I have now been in Spain for three full days and it has been a great and exhausting! I am going to give you all warning that this is going to be a long post because a lot has happened in three days!
I left Chicago on Tuesday evening for an overnight flight to Zurich, Switzerland. I sat next to a girl who was from Madrid and she started giving me advice about being in Madrid. The rest of the flight was long because I didn't sleep much but that was to be expected. Once I landed in Zurich with the rest of the group we went through customs and security in order to get to our connecting gate. I did get a stamp in my passport which was way more exciting than it should have been. We landed in Madrid at 3pm on Wednesday. The group met up with Profesora Sanchez de la Calle (Profe) who is our director from Marquette. We took a bus to the Colegio Mayor which is the dorm where we are living for the first week and a half of the program.
Day two was full of orientation information. Lots of orientation information. We got our Spanish phones which are really old fashion but they do the job! In this orientation meeting we learned about the metro (underground train system) and the bus system. We met with two people who work with the US Embassy here in Madrid and they talked at us about safety. They warned us about everything from pickpockets to ending up in jail (which I'm not planning on doing...no worries). We also bought our abonos which are our passes to use the metro and the buses. Up until then we hadn't left the colegio mayor and I was so ready to go out and experience the city.
That afternoon (like 4ish) we went out to Avd. Princessa which runs right through one of the more popular parts of the city. There are ton of stores and cute little restaurants and bars in this area of town. The biggest store in Madrid is on Avd. Princessa. It's called Corte Ingles and is basically a department store on steroids. They have everything you would ever think you would need and more. A few of the other girls and I walked around for a while and then we stopped at a tapas bar for tapas and sangria. They were both absolutely amazing! Later that night most of our Marquette group went out to the bars because it was our first night in Madrid. We went out at around 11:15pm and no one was on the streets of Avd. Princessa. The Spaniards don't go out until around 1am and they sometimes stay out until 6am. They do this because the metro closes at 1:30am and then opens up again at 6am. It's absolutely crazy! I'm not sure I could ever do that, but we will see!
Today we had more orientation but this time we went to the part of campus where our classes are going to be. In the Facultad (where we take our classes) there is an office for the Marquette program which is all decked out in Golden Eagle things! There are pictures of all the groups of students starting in 1965. It is really cool to look at! After taking a placement test (yuck) we went back to the colegio mayor for a siesta and lunch. My friend Carolyn and I decided to go to a church that we saw when we were on Avd. Princessa. The mass was really interesting. I could follow along with most of the mass but I couldn't participate because I don't know how everything translates to spanish. I plan on learning all of that before I leave Spain! The mass was only a half hour long which was strange. They didn't sing and all and they talked really really fast.
As far as how I am doing, I'm doing well. I'm not all that homesick unless I really think about it and the jetlag is starting to go away. There are little things that I still need to get used to. The first thing is the food and the times that they eat. All the meals seems so far away from each other and I feel like I am always hungry. Part of that is because we don't have time to stop for snacks and the portions are very small. Us Americanos eat huge portions!! Everything is so much slower and quieter than it is is America. When we went out as a huge group we got a lot of weird looks because it's natural for us to talk so loud. Oh and everything is so clean. There is no litter anywhere and the metro and buses are spotless.So much better than the Milwaukee buses. They also clean the streets at night which is a little weird.
So, I have learned a lot in these first days and experienced so many new things. My Spanish has improved a little, maybe :D
Again, for those of you who actually read through all of my rambles :D I'm sorry for the book! I hope to be able to write more often so I don't have to write so much! I'm going to post pictures soon but I'm waiting until after this weekend!
Love and miss you all! Adios!
