird. We walked and walked and walked around Sol and ended up at a small bar with friendly people. They serve jamon to customers for free, and patatas fritas. Some french men bought us glasses of sangria, and then tried to talk to us and both of our limited spanish made this very difficult. After we left, we walked and walked and walked until it was time to get a taxi and go home, since the metros were closed. After struggling to wake up in the morning, and falling asleep on the metro along with Conor and Joey, we get to campus to find out class is cancelled. I wasn't even mad I wasted 2 euros and an hour of commuting as long as it meant I could sleep longer. I slept all day and needed it badly.

I probably forgot some things. First week in Madrid was quick and crazy, I can't wait for the next four months.