El Inicio de mi Aventura

Don't worry, I won't write my blogs in Spanish. The first thing I'll say about my journey to Spain is that it's not as difficult as I thought it would be on all levels. Going to Paris really helped, but even traveling by myself has led to more confidence rather than meltdowns. I understand Spanish better than I thought, in writing and during conversations with the locals and my teachers. Overall, everything seems natural, from the atmosphere of the streets to the perfect fit with my roommate.

I'm sitting here in my apartment with the aroma of Tortilla Espanola (fried potatoes and eggs) made by Kyle, one of the boys who lives downstairs. Some of our first adventures with cooking Spanish food! To begin my adventure:

I started out in a hotel for the orientation, meeting the 6 other new USAC students who would be taking classes at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos during July. A group had already been here for June and we would meet them through our roommates. I took a shuttle from the airport, first waiting in the wrong place for it which gave me an opportunity to talk to a man and a woman who were calling for my shuttle. We talked in English and Spanish about how it's my first time traveling alone. The guy assured me to not be too nervous and to not cry, which I haven't done yet! The shuttle was a 3-row van and it dashed through traffic like it was a smart car. Their traffic is crazy, so many close calls. I'm surprised there aren't more wrecks.

Our USAC staff are great. Gabriela is a beautiful native of Madrid with a great spirit and sense of excitement who arranges our housing. Susan is my roommate's idol, a great lady from Boston who has lived here for 7 years and is now a citizen of Spain. She handles health and safety issues. Alvarro is from San Sebastian and handles our academics. They did our orientation on Friday 7/2 and we had appointments with Alvarro to determine classes. Since I was the only one to sign up for Advanced Spanish I, I had the choice to do poetry or Advanced Spanish II, which would be with people above my level. I went with the Advanced II and love it. I'm also taking Advanced Conversation where we simply discuss topics each day. Our first day of classes was yesterday and I wasn't too nervous. I understand everything that they say, even though one of them speaks really quickly. The Madrid accent and choice of words hasn't been too problematic, it's pretty straightforward.

I moved into my apartment on Friday afternoon after orientation. Alex lives downstairs with Kyle. Alex is in session II, Kyle was in session I but is now teaching privately and living here still. Alex and I are both new, so we were shown to the building together by 2 Madrid girls, Maria and Deborah. They were about our age, they showed us the bank and close grocery stores. I understood most of what Maria said in Spanish, but was exhausted after a whole day of orientation and then 2 hours of conversation in Spanish. It's a good size. 2 bedrooms, bathroom with a standing shower, kitchen with the works, living area, washer for clothes. The kitchen uses natural gas so we have to turn the switch to light the stove by hand. No air conditioning even though it's hot, but keeping the windows open creates a nice breeze most of the time. It's hot here, but less humid so the shade is reasonable. A lot of the west coast people from the states are suffering, but we're all adjusting.

Katie, my incredible roommate, came back from holiday in between sessions on Saturday night. We are the same person. She is from Chicago and goes to Loyola. Her life has been changed by being here, she wants to move back and study anything to figure out how to be Susan essentially. We have laughed a ton, with each new thing revealed being the same since we understand each other so well.

The layout of the day here is very different, but I'm starting to like it. Class 9am-12:15pm (they use military time so that's an adjustment), Lunch 3pm-5pm, Siesta (official naptime/rest of the country where some family-owned shops close down for a few hours) happens anywhere from 4pm-8pm, Dinner 10pm-12am. People don't usually go out until midnight. Since the metro closes at 1:30am and opens again at 6am, most people stay out until then on weekends. The first Friday night, I'll admit that I got home at 5am, so it's possible to just wait for the metro. Otherwise, they have a nightbus route that runs during that time so you can get around the city at any hour, hence the name "The City that Never Sleeps."

For people who don't like ham very much, you won't like much of their food. There are other choices, but pretty much every meal entree includes pork of some kind. One of the popular restuarants is Museo de Jamon which has a meat shop but also meal options where you can get sandwiches, coffee, etc. I have confirmed that Wool Growers, the Basque restaurant in Bakersfield, is truly authentic because a steak that I had over the weekend had the same feel and taste as the ox tail they serve, including the same kind of fries. The food is hit or miss, but overall it's been great, tapas have been an adventure themselves. In the apartment, we've had the opportunity to shop for basics like cereal, but also mix in things where we can experiment like Kyle is right now. Last night, us girls made some octopus (not as successful), some Patatas Gravas, y some tapas that consisted of pears and brie cheese. We've had some tinto veranos (red wine and fresca) and calimochos (red wine and coca-cola). As mentioned before, Kyle is making food for us now while we have the futbol game on. Some calimochos are on the horizon.

Speaking of futbol, I have identified the moment when I fell in love with Spain. Last Saturday, I went with a few of the new USAC people to the futbol stadium where they had big screens set up to show the game vs. Paraguay. Thousands of people were starting to flood in a few hours before. They had 5 songs that everyone knew the words to, red and yellow everywhere, eruptions of sound everytime the ball got close to the net and fireworks and music for the goals (one taken back, so sad). The sense of unity and love for their country was inspiring and outrageous, with people standing in the streets and running around setting of firecrackers and singing "Yo soy Espanol."

To finish this post up, I'll update every few days. I'll be heading to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls (commenced today) on Friday afternoon. I'll start to include more details now that you have the groundwork. FYI, we're 6 hours ahead of Ohio. I'm usually online around 8 in the evenings and then later on around 11pm-2am if you ever want to chat on google or Skype!

Hasta Luego! Con mucho amor,

Bri