Wednesday, September 1st

Today we had a new professor for the first half of class. Her name was Susana. She was sweet, but the male (Ruben) still is my favorite! We started working on the past tenses (preterit and imperfect).

After class, I went home and ate with my abuela. After I took a wonderfully, long nap. :)

Eric, me, and Katy out to eat 

The highlight of the day was going out to eat with our new friends! We went to this restaurant called something like 100 Metiditos. They have a deal on Wednesday nights that if you get a drink and a sandwich then they are each 1 euro. I got a "hamburger". It was delicious, but it was NOTHING like the hamburgers from the states. It was on a little bun and had I think a sausage patty with feta cheese, shredded bacon. I liked it a lot, but it wasn't near enough! Especially with our huge "jarros" (jars) of tinto de verano (summer wine).

Antonia, Katy, me, and Sina in Sol

After dinner, we went to another little bar called Con todo su corazon (With all of your heart). We ordered some tapas and a couple of pitchers of sangria. Yum yum yum! :) It was fun because me and Eric (in the picture above), where the only ones who spoke English, and everyone else spoke German as their first language, so we had to speak in Spanish to communicate with each other! It's getting a lot easier to get my point across! :)

Around 1 am, we finally decided to call it a night (because we all have class together in the morning). Sina and I take the same metro home (until I have to transfer) so it was nice to have someone to wait with. We talked about boyfriends and ex-boyfriends all the way home and when we we went to get off the metro, the ladies next to us who had been listening to our conversations laughed and said that our Spanish was very good. Guess that means I should drink more wine! ;)

August 31 - Tuesday - 2nd day of classes

Today we had another day of classes. It's getting a little easier to understand my professors. We worked with adjectives of different regions of Spain and then in the 2nd half worked more with the subjunctive. Some of the rules seem different than the ones we were taught in the US, so it's really difficult at times. Also in my previous Spanish classes we usually learned Latin American words rather than European Spanish, so sometimes even though I'm saying the right word, no one understands me! :( We also rarely used vosotros (we used ustedes instead to say "you guys"), so I'm really struggling to learn those verb forms. All in all though, class is going great!

riding the metro with Anke

After class I ate what I thought was my packed lunch (a sandwich, an apple, a cookie, and a juice box -- later my senora told me that was just a mid-morning snack that I was supposed to still come home and eat, eat.. and that if I wasn't going to come home just to let her know so she could pack me a bigger lunch!) After we all ate our lunches, Mikaela, Anke (a German girl who was in our class for two days), and I took the metro to Principe Pio shopping mall.

Katy, me, and Mikaela shopping

After eating a little snack at KFC, Katy met up with us and we shopped around for a few hours. They have a lot of stores like Forever 21 so the four of us were super happy!! :)

eating our calamari "bocadillos"

After shopping there was a program at our school that we went to. One of our professors used to be a travel guide for Madrid (at least I'm 99% sure that's what he told us in Spanish), so he gave us a walking tour around the city. It was interesting because he told us different stories that I'd never heard before and told us details about the city that were super interesting. (I posted the pictures with more detailed captions in my album on Facebook if you're interested in them). I loved the tour, but he had to cut it a little short to take his dog to the vet. We might go another week when he gives the tours again.

sangria time :)

After the tour, the 5 of us that went on the tour decided we were hungry and wanted to try the calamari bocadillos (sandwiches). They were okay, although they were super chewy and the bread was hard to bite off.

celebrating the futbol game

After our snack, we stopped for drinks at a little patio bar to chat! :) The sangria was delicious as always, even though the toilets did not have seats here.. FAIL!

While Katy, Julian, and I were walking back to the metro stop, we realized that quite the celebration was going on in la Puerta del Sol! Naturally, we stopped and joined in!!! Apparently one of the Madrid "futbol" teams had won a big game and was in the government building. There were tons of camera crews and hundreds of excited fans waiting to see the players!! We grabbed crowns and blended right in! :)

August 30 - First Day of Classes

Today was my first day of school! Classes start at 9:00, but since I have to take the metro for about 20 minutes, I have to wake up around 7:30. The metro is so much easier than I thought it would be! I have to take two separate lines as well as walk a few blocks from my last metro stop. It's really not that bad though.

When I first got to school, Katy, Mikaela, and I had a to take a short oral "test".. Basically a conversation in Spanish with the coordinator to make sure we were being placed in the correct classes. Katy and I are in the same class.

We have two teachers each day. One from 9-10:30 and the other from 10:45-12:15, but each week or every other week or so the teachers rotate, so we won't have the same two teachers for the entire semester. from 10:30-10:45 we have a "coffee break". There is a fabulous coffee machine in the building that I plan to spend my entire bank account on. :)

My professors are really nice, but the talk so fast and ONLY in Spanish! It's very difficult to stay focused for the whole time!!

Today we talked about the different regions of Spain and some history for the first half (BORING!!!), and for the second half we started working with subjunctive (only the worst tense there is). I can tell it's going to be a really challenging semester, but my Spanish has grown SO MUCH already!!! :)

After class I came home and ate lunch with my Abuelita (grandmother). Teresa was studying with her friends and Conchita was at work, so only the two of us where there to eat. The food here is SOO GOOD!!! :) One of the pictures on their wall reminded me of Great Grandma Florida.. Abuelita proceeded to tell me her whole life story. I felt honored that she felt comfortable enough with me to share such personal details with me within 24 hours of meeting me!!

The rest of Monday I pretty much lazed around the house, skyped a few friends, and ate dinner with my family (I wish I had a better memory and could remember what we ate!! - it was good though!! haha) We don't eat dinner though until 10-10:30 and then don't finish until well after 11.. It's going to be impossible to ever go to bed early! Guess I'll have to keep the naps up ;)

August 29 - Move in Day

kitchen

hallway

dinning area

Today I moved in with my host family. They are absolutely the sweetest people I've ever met in my life! I have a mom (Conchita), an abuela (grandmother), and a 24 year old sister (Teresa). They've been so, so so, helpful with everything and so patient with me and my lack of Spanish! :)

When I first got to the house, they gave me a tour of the place, and showed me where my room was. Then I spent an hour or so fixing up the place and unpacking my suitcases. My room is small, but I really like it. It's quaint and super cozy.

living room 

After I unpacked and settled in a little bit, it was time for lunch. Teresa had two friends over to eat. It was so difficult to understand their Spanish because they would talk so fast and get so animated with each other, I could barely keep up! They were all really sweet and funny though, and tried really hard to keep me in their conversation.. Even though the most I could really do was smile and nod! haha! :)

hallway to bedrooms

Lunches in Spain are the main meal of the day and are usually eaten around 2 pm. For lunch my first day, we had bread and this amazing mashed potato-ish dish with tomato sauce and I believe chicken in it! :) For our second dish we had backed chicken legs in gravy! For dessert we had the best melon I've ever eaten in my life, as well as pie and these other pastries. Basically I ate so much I thought i was going to bust out of my pants!! The food was DELICIOUS though!!!

living room again

After lunch I sat around with Teresa's friends and they attempted to teach me vocab and fix my accent! They were so nice and we were all laughing SO hard! :)

They have important exams next week, so after we talked for a while they had to leave to go study. I on the other hand, went and took a crazy long nap.

me with Teresa (to my right) and her friends

For dinner, it was just my senora and I. Teresa was still studying with her friends and I guess my grandmother doesn't normally eat dinner with us because it's too late for her (we usually eat between 10 and 11). For our first dish we had this vegetable soup and then fish. I was so stuffed I had to refuse all the desserts! I can tell I'm going to LOVE this family!! :)

August 28 - Day 2 of Orientation

"You can have a Coke!!" - for Betsy :)

In the morning, after breakfast, Lesley met Katy and I at our hotel to tour around the city again. The main goal of the day was to figure out the metro system and how we were going to get to school from our houses. First we walked to Katy's house. On the way I saw a sign for Burger King which reminded me of Betsy and how she likes to quote the Bon Qui Qui video from Mad TV (youtube it if you've never seen it -- HILARIOUS! :-D)

Me in front of my apartment building

After we found Katy's house, we took the metro to my house. The metro is so much cleaner and nicer than I expected. There are really good signs everywhere that make it so easy to know where you're going!! :) 

After finding our houses we ate lunch at this weird little cafe.. The food was alright, but my chicken was super dry. Definitely the worst food I've had so far in Spain, so we will not be going back there! :)

Shopping in my new favorite store!

By this point Katy and I had a pretty good feel for the city and Lesley dropped us off at our hotel so we could rest for a bit and explore the city on our own. 

When we finally got done being lazy, Katy and I walked around towards Puerta del Sol. On our way we found this adorable shop that was very similar to Forever 21. I can tell my bank account is going to suffer on this trip because since then, I've seen at least 4 more of the same stores directly in my route to school, and several other stores that are also similar to Forever!! Anyways, after we both blew a load of cash, we went to Corte Inglés to buy shampoo, conditioner, and other things that we needed. 

dinner with Katy

Corte Inglés is this MASSIVE store. Picture Super Walmart, Macys, a grocery store, Best Buy, Staples, and Borders all wrapped into one! It's literally multiple buildings, each 7 ish stories tall!! Craziness is what I call it!! It's nearly impossible to find anything in the stores and I'm still having difficulty talking to locals. It's one thing to talk to people that know you're learning Spanish and slow down for you, but most people talk so fast that it's hard to catch their response and make sense of it. I'm learning though! :)

After our shopping trip, Katy and I decided to try this delicious Italian restaurant close to her house. I had fabulous lasagna and of course some wonderful sangria!!  

After dinner Katy and I got some gelato from a shop on the way home. I tried chocolate and coffee. Seriously the best decision I made all day! So so so SO good!! :)

August 27 - Day 1 of Orientation

Katy and I got up around 10 for orientation. After we had this AMAZING breakfast in our hotel (okay so it wasn't that great, but it was totally better than I expected.. plus they has this chocolate filled pastry so I was *happy* :-D), Lesley met us to teach us everything there is to know about Spain.

Katy and I on the tour bus

We basically walked all over the city, to get acclimated with our surroundings. It was approximately 7 million degrees here, so we took a bus tour of the city. 2 bus tours in fact, one of the historical parts of Madrid and one through the modern section. We saw all the important buildings and learned a little history about Madrid. 

My taco lunch from VIPS

Between the two tours we ate lunch in this restaurant called VIPS. It's kind of American-ish, but not has a lot of unique items on the menu too! I decided to be a little adventurous and try these tacos that were made with veal. LOVED IT!!! The food here is seriously the BEST!! I plan to come back 300 lbs heavier.. no joke!! Oh and the other great thing about Spain is that they LOVE Coke and not Pepsi!! TAKE THAT CHARTWELLS!!! I'll no longer have to search and search and search for a restaurant serving Coke!! :) 

At this point Katy and I were pretty pooped from walking around Madrid in the heat, so we went back to the hotel and took siestas (naps).

Posing with all our food at dinner

For dinner, the two of us went to this little restaurant right across from the hotel, I can't remember the name. We ordered "tapas" which are typical Spanish appetizers. We had gazpacho, 5 different open face sandwiches (one was ham and cheese, one was zucchini and a weird cheese, one was tomatoes and cheese, one was some fish and sauce, and my favorite was melted cheese over an unidentifiable meat!), and of course we drank sangria! :)

After dinner we walked around La Plaza de Santa Ana and got hit on by all the doorman for the different clubs. They kept offering us free drinks to come in their clubs (discotecas). We were both too tired, but we kept some of the business cards for whenever we finally have the energy to venture out at night. :)

Posing with my bottle of wine

Instead of going clubbing we decided to find a little corner grocery store and buy a couple of bottles of vino (wine) to try. After much debating (neither one of us knew much), I decided to buy the one called El Diamante (The Diamond) for 3 euros - like $4. The only problem was we didn't have a bottle opener.. Therefore we didn't end up drinking our wine that night!! :)

August 26 - Arrival Day in Madrid

Highlight of the day: ALL my luggage arrived!! Lesley, TANDEM's American coordinator, picked me up from the airport and we took a taxi to the hotel that i stayed at during orientation. It was called Hotel del Prado. 

After FBing and emailing my parents Lesley and I went out for coffee and I tried churros. The coffee here is super strong, while I'm more of a french vanilla coffee kind of girl.. For this reason I didn't care much for our little breakfast.

La Plaza Mayor

Katy and I drinking our sangria

After lunch I met Katy, one of the other girls in my program. The two of us were the only ones doing the orientation, so we were roommates. Katy and her family came 2 weeks early to vacation, so after I showed up, they took us around the city. We walked around different plazas and shopping centers and ended up drinking sangria in the Plaza Mayor :)

yummmmmmmy shrimp :)

YUMMY paella :)

After walking around the city I was POOPED, so I opted for a nap, before dinner, while Katy's family bought some last minute souvenirs. 

Katy's family and I went to this restaurant called El Caldrón. Katy and I shared a type of shrimp paella that was made in a cauldron. It wasn't the typical paella, but it was so, so, SO delicious! :) 

After dinner, we walked around the city a little more, until my jet lag caught up with me and I HAD to go to bed!