martes y miercoles

Tuesday was our orientation, which was as fun as could be expected, but we got lots of pamphlets for things about Madrid which is good. After orientation though, my roommate and I went with a group of other students to Plaza del Sol which is like the main center of Madrid. There are lots of shops and restaurants, and in the actual plaza there are some performer-type people wearing costumes and such. My roommate and I only stayed for a little while since we didn't want to miss the dinner that our senora had perpared for us (chicken with sauce, some rice, and an interesting salad with lettuce and a whole peach sitting atop some tuna, all drenched in some sort of mayo-based dressing - the peach was a life-saver for both of us...and ice cream for dessert)

Today, Wednesday, was the first day of class! So far everything seems doable...I can understand the professor pretty well... In the morning we had the literature and then the film class, and in the afternoon it was culture.

After class, I went with my roommate and another friend to el Retiro which is a park near where we live. Apparently it was originally a royal garden or somesuch, but now it's a public park. Lots of trees and statues and little pond areas. My senora highly recommends renting a bike to ride throught the park. I think there is also the option to rent rollar blades, or even a boat to row around a lake that's there. We will definitely have to go back some day.

Tomorrow I think we will finally look for phones! We have been waiting for the first of the month because that's when the store has most of their deals. Tomorrow I also want to try to apply for a monthly metro pass and get my picture taken for a library card! It is also the first non school night! Ohhh excitinggg.

P.S. I just put some pictures at the beginning since I couldn't figure out how to put them other places easily. The first three are in the plaza, the fourth is a group of people where were playing right outside the Sol metro stop, and the last is el Museo the Jamon! It sells lots of ham.

Lo que he comido

As most of you know, I am somewhat particular in what I like to eat, so I thought you might be curious as to how I'm adjusting to the food here. My first day was a rather hungry one...I arrived at around 7am in the airport, and I had nothing to eat until maybe 12 when my senora made sandwiches for my roommate and me. She was so nice! But the sandwiches were kind of hard to eat...the bread was some hard/crunchy kind, so it kept breaking which made eating slighty awkward and messy, but she didn't seem to mind. I also kind just had to suck it up and eat a bunch of ingredients that I normally wouldn't: tons of mayo, tomatoes, and maybe some other things? There was tuna in it too, which was good because it was something familiar that I liked. There was also some sliced hard-boiled egg which I tried to eat, but in the end I just left. After that, my roommate and I met up with other students for a late lunch at a place called VIPs which is a chain which serves americanish food. I got some kind of club sandwich, and even though I asked for it without mayo or tomatoes, they didn't listen haha. So that was kind of hard to eat too...but the fries were good :)) Then for dinner that day, my senora made quiche and garbonzo soup with chicken. The soup was just what I needed - something chickeny without too much else...it was kind of like chicken noodle soup but with garbonzo beans instead of noodles. Very comfort food-like. And the quiche was not as scary as I thought it would be. Then for dessert I had an orange. So dinner was a success! Breakfast this morning was also delicious. The breakfasts here are usually pretty light, but still really good. She served us cereal (I had these like chocolate filled squares), some pieces of bread with butter and jam, and a cup of chocolate. It was literally like melted chocolate - super thick, but it was pretty good! Bien rico. But she said it's not something you eat every day otherwise you get fat haha. So that was my first 24 hours of food! I have since had another dinner, but I need to go to bed now as tomorrow is the first day of class! Oh my!

Safe and sound

Right now I am sitting in my study area which is a room off of my bedroom in the home of my senora. I haven't figured out how to make spanish letters and such yet...normally I would just copy and paste from word, but for some reason it won't let me do that. Anyway, I made it here without too many problems. Yes! The flights were uneventful...I watched "The King's Speech" and some other movie that I had never heard of before. I only got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep, and right now it's almost 11am here, but almost 3am at home so I am RATHER tired. I'm planning to stay up until bedtime here though. It's kinda weird since I don't feel like I'm as nervous or excited as I would expect...I think it still hasn't sunk in yet that I'm staying here for a whole quarter, or that I'm actually living here. Getting to my host family wasn't too hard either, although it was indeed scary since the ACCENT center which arranges all of it pretty much just gave me the address and sent me on my way haha. I took a taxi here, so it was really easy to find, although once I got to the building I was lucky that there were people standing outside who helped me because otherwise I would have had no idea where to go. That's pretty much all that's happened so far, later I'm going back to the ACCENT center to meet up with some of the othe students for lunch and exploration! Also my roommate should be arriving shortly, so my senora is making sandwiches for us, and then I'm sure we will probably talk and such. This ended up being longer than I thought it was going to be...forgive rambliness and or choppiness haha. More later! Also! My host mother has a dog! She's named blanquita "little whitey" or something along those lines.