A Final Post

These last seventy-two hours have been quite the ride. Moments of elation followed by moments of deep sadness. It's a terrible thing-- saying goodbye to people who I've grown so close to in such a short period of time, and promising we'll keep in touch and see each other again, but knowing that will probably only be true with maybe a handful of people. But life continues onward, and I'm fortunate to have so many good things and people waiting for me back in the United States. So in commemoration of everything that has happened, and expectation of all the goods things that are yet to happen, here is my list of my top 15 things I'll miss about Spain, and my top 15 things I'm looking forward to back home, in no particular order.

Things from Spain I'll Miss:

-My host family

-My new friends here

-Speaking Spanish

-Tortillas con Patatas

-Hormiguero 3.0 (an awesome Spanish talk show where they make the guests do crazy things)

-Easy travel to other countries

-Day trips to Madrid

-The old Spanish men who walk with their hands clasped behind their backs in their cute old man hats

-Super Sonic and La Media Pinta (my favorite Madrid bar and my favorite Alcalá bar)

-The constant adventure

-Reliable public transportation (the regular trains to and from Madrid)

-Being with people who I still don't know much about

-Having Fridays off from class

-The simplification that comes with no volunteer positions, no job, and a light school schedule

-Living in a town where I am still figuring things out

Things I'm excited for in the U.S.:

-My family

-My friends

-My boyfriend, Jared

-Eureka my hedgehog (as long as she doesn't bite me)

-Mexican food (mainly guacamole and nachos)

-My independence (doing my own laundry, driving myself around, making my own food)

-Christmas and snow

-The awesome local restaurants in Fort Collins

-Hosting my radio show

-Brunch (just big breakfasts in general)

-The feeling of home

-Being with people I have a past with

-Not living with a 13-year-old boy

-Going to Old Firehouse Books and "working" with all my friends (it's hard for me to call spending my day in a bookstore work)

-Living in a town I could navigate blindfolded

This will probably be my last post to this blog, since (obviously) the theme of this one no longer applies. I've enjoyed blogging, though (despite my infrequent posts) and might continue again at a new site. If this is the case, I'll be sure to post once more here just to let you if you want to continue following my life adventures. Thanks for reading, I can't wait to see you all again!

Love,

Kelsey

Cooking with Pepi

Less than two weeks left to go and I'm cramming in as much Spanish culture as I can. This means cooking lessons, something I've managed to avoid even in the United States throughout most of my life, but I figured I'd need something to prove I'd been here (and thank the parents for their financial help) and a good traditional Spanish dish seemed right! Not to mention, of all the food I'll miss in Spain, I'll miss the "Tortilla con Patatas" most. (Note: not the ham.)

As you can probably tell from the picture above, the Spanish tortilla is almost nothing like Mexican tortilla we are all so familiar with, except that they're both flat and round. The Spanish tortilla is much more similar to an omelette, the ingredients I learned to use include potatoes, eggs, olive oil and salt. That's seriously it. I'm sure there are other variations out there, but with my less-than-advanced level of cooking skills, the easier the better. The process essentially involves mixing all of the ingredients together in a big bowl, and then frying it. Easy enough, yet I still managed to break the first one when trying to flip it over. This dish in my house is always accompanied by a tomato salad which is somehow even easier than the tortilla. All the salad include is tomatoes, salt, vinegar, and olive oil. (Spaniards love olive oil almost as much as they love ham.) I don't know if I'll ever be able to live up to the cooking styles of my host-mom, Pepi, but I'll sure by trying when I get back to Colorado! If you're interested in sampling some, just show up with some potatoes and I'll show you how to make this delicious, simple, cheap dish. Or you can check out this website below which includes onions in the recipe, so it's a little too fancy for me, but I have confidence in you to figure it out!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tortillaspanishomele_67957

Huelgas

Since arriving in Spain, one of the many things that has struck me as so different from the United States is the amount of "huelgas" (or strikes) they have here. This year, for example, the Spanish government needed to cut federal spending, and they decided the best place to take the money from would be the school system. Three thousand teachers lost their jobs as a result, and the schools have been huelga-ing ever since. My host-sister Irene rarely goes two weeks without missing a day at her university because of either a teacher or student huelga, and even my 13-year-old host brother Raúl has been part of quite a few huelgas. This has been pretty impressive, considering that in Colorado, cutting school funding is part of the norm. I've never heard of any strikes happening there, despite the consistent budget-slashing of school districts across the state. Spain, on the other hand, is not afraid to let the system know when they're unhappy.

Apparently, the same can be said for Portugal, my would-be destination for the upcoming weekend. Plans have changed though, because-- you guessed it-- the air traffic controllers are having a huelga of their own. The airline didn't bother to inform me until yesterday, and considering we were supposed to leave tomorrow this has been pretty stressful. Right after class today, we called the airline to see what we could do. While they do have a lot of huelgas in Spain (and Portugal), they usually never last more than a day, but those days occur frequently. That being the case, we were hoping to maybe fly out Friday instead, but those flights were already booked completely. It made no sense to fly out Saturday, since we have to leave Sunday to be back in time for classes, so I guess Portugal will just have to wait.

This has been a disappointment, to say the least. I had been looking forward to that trip for a while now, and have wanted to visit Portugal long before I even got here. We move onward, though, and quickly made plans today for another weekend trip to start Thursday. So tomorrow we leave early in the morning to catch a bus for the six-hour ride to Sevilla, a reportedly beautiful city in southern Spain. It would've been nice to visit another country before I return to the states, but I'll take what I can get.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Wish I could be there to share some turkey with you, but as it is I'll be in Sevilla instead. Not a bad trade off. Take care!

Blurbs

So I was thinking back earlier today to the first blog that I posted here, before I'd even left for Spain. That feels like such a long, long time ago already. In it, I'm pretty sure I promised I'd try to update this thing at least once a week. Oh, what a fool I was. I probably should've known better, but life moves on and I'm posting now so I hope you can forgive me. It's just that things get going, and there is so much to tell you about, but then I sit down in front of a computer and get overwhelmed by all there is to say! So here are just a few blurbs about a few things going on:

The Madrid Zoo- The weekend after Barcelona we didn't have any travel plans, so we paid a visit to the zoo in Madrid, made famous by the birth of two baby pandas a few years back! While the pandas were very cute, they were true to their panda-nature and weren't the most active of the creatures there. The biggest difference I saw between American zoos and the zoo here was that in Madrid, they don't discourage you from feeding the animals. This doesn't just mean throwing a piece of bread to the ducks-- it means almost every single animal there. One of my friends even threw the leftover apple from here lunch to a brown bear! While I definitely have some qualms with this morally, it certainly made the animals more active. (The pandas are one of the few animals you can't feed, hence why they were so calm.) All of the other animals, though, came right up to the edge of their habitat and waited for you to throw a treat to them. Below, my friend April and I stand in front of some rhinos.

Santander/Bilbao- I suppose the biggest occurrence since I last posted would have to be my trip to Santander and Bilbao last weekend. For those of you who aren't experts in Spain's geography, they're both located in northern Spain, right by the Atlantic Ocean. The best part of the trip was our first day there, which we spent in Santander. We spent the whole day walking along the coast, where most the city's tourist attractions are, culminating in a visit to a lighthouse. After hiking for an hour or so along the cliff, it began to softly rain as we reached a valley of the softest, brightest green grass made only more brilliant by the contrast of the dark sky. The ocean was completely visible to our right, leaving plenty of room to see the complete and bright rainbow that had begun to form. The lighthouse itself was just across the valley, and since we arrived at dusk the light turned on just as we reached the pinnacle of the hill. Just as I thought I might cry from how beautiful it was, I turned around and saw a white horse grazing freely in the valley. I wouldn't have been surprised to see a leprechaun, that's how surreally beautiful this place was.

Concerts- I think I mentioned before that I went to see the band Explosions in the Sky in concert, which was an amazing experience. The only thing that threw me off was trying to figure out how Spanish concerts work. I've got it down in the U.S.- if the flier says 8pm, they start at nine; if it says 9pm, they start at ten; and so on. In Spain it's different. Usually, the Spaniards are much more laid-back when it comes to time, but the concert began approximately when they said it would, and was over before 11:30pm! In the United States this is blasphemy, and I have to admit I was pretty disappointed, but the band played well and sounded awesome so I can forgive it. Tomorrow Jenn and I are going to see the British pop-rock band The Subways, and I'll make sure to be there on time.

Halloween and Barcelona

October has passed and with it, my first Halloween away from home. I can't tell how missing this holiday will compare to missing Thanksgiving (they're my two favorites), but despite my wonderful surroundings I was sad to miss the holiday. They do celebrate here in Spain, it's just a little half-baked. For example, a lot of people dress up, but for the most part they limit themselves to "scary costumes." This eliminates a lot of the creativity since almost everyone is a witch, zombie, or (like) a vampire. And then if you're not something scary, you and all of your friends wear the exact same costume, like the gang of teenagers I saw all wearing the same mask of Woody from Toy Story. Ironically, the latter costume is far more terrifying. I had fun, though, and the best part was that November 1st is Día de los Santos; it was nice to have a day to *ahem* rest after the Halloween festivities.

The perfect distraction from the Halloween parties back home was Barcelona. By the afternoon of the first day I was already in love with the city. I think what really captured my heart is that Barcelona is a city of artists. All of the metros play short films created all over the world, the street performers are incredibly talented and dedicated to their uniqu

e performances, statues of all varieties can be found in every plaza, and best of all the architecture cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The most famous architect of Barcelona was Antoni Gaudí, an artist with an incredibly creativ

e mind, but very little motivation to actually finish his projects. Our first morning their we visited his cathedral La Sagrada Familia (or The Sacred Family)

The picture on the left is what La Sagrada Familia looks

like now (it's impossible to get a full picture if you're not in a helicopter.) The design is incredibly intricate and detailed, after all Gaudí is how we got the word "gaudy." They expect the entire project to be finished sometime in the next 25 years. Keep in mind that constructed began in 1882. The picture on the right is what the cathedral is expected to look like upon completion and Jenn, Parker, Jessica and I already made a pact to return when we're all in our fifties to see the final result.

Between Barcelona and the little bit of Halloween I got here, I'd have to say that October went out with a bang. Next weekend I'm seeing Explosions in the Sky (an American instrumental band) in Madrid and the weekend after that is Santander with a possible day trip to Bilbao! I'll let you know more once they plans are all in action!

Diving Into Spain

My apologies for the lack of posts recently. Spain has sucked me in head first and finally I've gotten a bit of time to breath.

Jared left last Monday and his trip went really well. We had an awesome time exploring Madrid together, spent an afternoon in El Parque del Buen Retiro, and went out to the bars together at night. It was great to see him; it made me miss home quite a bit, but I feel like now that I've gotten some refreshment from him I'm ready to forge ahead with my time here in Spain! Below is a picture of us at Círculo de Bellas Artes (Circle of Fine Arts) where you can pay two euros to go to the top of the building and catch an awesome view of Spain. This picture doesn't do the beauty of the city much justice, but Jared and I are lookin' pretty good.

This week we had midterms which were beastly and I'm still reeling a bit from the last one. The worst of all was Spanish Culture and Civilization. It covered 300 years of Spanish history and when we asked our teacher what, specifically, the 5-question test would cover, he said "todo" (or everything.) Of course five questions did not nearly cover everything in 300 years of Spanish history, but I did my best and we'll see what comes of it next week.

Until then, I'm going to enjoy myself. Tonight Jenn, Parker, Jessica (a girl from CSU) and I head to Barcelona for the weekend. We're staying at HostelOne Sants, which has very good reviews on hostelworld.com so I have high hopes for this one. I'm really hoping to check out Ingenio while we're there. It's a sort-of mask shop that makes giant heads of celebrities, politcal figures and weird looking creatures. You can check it out here: http://www.el-ingenio.com/ Click on Catálogo to see what they have to offer. I doubt I'll come back with a giant head as a souvenir, but you never know...

Marrakech, Morocco: The City of Fabulous Mayhem

Twelve hours ago I left Marrakech, Morocco and my head is still spinning. Granted, that could just be my extreme exhaustion. It turns out Jared and I had the wrong time throughout the entire weekend. A very friendly Moroccan Spanish man who sat by us on the plane ride there said that Marrakech was only one hour behind Madrid, when it is in fact two hours behind. This didn't matter much at all Thursday, Friday, or Saturday since I didn't see another clock the entire time, so I never doubted it. Then this morning, when Jared and I had to be up to catch our taxi at 6am, we sat in the lobby an hour early before one of the hostel's few employees came out and pointed out our mistake. Without enough time to go back to sleep, we spent the hour writing postcards and listening to the first day's prayer which was being broadcast from all of the mosques throughout the city.

There is so much to say about our visit to Marrakech that I feel overwhelmed when even considering where to start in this post. I suppose the best place to begin is with the most basic fact about our trip: Visiting Morocco was absolutely one of the best things I have ever done in my entire life. Despite the brevity of our visit, it was everything I could want out of a trip. This is not to say that it was always comfortable, relaxing, or easy. It's actually quite the opposite. Marrakech is an incredibly vivid and overwhelming place. Our hostel was located a two-minute walk away from the center square, which is the center of this giant market. At every corner, there was someone trying to pull us into their shop to buy their trinkets. Every time we even glanced in the general direction of a street vendor, he'd try to rope us in with his limited English vocabulary.

Our first afternoon there we met a particularly friendly local named Abdul who gave us an impromptu tour of the old market. Jared warned him that we didn't have much money to give up at the beginning, but Abdul insisted he did it only to practice his English. While our host was a bit too aggressive for my taste, (that seemed to be a common characteristic of Moroccan men), he did show us a part of the city we wouldn't have found on our own. He showed us where all of the little trinkets and shoes and purses are made to be sold in the market-- the tanneries, the giant vats of dye, the artisans workshops. We walked with him for an hour or so before deciding to turn back, at which point he seemed to forget how much he only wanted to practice English and asked for a "little gift" in exchange for his time.

Before embarking for Morocco, we had been warned that food poisoning was basically inevitable. This warning had come only twenty-four hours before we took off and left me feeling pretty freaked out. Somehow, our intestines survived, though, and neither of us got sick despite drinking the tap water (don't worry-- we checked online and with our concierge first) and eating a wide variety of rich Moroccan food. The smells and flavors of the kebabs, tangine dishes, and exotic fruits and vegetables were intoxicating. There was one restaurant in particular we visited every day, mainly for their awesome juices. We sampled every one they had to offer, but my favorites were definitely the banana and the avocado.

The in-flight magazine I read on the way to Marrakech described the city as a place of "fabulous mayhem" and I don't think any other description could be more accurate. Every street provided a new set of sights, sounds, smells, and characters I know I'll never forget.

Soria, Escorial, and Bonos

We are only eight days into October and things are already starting to move much more quickly. You may have noticed this since my blog posts have sort of dropped off since the last one in October. Partly this is because of the field trips that are beginning to spring up in our school schedules. For every class there are two required field trips; most of mine overlap, so I have something like 5 or 6, instead of 8, that I have to attend. I'll probably end up going along on all of them, though, since they're an easy and free source of travel once a week. Last weekend's trip was not required for me, but it's been one of my favorite Spain experiences yet. We visited Soria, a small town about 2.5 hours drive away from Alcalá. The town is absolutely gorgeous, and extremely hilly. (I swear the entire time we were walking up hill-- I have no idea how we got back to the bus.) The day was spent walking, talking with other students and teachers, and visiting architectural sites, some of which date back to the 8th century! Near the end of the day we walked to a castle that's built into the side of a cliff (see the picture below) which had one of the most breathtaking churches I have ever seen.

Well, at least it was the most breathtaking church until our field trip to Escorial yesterday (just outside of Madrid. It's a monastery where Felipe II lived during his reign, and also the burial site of former kings and queens.) Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures, and my camera had died anyway, so you'll just have to google that one (or come to Spain and see it in person!) Walking into the church was like being punched in the chest by the fist of beauty. I couldn't breath, couldn't speak, couldn't comprehend how something so beautiful could actually exist in the real world. I am starting to realize that this feeling is going to happen a lot while I'm in Spain.

Today, Jenn and I are going to Madrid to pick up our tickets from tomorrow's bull fight. We recently got our "bonos" (not to be confused with Sonny or the lead singer from U2) which are one-time-payment passes for all the buses, train, and metros in Alcalá and Madrid. Needless to say, gratuitous trips to Madrid are happening more and more frequently. Then it's back to Alcalá for lunch, then to the Festival de Cervantes which started yesterday! I'll try to blog again soon, but my wonderful boyfriend Jared will be here in less than 40 hours (!!!!!!!) so we'll see how that goes.

Small Moments

Lately, I've been experiencing a lot of these small moments where I'll be talking to my host-mom or sitting in class and everything is going along smoothly... then it hits me: Holy crap. They're speaking Spanish. And I'm speaking Spanish! This is another language that is not English and I understand it. How did this happen? Don't I speak English? Spanish? What? ¿Qué?

Then I snap out of it and realize the conversation has moved on and I no longer understand what we're talking about anymore. I don't know whether or not to take this as a good sign...

Plans for October

The pace in Spain has been hard to get used to. The moments range from gone-in-the-blink-of-an-eye to lingering-and-staggering-last-forever kind of moments. I've been here more than three weeks, and it feels like three months, but at the same time I feel like I could never have enough time here and it's constantly slipping through my grasp. Am I making any sense? Time is a funny thing.

I guess what I'm trying to say is better explained by some of the advice I got before I left: "The first three weeks will feel like three months, the last three months will feel like three weeks." This means that most of my lingering-and-staggering-last-forever kind of moments are behind me, and from here on out it's a water slide back to Colorado. No matter how hard I try to slow things down, it'll only keep going faster. So in an attempt to prepare for this, my friends here and I have been planning.

The month of October will be a busy one, that's for sure. Next weekend (Sept30-Oct2) we don't have specific plans, but Jenn, Parker, and I will have our bonos by then, which are a one-time payment pass that allows us to use the buses, trains, and metros in Alcalá and Madrid unlimitedly. So the chances of going to Madrid every day that weekend are pretty likely.

The next weekend (Oct7-9) I'll be working like crazy to get all my homework done for the week before my boyfriend, Jared, comes to visit on the 10th. (So excited!!!) But in addition to the studying (and counting the seconds until he gets here), we bought some cheap tickets to a bull fight for the 9th. I'm having mixed feelings about bull fights, to say the least, but it's a big part of the culture, and I know I'll be asked if I went a million times once I get back. I figure if it gets to be too much to handle, I can always just leave.

Classes are canceled for the 10th of October, so I'll be heading down to the airport to fetch Jared. Once he gets here, we'll check out Festival Cervantes (which has been described to me as a sort of Spanish renaissance festival) and I'll show him around. Three days later, he and I fly out to Marrakech, Morocco, which is sure to be an adventure every second of the way. When we get back, Jared goes to stay in Madrid, I'll have to resume school, and we'll try to find a way to make our two schedules line up as often as possible.

The weekend after Jared leaves (Oct28-30) I've planned a trip to Barcelona with Jenn and Parker and one of the girls who came here from CSU with me. We'll fly out late that night after classes, stay in a hostel for the weekend, do some sightseeing, and be back in Alcalá for Halloween. Not that they celebrate it here, but I plan on creating a celebration of my own.

Somewhere in there I'll do homework. I swear.

(p.s. I've gone back through and added some photos to a couple old posts. So check those out, or see all of the album on my facebook page!)

A "Real" Spanish Night Out

Last Friday night was what I'm deeming my first "real Spanish night out." Around 8:30pm I hopped on a train to Madrid to meet up with my friend Graham, who lives there and teaches history at a bilingual school. By the time I arrived at his apartment, it was already packed with people from all over the world. I met a Germans, Italians, Mexicans, Spaniards (of course,) and a whole group of people from France! The French people were the best since a lot of them weren't that much better at Spanish then I was, so they spoke slowly and had a vocabulary I understood, for the most part. We ate dinner there as a huge group-- risotto and some sort of salad with apples in it-- then hung around the apartment until about half past midnight. In Spain, when they go out for the night, they mean the entire night. We didn't get back to Graham's until around 5am.

I expected to bar hop a lot, but instead we stayed the entire night at this awesome bar called Super Sonic. They played the best music, mostly American stuff but I'm okay with that :) I danced for something like four hours straight! And the best part was, since I was one of only two Americans there, everyone assumed I knew the dance moves that went along with the songs they were playing! I think it was the first time ever that someone assumed I knew what I was doing in terms of dancing.

I got a bit of sleep at Graham's before boarding another train back to Alcalá. Needless to say, the early morning/late night train ride was not a lot fun, but I made it through and back home where I slept most of the day. I'm not convinced that this is the lifestyle I want back home, but I can say that I'll definitely be back at Graham's place before too long!

Three Day Weekends and I Guess Some Classes, Too

Photo of Instituto Franklin where all of my classes are held

My first week of classes ended last Thursday, and I know I promised a blog, but the weekend came and went before I even realized! So you're getting it now.

You may have noticed that I said "last Thursday" not "last Friday" in the first sentence of my post. That is not a typo, but rather a very important detail, and constituted a decent part of my decision in which school to attend. Students of El Instituto de Franklin a la Universidad de Alcala don't have class on Fridays! This means every weekend is a three-day weekend and perfect for traveling around the country, and hopefully a bit around Europe, too! That's only four days of classes each week, although classes last longer here than they would at CSU.

On Mondays and Wednesdays I attend my Cervantes class at 10:30 in morning. (This is my earliest class, too! Awesome!) This is by far the hardest class I'm taking in terms of both work load and content. So far we're only reading about 10-15 pages for each class, but keep in mind that it's all in Spanish so it takes me just about as long as 50 English pages would. The content is a little slow right now, but we're still doing background and haven't even gotten to Cervantes yet.

On Mondays I also have a Spanish film class! This class is three hours long, but meets only once a week. Last week we watched La Lengua de Las Mariposas, which I would highly recommend. It takes place just before the Spanish Civil War, and sympathizes with the Republicans who were in power at the time. It's a sad one, though, and I'll be honest-- I teared a little up at the end. This week was a very different film, La Raza, which I wouldn't recommend as highly, although it is pretty interesting. You can basically sum the film up as a piece of propaganda for the Nationals (who were against the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War.) It was even written by Francisco Franco (Spanish dictator) under a pseudonym. The film's in black and white and has a lot of ridiculous scenes with the Republicans breaking into churches to kill crippled children and things like that.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays is my Spanish Culture and Civilization class. There's not much to say about this one so far. I really like my teacher, but for the first week we only discussed some basic geography of Spain, nothing too interesting. Based on the reading we had to do tonight, I think we're moving onto ancient Spain tomorrow!

On Tuesday afternoons (this is another 3 hour/once a week class) I have a theater class. This one should be very interesting and I don't quite know what to think yet. I thought it was going to be a literature class, reading plays and going to see them and such, but it turns out to be more of the practice of theater than I originally imagined. So this means I'm not quite done with theater like I thought; our final exam for the class is to put on a play for our peers. We haven't been told which play yet, but I'm sure the results will be interesting at least!

At lot happened this weekend, too, but this post is already long enough as it is, so I'm going to sum it up as quickly as possible: Friday to buy books and take pictures, Saturday to the "Parque de Atracciones" (amusement park), Sunday to El Rastro (giant downtown flea market) in Madrid! Okay, that's all you get for now! I'll write again soon!

Garlic Bread for Breakfast and Pork For All the Rest

It's been four days and I'm finally starting to feel a bit settled here in Spain. My family is very nice and eager to help me improve my Spanish skills. Pepi, my host mother, shares my love for reading and we spend a lot of time talking about books. Irene, my host sister, is my age and loves boots and cars. She speaks a little English, which helps in confusing situations, but we primarily speak Spanish with each other. Miguel is my host father, who seems like a fairly quiet person because we haven't spoken much at all. There's also Raul, my host brother, who's 12 but tall enough to look 16. He barely spoke to me the first few days, but he has a penchant for violent video games and really opens up when you ask him about them. He promised to teach me the art of Grand Theft Auto while I'm here. There is another student staying with us, as well, named Jennifer and she's very friendly and from Oklahoma. We get along really well and are almost never apart.

My host family and I eat almost all of our meals together, and while I love the company, it will take a while before I get used to the food. As the title of this post suggests, yesterday we had a breakfast that primarily consisted of the Spanish equivalent to garlic bread. Today we switched to the more conventional tostada con mermelada de fresa (toast with strawberry jam), but the breakfasts here are very small and lunch isn't until 2:30 or 3pm most days. Jennifer and I usually bring an apple with us after breakfast to eat between meals. Almost every lunch and dinner I've had here has been based around some pig product. The first day we had spaghetti with bits of bacon, and twice now my dinner has been a slice of pork with a strip of cheese on top. I eat whatever is put in front of me, but I can't honestly say I've enjoyed most of it.

photo of Jamón Serrano a.k.a. the pig leg in out kitchen

It's been four days and I'm finally starting to feel a bit settled here in Spain. My family is very nice and eager to help me improve my Spanish skills. Pepi, my host mother, shares my love for reading and we spend a lot of time talking about books. Irene, my host sister, is my age and loves boots and cars. She speaks a little English, which helps in confusing situations, but we primarily speak Spanish with each other. Miguel is my host father, who seems like a fairly quiet person because we haven't spoken much at all. There's also Raul, my host brother, who's 12 but tall enough to look 16. He barely spoke to me the first few days, but he has a penchant for violent video games and really opens up when you ask him about them. He promised to teach me the art of Grand Theft Auto while I'm here. There is another student staying with us, as well, named Jennifer and she's very friendly and from Oklahoma. We get along really well and are almost never apart.

My host family and I eat almost all of our meals together, and while I love the company, it will take a while before I get used to the food. As the title of this post suggests, yesterday we had a breakfast that primarily consisted of the Spanish equivalent to garlic bread. Today we switched to the more conventional tostada con mermelada de fresa (toast with strawberry jam), but the breakfasts here are very small and lunch isn't until 2:30 or 3pm most days. Jennifer and I usually bring an apple with us after breakfast to eat between meals. Almost every lunch and dinner I've had here has been based around some pig product. The first day we had spaghetti with bits of bacon, and twice now my dinner has been a slice of pork with a strip of cheese on top. I eat whatever is put in front of me, but I can't honestly say I've enjoyed most of it.

Our classes start tomorrow morning at 10:30 am. I think that by the time I receive my first assignment, this will finally stop feeling like a vacation. I'm not too worried about classes, although understanding the language is sure to present a whole new set of challenges. I'll write again soon and let you know how it goes! Take care!

Lost in Alcala

Well the inevitable has happened and I got lost alone in Alcala, and after barely more than 24 hours! I feel like that must be a new record or something. After a long day of orientation and touring Alcala and Madrid, some of the other students from CSU and I decided to go out for tapas and gelato. We had a great time (partly because we agreed to allow ourselves to speak in English until Monday) and decided to head home around 11. The two girls I was with are staying only a few blocks from each other, so they walked in the opposite direction. I caught bus #3 as my host family directed, and rode it for about ten minutes until I thought I found my stop. Of course, I hadn't. So I decided to walk a bit further, thinking I was only a few blocks from home. Of course, I wasn't. Then I decided to wait for another bus, only to have two pass by me without even slowing down. I retraced my steps, found an earlier bus stop and finally got one to stop, thinking that soon enough I'd see my stop and get off there. Of course, I didn't. I ended up near the hospital and decided to get off there assuming they'd have a pay phone. Luckily, this time I was right and I called for a taxi. After waiting for about fifteen minutes, a taxi showed up, but this couple jumped into it before I had a chance to even get close. Then another taxi showed up, but wouldn't let me get in because another woman had called for it. Finally, my taxi arrived (or at least a taxi that would let me get in) and I finally found my way home.

Strangely, I feel a bit better now that I've gotten lost. To be honest, I was freaking out at the time, but now that I'm home safe I feel better about it. Getting lost isn't so bad as long as you keep your cool and have enough money to pay for a taxi, and I'm glad I've done it once so maybe it won't be so bad next time. Or maybe my logic is just off-kilter because I'm jet-lagged and culture shocked out of my mind. So I'll take this as my cue to go to sleep, I'll write more about my other (more pleasant) experiences soon!

Pre-Trip Jitters

To my friends and family:

In four days I'll be leaving the United States in order to embark on a new and exciting journey in Alcala de Henares, Spain! The reality of the situation hasn't really set in yet-- I don't expect it to until I'm either boarding the plane or arriving in Spain itself. Even my beginning efforts at packing haven't made the trip seem real yet. For a few years now studying abroad has only been a vague idea-- something that wil

l happen eventually. Now as the departure day looms less than a week away I can still hardly believe it's happening!

For those of you who I haven't told yet, here is my living situation in Spain as far as I know so far:

-I'll be staying with a family. This includes my host-mother (Pepi), her husband (Emilio), their daughter (Irene), and their son (Rau

l). Irene is my age and Raul is 13. Pepi seems very friendly and welcoming, judging by the few e-mails we've exchanged, but I don't have much information about them besides this!

-I'll be taking four classes at the Universidad de Alcala de Henares. I'm not sure which four classes I'll be taking yet, but the list might include courses on theater, on Spanish women writers, on Cervantes, or a few others I selected last Spring as possibilities.

-I leave Wednesday morning, my flight takes off at 10am, and I'll arrive in Spain on the first day of September. Shuttles from the university will be waiting to pick up myself and other foreign exchange students.

-There aren't a lot of images of Alcala de Hernares to be found online, but this one is definitely my favorite. This is the town square featuring a statue of whom I'm pretty sure is Cervantes, since Alcala was his birthplace.

I guess I don't know too much about my circumstances so far! But I'll be sure to continue updating this blog. Check back periodically and I'll make sure to have something up about once a week to share with you all! I'll miss you!!!