La primera semana

It's been a long time since I've updated and my mom's been asking me to post again so here it goes. I've been in Spain for a week and a half now and living with my host parents in Madrid for exactly a week. I say host parents because it's just the two of them and me - they have a daughter but she lives in "el pueblo" (Socuellamos) outside of Madrid with her husband of a year. Actually now there are more people in the apartment - two girls from Russia got here last night and are staying here for four weeks while they take Spanish classes. I thought they would be fluent or something but it turns out they speak less Spanish than I do (they've only been studying the language for 4 months!). They actually speak more English so when they're trying to say something in Spanish to my host mom they turn to me and say it in English so I can tell them how to say it in Spanish. It's really funny. Anyway next to them I feel like a native speaker (almost, haha).

View from Circulo de Bellas Artes

Madrid is a huge city and so far I've explored very little of it. I've seen the barrios of Chueca, Malasana, and Sol (right in the center), among others, and I live between the barrios of Lavapies and Atocha, but other than that I've yet to venture to much of the city. Part of the reason is that this past week was crazy busy with all kinds of orientation activities. We've had conversation classes; meetings about Autonoma classes, program classes, extracurriculars, reimbursement, adjusting to life abroad; a tour of Autonoma (long name is Universidad Autonoma de Madrid); tours through the city; tours through specific barrios; a visit to Circulo de Bellas Artes which is a huge arts complex with the greatest view of Madrid from the roof; "conferencias" with professors from Autonoma to give us a preview of their classes; a fiesta with our "intercambios" or Spanish pen pals... And amid all that trying to forge new friendships, eating out, discovering Madrileno nightlife, getting phones, getting lost, navigating the autobus and the metro. It's been exhausting. But this week the load lightens considerably and for the first time we actually have free time. It's kind of scary. I liked the over-scheduling last week to the extent that it didn't give me a chance really to think. I didn't have time to miss home. I didn't have to figure out what to do when I had nothing to do (because there was always something on the schedule). But starting soon we'll pretty much have classes and that'll be it - lots of free time to fill. It'll be nice to have time to do what I want but it's also a little scary.

Me on the roof of Circulo de Bellas Artes

Let's see, what else... My host parents are super sweet. Manuela, my host mom, is a really good cook and makes delicious dinners (la cena) every night. She's very talkative which is awesome because sometimes I'm really quiet (especially in Spanish) so she doesn't mind filling the silence. Plus she speaks slowly and enunciates clearly so I can usually understand most of what she is saying. She doesn't speak any English so I can never use English as a crutch to explain what I'm trying to say. Antonio, my host dad, speaks (in Spanish) a little faster and a little more gruffly, so sometimes I pretend to understand what he's saying and just nod and smile, but lately I've been picking up a little more, which is nice. Their apartment is really nice and spacious and located super close to el centro, just one metro stop away from Sol which is like the center of everything (literally "kilometro cero" for Madrid: km 0, the point from which all distances in Madrid are measured).

The weather here (I know, how boring, the weather) has been pretty cold which I think is standard for this time of year and definitely not worse than in Boston, but it's still probably another reason I haven't done too much exploring. I think we were spoiled by mild temperatures at the beginning of the week because it feels like it's gotten colder since we've been here, and I almost always need guantes (gloves) and a bufanda (scarf). I hate the cold so I'm hoping that global warming pulls through and there are a few mild days headed our way (that sounds very weatherman-ish...).

Some interesting costumbres españolas (Spanish customs): You never walk around barefoot (or with just socks) in your house, you always wear shoes or slippers. They're super crazy about saving energy and water (they're in a drought) so you always turn off lights when you leave a room and take quick showers. And recycle everything you can. You greet new people with a kiss on each cheek (their right cheek first, which is confusing because it's the opposite of both France and Italy where you kiss their left cheek first), unless you and the other person are both male and then a handshake suffices. You NEVER do both a handshake and the two kisses, which I made the mistake of doing and was informed quite clearly that that is not the custom. Spanish students aren't expected to tip waiters at restaurants (hooray!).

At Javier Bardem's family's bar! in Sol

This weekend I went to the famous Museo del Prado for the first time. Actually I went twice because a friend didn't go with us the first time and there was a Peter Paul Rubens exhibit ending today that she wanted to see. I didn't know much about Rubens but after seeing the exhibit twice I feel a lot more up to speed on all things Rubens, which will hopefully one day come in handy on Jeopardy. We also looked at the work of Diego Velázquez and El Greco, among others. The museum is huge so it will require many return visits. The Prado is like a ten-minute walk from my house. And the Reina Sofia, the huge modern art museum, is like next door to me - I am incredibly lucky!

Mi amigo Chris y yo en frente del Mercado de San Miguel (Sol)

Hmm what else... Currently I am extremely excited because Laura (una de mis mejores amigas) is coming on Tuesday!! for 5 whole days. She's studying abroad this semester in India but her program starts in February so she's spending a few days with me before heading over there. It's going to be awesome. :)

Finally here!

Note: Meant to post this yesterday but had internet problems/ran out of time. So, pretend it's yesterday!

So I’ve been in Spain for about two days now, though it feels like it’s been weeks. Yesterday - the day I arrived - was the single longest day of my life. I slept for about two hours on the plane but Wednesday and Thursday felt like one long continuous day.

There is so much I could say already about the two days I’ve been here but I’ll try to keep it short. I almost missed my flight to Madrid from Philadelphia because I only had 50 minutes between flights, reduced to 40 because we left Charlotte late, reduced to 25 because we were stuck on the plane in Philadelphia for an agonizing 15 minutes while they figured out some technical problem with the jetway. By the time I got to the departure gate for Madrid (thankfully only fifty feet away from my arrival gate), everyone was lined up to board - I just made it. My luggage wasn’t so lucky and did not make it to Madrid with me, but I packed a change of clothes and a toothbrush in my carry-on so I was okay. And thanks to Miguel, one of the program coordinators, my luggage was delivered to the hotel today so all’s well that ends well.

Right now we’re staying at a hotel in Alcalá (one of the two program sites, about 30 minutes outside of Madrid) for orientation before we move in with our host families on Sunday. Only about seven or eight of us arrived yesterday as scheduled because of all the snow. It was kinda nice though because it gave us a chance to acclimate ourselves, get to know each other, and adjust to the right schedule before orientation starts on Saturday. It was almost like a pre-orientation for freshman year at Tufts. But it’s nice to have lots of people here now, and it’s cool to meet the kids from Skidmore also doing the program.

Plaza de Cervantes - our hotel is right off of this

I’ll just give a little summary of what we did yesterday: After relaxing at the hotel for a little while, the whole group (all eight of us, plus the Alcala program coordinators) met for lunch at 2. In Spain, lunch (el almuerzo) is the biggest meal of the day and yesterday’s lunch lasted 3 hours. There are usually three courses: a light first course, like a salad, a heavier second course (your entrée), and a dessert like fruit or chocolate. And always, vino with your meal. It’s really relaxing although a bit hard to get used to, for me anyway. I can be impatient and like to get things over with, but I’m learning to enjoy lingering over meals. After lunch we explored Alcalá a little bit. It’s a really pretty town, and very old. We went into a few shops and a museum, el Museo Arqueológico Regional, and then returned to the hotel to rest before dinner around 10 at a crowded tapas bar. There was a huge fútbol game on TV between two local rivals, Real Madrid and Atlético, and the restaurant went wild whenever anyone scored. After dinner we went to a club (overrun with Americans) for a little while. By the time I went to bed around 2am I was exhausted and slept soundly for ten hours.

Today we did basically the same thing, except with more people. A few of us went to another museum, el Museo Cisneriano, and took a guided tour in Spanish. I had to concentrate really hard and not let my mind wander, but I could understand most of what the guide said. I just need to practice more!

This post is already reeeeeally long so I’m going to end here. I miss everyone very much and hope you’re all doing well!

Inclement weather + last minute prep

My flight to Madrid is in two days. Here is what my backyard looks like right now:

Charlotte got hit with several inches of snow last night, and the airport cancelled 200+ flights today. The storm is supposed to continue up the east coast tomorrow, hitting Philadelphia along the way - where my connecting flight departs from. Eek! I'm really hoping that by Wednesday they've gotten things under control and my two flights go smoothly. Keeping my fingers crossed. The storm is also supposed to hit Boston and New York (possibly even harder), where the two group flights for my program depart from, so I guess if my flight is delayed theirs probably will be too. The Tufts Wind Ensemble (of which I am a member) was scheduled to leave for Costa Rica tomorrow, I believe routing through Atlanta which has gotten hit really badly - and their trip has already been delayed a day (or more? not sure). I wish I could somehow go on the Costa Rica trip and also go to Spain but alas, I can only visit one Spanish-speaking country at a time.

In other news, I've been having a mini freak-out every 5-6 minutes thinking about my impending trip. Luckily my amazing friend Tara, who did the same program two years ago, has been helping me out with all the silly questions I think of and panic over. Today I called the bank and my credit card company to inform them of my travel plans so my cards won't be rejected. Trying to figure out which electric appliances (chargers, hair stuff) I can bring that will work with European voltage. My poor mom turned the house upside down looking for the electrical adapters she KNOWS she had somewhere. She found them! I was going to go to Target today to get some last minute things but the snow (which will later turn to ice on the roads, we're told) derailed that plan. Hopefully tomorrow I can swing by and grab a couple of things. I have to seriously pack now!

Other than preparing for Spain stuff, life is pretty boring. We dropped my sister back at UNC yesterday and today was her first day of classes (they didn't get much snow in Chapel Hill). Today I watched a really sad movie called Crush which starred Andie MacDowell and a REALLY HOT BRITISH GUY who I've never seen before in anything. Spoiler alert: Hot guy dies 2/3 of the way into the movie. I'm not really sure why I kept watching after that.

Hoping for smooth travel on Wednesday!!

Un beso,
Chelsea

One week! (and a day)

So, I leave for Madrid a week from tomorrow. Let me just start by saying I wasn't sure if I was going to create a blog for my semester in Madrid. It seemed like the clichéd thing to do - everyone I know and their mother keeps a blog for their semester abroad. Who besides my family would even want to read my blog? It seemed the height of egocentrism to start a blog to say "Look how awesome my life is!" But after reading my friend Allison H.'s great blog on her semester in Buenos Aires, I realized there are more reasons to keep an abroad blog than just updating others on your life. She reflected really well on her semester; on the awesome things she did, but also on the difficulties and frustrations, and on what she learned. An abroad blog, I guess any type of blog really, is more for the benefit of the blogger than the reader. I definitely hope to entertain the reader (note the singular - Hi, mom), but what I hope to get out of this blog (and really, out of the semester as a whole), is a greater understanding of myself. I hope to clarify what I like, what I don't like, what surprises me, and what I learn-- not just for others' sake, but for my own. So that's why I decided to start this blog, in a nutshell.