Siesta

Lemme begin by saying that Siesta and I...we're good friends. Yesterday, Jenessa and I were so adamant that we wouldn't sleep bc we wanted to get on a sleep schedule...yeah we slept for 3 hours yesterday afternoon, woke up to eat (THE most delicious Spanish tortilla...everything Pepita makes is heaven. Olive oil allll over the place. Mmmm) and shower before going back to bed for the night.

This morning we toured Alcalá, a university town about 30 minutes west of Madrid. If I understood the tour guide correctly this morning (which is doubtful, considering her rapid theta'd Spanish and the ever-present feeling of exhaustion), Alcalá is the oldest university in Spain that's still standing. I think it replaced something else...but! It even had it's own laws and a prison and everything, it's own little city like the Vatican on a smaller scale. This city is SO OLD, the cathedral is from 1497 and it's in the Gothic style but certainly different than any Gothic architecture in England or France. I haven't taken any pictures yet...but I'll steal Jenessa's or take my own later. I haven't seen anything yet I won't be seeing every day for the next seven weeks:)

Our host parents are so great! They're both retired, so the students the host are their life. Another girl lives here right now, on a study abroad from Loyola in Maryland. She's been here all by herself since January and she'll leave in May. They travel ALLLL over the place so I've only seen her once. As was mentioned before, Pepita's cooking is fenomenal but she'd be the last to say it. Yesterday for lunch we had espagetis (spaghetti) and for dinner that amazing tortilla!! Here in Spain the tortilla is the basis of the meal and it is VERY different than a Mexican tortilla. It's made of eggs, potato, onions, and olive oil. Maybe a few other ingredients, but that's basically it. And it is DIVINE. Then breakfast today was bread with this amazing mermelada de melocotón (peach jam) and leche con Colacao (hot chocolate...Coloacao is a brand of chocolate powder). Lunch was sopa con lentejas y chorizo (lentil soup with sausage)...again, amazing. Lunch and dinner are usually followed with fruit and cheese. Today after lunch we had Valencia oranges! Honest to goodness Valencia oranges. Oh man. So sweet and delicious.

Right now, Janessa and I are going to explore Alcalá and take lots of pictures, vale? They say that like we say okay? or understand? It's all over the place. Love it. Love Spain! Love Alcalá.

Hasta mañana!

el primer día

At EWR, waiting to get through Security:)

Welp, here I am! Here I am in Alcalá, sitting near an open window and hearing the sounds of the street floating up through the open window beside me. As far as Spain goes, I really don't have much to share...I've seen the Madrid Barajas airport (for a long time), la Plaza de Cervantes here in Alcalá, and a few side streets. No one ask me how to get from Madrid to Alcalá because I definitely slept on the 30 minute bus ride over here. What I've seen of Alcalá de Henares, however, is gorgeous! We'll be touring it tomorrow so I'll have more to share on that then. The flight over was very uneventful apart from watching Ghost. I've been on a Quantum Leap kick, so that was fitting.

Favorite moment:
-Hearing the guy that stamped my passport say "Welcome to Spain". The sad thing about that is I don't remember if he said welcome to Madrid or welcome to Spain...I think it was Spain. I'll stick with that one.

Second favorite moment:
-Getting a stamp in my passport:)

Cultural observations:
-No screens in the windows. Those seem pretty prevalent in the States...
-The news was on during lunch (don't know what they call that here, maybe just comida? I'll keep ya posted) and I realized that the news here was a LOT more graphic than it is in the US. I can't think of any examples right now bc I am so tired I could fall over right here, but American news is GENTLE in comparison. Granted, I've seen about 20 minutes of Spanish news and about that much news in America over the course of my life, but it didn't take long to realize the different levels in standards.

Language progress:
-Jenessa and I have been able to communicate fairly well with Pepita and Miguel, our host parents. They have three kids, all with kids of their own (almost) and they have had students in their home for the past ten years! Over 50, they said. So they are pro at this. They don't speak a lick of English, which is great bc Jenessa and I will be able to practice alllll the time with them!

Alright. I'm almost out of battery and things to say. Hasta luego!