Well, I'm finally settled. That's why I haven't written anything in a week is because I was just settling in. And now some commentary on Socialism:
Last Monday my roommate had a fever and didn't feel well. In the US, a fever (that wasn't too high) would not warrant a visit to a doctor, you'd just take some fever reducer or cold medicine or something. But HERE apparently, if you have a fever, the protocol is that you see a doctor. So my house mother told Jacquelyn she had the option of either going to the hospital for a consultation or having a doctor come see her at the house. Yes, that's right, a HOUSE CALL! I didn't even know they still did that. So she decided for the house call. My house mother called the doctor, and within an hour there was a serious, certified DOCTOR at our door. He inspected her and gave her some medication and guess how much it cost? 17euros!! How crazy is that? That doesn't even exist in the United States. I thought it was awesome. And if she'd chosen to go to the hospital, it would have been free.
Later that day, while Jacquelyn was sick in bed, I decided to go to El Retiro, the main, huge park in Madrid. It was beautiful...and spotless! The sidewalks were swept, there was no garbage anywhere, the bathrooms were pristine! And this is because they have SO many employees to do this. This is socialism for you. And I happen to like it at this point.
I've been shopping all day for airline tickets. Ed is coming to visit me!!! And we'll visit Amsterdam and London, and then after he leaves, I'm flying on to Greece, and maybe I can squeeze in Florence if my friend is in town that weekend. (It's his spring break too, so he might be traveling. In any case I'm spending a TON of money on all this. Madrid is expensive in itself, BUT, as my dad pointed out, I should live it up while I'm here and travel as much as I can. He says he won't let me starve.
Next week we have a school organized trip to Andalusia which will be really fun, and then afterwards I'm going to a Carnival in Cadiz (which is in southern Spain) and then we're going to Morocco for a day trip. I will have been to AFRICA! I bet things are cheap in Morocco too.
Need to start reserving Hostels for all these places.
My Senora is a big nag half the time. She nags me that I don't take the bus everywhere. I like the bus, but sometimes I don't know which route to take so it's just safer to take the metro. We also got into a slight altercation today. Jacquelyn and I, usually when we can't finish our dinners we ask her if we can just eat it for breakfast, and she always says yes. Yesterday night, she wasn't home for dinner so she left us two HUGE bowls of Spaghetti. We decided to just split one bowl and put the other in the fridge. This morning we were like "Can we eat the spaghetti?" and she was like "What?! You are only allotted 1 big meal a day, dinner. You can't have two. For breakfast you eat cereal or fruit or something, but you can't expect to eat two big meals a day. I'm generous but this was not included!" And blah blah blah. We didn't mean to start anything! Not to mention, that of course all of this is in Spanish, so we were responding with "si, si si" and she kept saying "Do you understand me? You don't understand me! You never understand me!" We understood every word we just didn't have much to respond with, but she didn't believe us. It was horrible. She wasn't yelling but she was just being....ANNOYING! Like, OK FINE WE WON'T EAT THE SPAGHETTI! So then Jacquelyn asked if since she wasn't going to be here for dinner, if she could just eat her dinner right then (because it was already ready) And she had another freak out saying she'd never been asked in her 15 years doing this if you could substitute one meal for the other. Her opinion is that if you aren't going to be here for dinner, then you forfeit your meal. Well, fine, but she just dragged it ON and ON and ON. She is SUCH A NAG
She complains when we don't ask her for advice, when every time we do she just complains or acts insulted that we don't already know and even HAVE to ask. I wish she'd butt out.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Sunday January 20th, 2008
Last week was my first real week of classes. Seems fine. The only class that seems hard is my literature class that is composed of analyzing Spanish plays of the 20th century. We have to read a play every week and a half and one week later a five page paper is due. The others will definitely be manageable. Plus, this semester I'm in school only t/w/th, so there's really no excuse for not getting my work done. Plus, since most people (namely my friends) did not luck out with such a schedule, my Mondays off I won't really have anyone to hang out with, so it'll be a good study day.
Friday we went to Segovia. It's a city about an 1hr 15mins north of Madrid. It was built by the Romans around the time of Christ and so there is a Roman Aqueduct running through the middle of the city! My pics are on facebook. It was functional until 1979 when the population of Segovia was too big for the aqueduct to support. So technically it still works, they just don't use it. Those Romans were amazing, huh!?
That was a fun day trip. We also toured El Alcazar, which was a huge fortress/castle, to protect various religions from various intruders (most recently, the Christian Spanish Kings keeping out the Arabs in 1098.) It was BEAUTIFUL. We also went to La Granja Palacio which was a beautiful palace build by Fernando V to look like Versailles because he was french and when it turned out he was the Spanish king too, he wanted to do it the way he was used to. It was pretty too. I've learned one thing: Castles are COLD!....but beautiful. I liked Alcazar more than La Granja.
About 12 people of our group went on to Salamanca after that. I was invited but it was too last minute and rushed for me to deal with it. And I'm glad I didn't go because I ended up having a little cold this weekend, and so that would have been terrible. They're planning another trip to somewhere, I think Barcelona, and I'll go to that one. I just need more than 12 hour notice.
Today I went to Madrid's "El Rastro" flea market. It was pretty cool, big, and had everything you could want. It's only Sundays and was SO crowded! I really don't think my roommate enjoyed it, so we didn't stay too long. But I'll go back again, probably closer to when I leave though. Bought some earrings, and a present for my step-mother.
I'm still not into a good routine, but this week of school should be normal.
There is some drama in the group over girls wanting boys and blah blah blah, but I'm not involved at all, so I'm staying out of it. I'm sure we'll all settle in...
Friday we went to Segovia. It's a city about an 1hr 15mins north of Madrid. It was built by the Romans around the time of Christ and so there is a Roman Aqueduct running through the middle of the city! My pics are on facebook. It was functional until 1979 when the population of Segovia was too big for the aqueduct to support. So technically it still works, they just don't use it. Those Romans were amazing, huh!?
That was a fun day trip. We also toured El Alcazar, which was a huge fortress/castle, to protect various religions from various intruders (most recently, the Christian Spanish Kings keeping out the Arabs in 1098.) It was BEAUTIFUL. We also went to La Granja Palacio which was a beautiful palace build by Fernando V to look like Versailles because he was french and when it turned out he was the Spanish king too, he wanted to do it the way he was used to. It was pretty too. I've learned one thing: Castles are COLD!....but beautiful. I liked Alcazar more than La Granja.
About 12 people of our group went on to Salamanca after that. I was invited but it was too last minute and rushed for me to deal with it. And I'm glad I didn't go because I ended up having a little cold this weekend, and so that would have been terrible. They're planning another trip to somewhere, I think Barcelona, and I'll go to that one. I just need more than 12 hour notice.
Today I went to Madrid's "El Rastro" flea market. It was pretty cool, big, and had everything you could want. It's only Sundays and was SO crowded! I really don't think my roommate enjoyed it, so we didn't stay too long. But I'll go back again, probably closer to when I leave though. Bought some earrings, and a present for my step-mother.
I'm still not into a good routine, but this week of school should be normal.
There is some drama in the group over girls wanting boys and blah blah blah, but I'm not involved at all, so I'm staying out of it. I'm sure we'll all settle in...
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Tuesday, Jan 15th
Today was the first day of classes for me. It seems like my Contemporary theatre literature class is going to be time consuming. We have a 4/5 page paper due every 4 weeks, until all six plays are covered. My Art History class is going to be interesting, especially because we get to go to all the good museums. I'll have an 8 page paper to do on Picasso's Guernica, but I feel like when I need to write it, I'll have more than enough information. I also am taking a Spanish Civilizations class which should be pretty interesting. Big group project for that one. Tomorrow I have one class, "Spanish Literature of the 19th C." I KNOW I KNOW it sounds boring. But I need three graduate level courses of to complete my major and I figure getting them done here will be easier.
So while the work seems like a lot, I don't think it'll be intellectually challenging, just time consuming. And I'll have to schedule myself pretty rigidly so I don't forget to do anything.
I turned in a form yesterday to teach English to little kids. It pays 12€ an hour which is equivalent to $18!!! So that's really good. This is supposed to be a pretty travel-filled semester, so I probably won't work more than five hours a week or so, but an extra $100 a week will be greatly appreciated. An extra ANYTHING. Plus, it might be fun.
A Cultural Note:
Before yesterday I thought Madrid (and Europe in general) was very clean until I began to see people littering EVERYWHERE: the metro, the sidewalks, throwing stuff all over streets. And as I paid more attention, I realized that these people aren't clean people, but there are guys in neon vests on every other street corner picking up after them! They do a good job, sure. But it makes me question personal responsibility. Is it my own culture stepping in when I judge them and say that they should pick up after themselves and be personally responsible for their trash? (there ARE trash cans on corners too). OR is it ok, because that is what these people are THERE for, that is their JOB?
Well, I don't care whether it's ethno-centric to say: I think people shouldn't litter. I think they should have personal responsibility for stuff like this. It will just enforce bad habits in their children who may NOT end up living in a country with trash pickers. I mean, half the people I've seen with dogs, let them do their business on the CURB of the SIDEWALK, because before you know it there will be a person coming along to scrape it up. GROSS. There isn't any grass or anything. Maybe people shouldn't have dogs if their not going to pick it up. I've only seen one guy do it, and it was right in the MIDDLE of the sidewalk anyway.
What do you think?
Monday was the first day of classes for most people, but because I don't have class Monday, I went to the Museo Reina Sofia. It's a modern art museum. I've never been one for modern art, but this place really changed my mind. It was HUGE and some of the art was just beautiful. It had at least 30 Picassos! And probably just as many Miro and Dali works. And I ended up liking a lot of this "modern art." It also had these really cool glass elevators.
Tomorrow I don't have class until 4:30 so I'm going to buy my books, buy notebooks (which btw, they only make graph paper notebooks, not lined like we have: ANNOYING!), and mail a postcard.
The friendship dynamics amongst the group of us (about 25) are still settling out. Once they become more concrete I'll be able to comment. Now though, it's too early to tell. Even my friends are not by any means cemented. Hasta Luego.
So while the work seems like a lot, I don't think it'll be intellectually challenging, just time consuming. And I'll have to schedule myself pretty rigidly so I don't forget to do anything.
I turned in a form yesterday to teach English to little kids. It pays 12€ an hour which is equivalent to $18!!! So that's really good. This is supposed to be a pretty travel-filled semester, so I probably won't work more than five hours a week or so, but an extra $100 a week will be greatly appreciated. An extra ANYTHING. Plus, it might be fun.
A Cultural Note:
Before yesterday I thought Madrid (and Europe in general) was very clean until I began to see people littering EVERYWHERE: the metro, the sidewalks, throwing stuff all over streets. And as I paid more attention, I realized that these people aren't clean people, but there are guys in neon vests on every other street corner picking up after them! They do a good job, sure. But it makes me question personal responsibility. Is it my own culture stepping in when I judge them and say that they should pick up after themselves and be personally responsible for their trash? (there ARE trash cans on corners too). OR is it ok, because that is what these people are THERE for, that is their JOB?
Well, I don't care whether it's ethno-centric to say: I think people shouldn't litter. I think they should have personal responsibility for stuff like this. It will just enforce bad habits in their children who may NOT end up living in a country with trash pickers. I mean, half the people I've seen with dogs, let them do their business on the CURB of the SIDEWALK, because before you know it there will be a person coming along to scrape it up. GROSS. There isn't any grass or anything. Maybe people shouldn't have dogs if their not going to pick it up. I've only seen one guy do it, and it was right in the MIDDLE of the sidewalk anyway.
What do you think?
Monday was the first day of classes for most people, but because I don't have class Monday, I went to the Museo Reina Sofia. It's a modern art museum. I've never been one for modern art, but this place really changed my mind. It was HUGE and some of the art was just beautiful. It had at least 30 Picassos! And probably just as many Miro and Dali works. And I ended up liking a lot of this "modern art." It also had these really cool glass elevators.
Tomorrow I don't have class until 4:30 so I'm going to buy my books, buy notebooks (which btw, they only make graph paper notebooks, not lined like we have: ANNOYING!), and mail a postcard.
The friendship dynamics amongst the group of us (about 25) are still settling out. Once they become more concrete I'll be able to comment. Now though, it's too early to tell. Even my friends are not by any means cemented. Hasta Luego.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Jan 12th, 2008
Last night was my first real night out in Madrid. I was told:
"You think you're not going to stay out all night and get back at 7am...you will"
well they were right. I did.
We went to this Irish pub called O'Brien's for a while and drank. They were having a special where you could mix smirnoff vodka with anything and it was 4€, which is about six dollars. That is awesome too because they seriously fill HALF of your glass (like, 3 shots; they're big glasses) with Vodka and then top it off with orange juice. So in three drinks I had like 8 or 9 shots.
Then at 2 we went to a "discoteca" or "disco" called "El Palacio" which was a a huge club converted from a palace. We got there at peak time and cover was 15€!! that's probably $22. I felt totally ripped off, but at least that comes with a drink. That vodka redbull pushed me into the drunk phase anyway. So a group of us ended up staying there and dancing. Jacquelyn, my roommate, and I each were dancing with different guys and speaking MUCHO español. At the end of the night when some drunk guy talked to me in English, I had to ask him to repeat himself because I couldn't comprehend what he said for a second. My spanish is getting really really good.
The other girls there from my school didn't seem interested in socializing with the spaniards. And maybe it was just me, but they seemed to be giving off a self-righteous aire, which kind of bothered me. But I just forgot about them and had fun with my madrileños. (people from madrid.)
Jacquelyn and I stayed until the club closed at 6:30am. I wasn't even tired until I left the club and then I was REALLY tired. But the whole time we were there I hardly even noticed all the hours pass. It was so much fun. I felt like I had a actual cultural experience too. So then because the metro was already open for the day, we were able to take the metro home, escorted by the guy Jacquelyn had been dancing with all night and his amigo. I slept from 7:45am to 3pm.
This party-all-night thing is awesome but I really couldn't do it all the time because I end up sleeping through most of the day. Late dinners (as is the culture here) really help energize you for a late night partying though. I'm going to try to keep staying out all night to only a couple times a week. It's too detrimental otherwise.
What I forgot to post the other day was a record of the sites I saw in Toledo, because I want to have a list of those things:
-La iglesia San Juan de los Reyes
-La Sinagoga
-El Catedral de Felipe II cuando él trasladó la capital a Madrid.
-El mural "El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz" de El Greco
School starts for me on Tuesday. And tomorrow the "El Rastro" flea market where you can apparently find awesome stuff, good souvenirs, and a lot of pickpockets. I'll have to be really careful. Plus, I can't afford to have money stolen.
Hasta Luego.
"You think you're not going to stay out all night and get back at 7am...you will"
well they were right. I did.
We went to this Irish pub called O'Brien's for a while and drank. They were having a special where you could mix smirnoff vodka with anything and it was 4€, which is about six dollars. That is awesome too because they seriously fill HALF of your glass (like, 3 shots; they're big glasses) with Vodka and then top it off with orange juice. So in three drinks I had like 8 or 9 shots.
Then at 2 we went to a "discoteca" or "disco" called "El Palacio" which was a a huge club converted from a palace. We got there at peak time and cover was 15€!! that's probably $22. I felt totally ripped off, but at least that comes with a drink. That vodka redbull pushed me into the drunk phase anyway. So a group of us ended up staying there and dancing. Jacquelyn, my roommate, and I each were dancing with different guys and speaking MUCHO español. At the end of the night when some drunk guy talked to me in English, I had to ask him to repeat himself because I couldn't comprehend what he said for a second. My spanish is getting really really good.
The other girls there from my school didn't seem interested in socializing with the spaniards. And maybe it was just me, but they seemed to be giving off a self-righteous aire, which kind of bothered me. But I just forgot about them and had fun with my madrileños. (people from madrid.)
Jacquelyn and I stayed until the club closed at 6:30am. I wasn't even tired until I left the club and then I was REALLY tired. But the whole time we were there I hardly even noticed all the hours pass. It was so much fun. I felt like I had a actual cultural experience too. So then because the metro was already open for the day, we were able to take the metro home, escorted by the guy Jacquelyn had been dancing with all night and his amigo. I slept from 7:45am to 3pm.
This party-all-night thing is awesome but I really couldn't do it all the time because I end up sleeping through most of the day. Late dinners (as is the culture here) really help energize you for a late night partying though. I'm going to try to keep staying out all night to only a couple times a week. It's too detrimental otherwise.
What I forgot to post the other day was a record of the sites I saw in Toledo, because I want to have a list of those things:
-La iglesia San Juan de los Reyes
-La Sinagoga
-El Catedral de Felipe II cuando él trasladó la capital a Madrid.
-El mural "El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz" de El Greco
School starts for me on Tuesday. And tomorrow the "El Rastro" flea market where you can apparently find awesome stuff, good souvenirs, and a lot of pickpockets. I'll have to be really careful. Plus, I can't afford to have money stolen.
Hasta Luego.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Toledo, Jan 8-10, 2008
Today we returned from our little excursion to Toledo. It is a quaint little city/village about an hour south of Madrid in La Mancha (like Don Quixote de la Mancha and Manchego cheese) . La Fundacion Jose Ortega y Gasset has a campus there and we had our orientation. They taught us the lingo, like how to order from bars (you can't just say "una cerveza por favor") and all this stuff.
It was also important because we all got to meet each other. Because we're living with families in Madrid, so socialize outside school requires effort and it's hard to do if you don't even KNOW the other people, so with this orientation we stayed in the school's dorms for a couple of nights and really got to know the other people we'll be in school with for the next four months. A lot of them are cool, some don't seem too friendly, but I think that once I get to know them it will be different. It's so weird to have to make friends again! It's working out though.
Toledo is one of the most boring places in the entire world. Sure, it's cute because it's very medieval. Like, I felt like I was in a castle/disney world the whole time. It's a beautiful walled in city that was built in like, the 800s so everything looks awesome. Plus, Ferdinand and Isabella were really involved in its development so there is a lot of history. But as for activity...well you can't do a whole lot when only four or five people can fit abreast on the STREETS. And yes, cars do drive through, but only little cars, all one way, and...not a whole lot of cars. We went to some bars and a disco though and that was fun. But it was ALL americans. I think very few people actually like in Toledo, it's like a city for tourists. I'm glad I got to experience it, but I'm SO happy that I'm living in Madrid instead.
I made a few cultural notes:
-In cities like Toledo that are so old, they don't BUILD in the cities. You don't see cranes in the skylines. They work with what they have. I respect that. You don't see abandoned buildings, because they use them and renovate them, etc. It's something to think about.
-The europeans are SO energy conscious! I really respect that too. Because water and electricity are expensive in the houses you ALWAYS turn the lights off when you leave a room, (though that's not uncommon in the US) but also, all the restaurants and public buildings use skylights a lot and censored lighting. Like, if there is no motion in the bathrooms in restaurants for THIRTY SECONDS the lights will turn out on you. Not to mention that a ten minute shower is really pushing it. They conserve water like it's gold. I like that.
CONS:
-Shoes in the house at all times are a must. Even if it's just slippers. I HATE wearing shoes.
-There's a lot of time between meals. Breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 2, dinner at 9:30 or later. By each meal I'm STARVING.
My Senora (house mother) is nice. She speaks slowly enough for me to understand and doesn't care when we come and go. I don't know her too well yet so I'll figure that out in a few days I'm sure.
School starts monday and my schedule is AWESOME. I have three classes Tuesday/Thursday and one class on Wednesday afternoon! HELL YEAH FOUR DAY WEEKENDS! Voy a viajar MUCHO!!
Until next time....
It was also important because we all got to meet each other. Because we're living with families in Madrid, so socialize outside school requires effort and it's hard to do if you don't even KNOW the other people, so with this orientation we stayed in the school's dorms for a couple of nights and really got to know the other people we'll be in school with for the next four months. A lot of them are cool, some don't seem too friendly, but I think that once I get to know them it will be different. It's so weird to have to make friends again! It's working out though.
Toledo is one of the most boring places in the entire world. Sure, it's cute because it's very medieval. Like, I felt like I was in a castle/disney world the whole time. It's a beautiful walled in city that was built in like, the 800s so everything looks awesome. Plus, Ferdinand and Isabella were really involved in its development so there is a lot of history. But as for activity...well you can't do a whole lot when only four or five people can fit abreast on the STREETS. And yes, cars do drive through, but only little cars, all one way, and...not a whole lot of cars. We went to some bars and a disco though and that was fun. But it was ALL americans. I think very few people actually like in Toledo, it's like a city for tourists. I'm glad I got to experience it, but I'm SO happy that I'm living in Madrid instead.
I made a few cultural notes:
-In cities like Toledo that are so old, they don't BUILD in the cities. You don't see cranes in the skylines. They work with what they have. I respect that. You don't see abandoned buildings, because they use them and renovate them, etc. It's something to think about.
-The europeans are SO energy conscious! I really respect that too. Because water and electricity are expensive in the houses you ALWAYS turn the lights off when you leave a room, (though that's not uncommon in the US) but also, all the restaurants and public buildings use skylights a lot and censored lighting. Like, if there is no motion in the bathrooms in restaurants for THIRTY SECONDS the lights will turn out on you. Not to mention that a ten minute shower is really pushing it. They conserve water like it's gold. I like that.
CONS:
-Shoes in the house at all times are a must. Even if it's just slippers. I HATE wearing shoes.
-There's a lot of time between meals. Breakfast at 8:30, lunch at 2, dinner at 9:30 or later. By each meal I'm STARVING.
My Senora (house mother) is nice. She speaks slowly enough for me to understand and doesn't care when we come and go. I don't know her too well yet so I'll figure that out in a few days I'm sure.
School starts monday and my schedule is AWESOME. I have three classes Tuesday/Thursday and one class on Wednesday afternoon! HELL YEAH FOUR DAY WEEKENDS! Voy a viajar MUCHO!!
Until next time....
Monday, January 7, 2008
Day One Jan 7th, 2008
Well I arrived today. What a trip.
I left yesterday evening, spent 8.5 hrs on the first plane and landed in Paris.
If I never have to spend any more time in the Charles de Gaulle Airport I'll be ok. It was quite a confusing experience. Mostly because I was changing from American Airlines to Iberia, so apparently that meant I had to go through customs and leave the airport entirely and then check back in. Unfortunately I didn't know this. I guess it's alright because I figured it out eventually. But it was really confusing!
I actually was able to speak a lot more French than I thought I could. I said:
"I need to change airlines. Where is Iberia"
"A bottle of water please"
"Where is an ATM?"
"Where is Termindal 2D"
While I was able to say this, unfortunately I was not able to understand their response really. So I'd either just pretend I understood, or ask them to show me. I also didn't really say "ATM" I said "money machine" because that's all I knew how to say. They got my point.
Once I figured out that stupid French airport, the rest was a piece of cake. Flew the two hours into Madrid, then I took a taxi ALONE from the airport to my host family's house.
My Senora (I don't know how to type the little ~ on the n) is nice. She is a woman named Rosalia who is probably sixty. She lives with one of her daughters Rosa, who is nice. And now she lives with me and Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn is my SMU roommate. She's nice also. Her spanish is pretty good. Probably about as good as mine, or almost. Rosalia doesn't speak a word of English so my Spanish will get better soon. I think it's already improved just in this afternoon. We talked for a long time, so I'm already feeling much more comfortable conversing. I also get my own room!
Tomorrow we're going to Toledo for an orientation where they'll give us our Spanish cellphones and class schedules etc. I'm getting even more excited!
It still doesn't seem real though. I don't feel like I live here yet. I guess we'll see. I hope I become more accustomed soon. I also feel very alone. It helps that Jacquelyn's here though. This is going to be quite an evolution and I guess we'll see how it goes....
I left yesterday evening, spent 8.5 hrs on the first plane and landed in Paris.
If I never have to spend any more time in the Charles de Gaulle Airport I'll be ok. It was quite a confusing experience. Mostly because I was changing from American Airlines to Iberia, so apparently that meant I had to go through customs and leave the airport entirely and then check back in. Unfortunately I didn't know this. I guess it's alright because I figured it out eventually. But it was really confusing!
I actually was able to speak a lot more French than I thought I could. I said:
"I need to change airlines. Where is Iberia"
"A bottle of water please"
"Where is an ATM?"
"Where is Termindal 2D"
While I was able to say this, unfortunately I was not able to understand their response really. So I'd either just pretend I understood, or ask them to show me. I also didn't really say "ATM" I said "money machine" because that's all I knew how to say. They got my point.
Once I figured out that stupid French airport, the rest was a piece of cake. Flew the two hours into Madrid, then I took a taxi ALONE from the airport to my host family's house.
My Senora (I don't know how to type the little ~ on the n) is nice. She is a woman named Rosalia who is probably sixty. She lives with one of her daughters Rosa, who is nice. And now she lives with me and Jacquelyn. Jacquelyn is my SMU roommate. She's nice also. Her spanish is pretty good. Probably about as good as mine, or almost. Rosalia doesn't speak a word of English so my Spanish will get better soon. I think it's already improved just in this afternoon. We talked for a long time, so I'm already feeling much more comfortable conversing. I also get my own room!
Tomorrow we're going to Toledo for an orientation where they'll give us our Spanish cellphones and class schedules etc. I'm getting even more excited!
It still doesn't seem real though. I don't feel like I live here yet. I guess we'll see. I hope I become more accustomed soon. I also feel very alone. It helps that Jacquelyn's here though. This is going to be quite an evolution and I guess we'll see how it goes....
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