In the beginning

I am now two and a half weeks into my semester in Spain. I am definiely loving the experience so far- there are so many new adventures!

First off, an explanation of why this took me so long. My computer- which I got only 3 months ago- decided to stop working when I got here. I think it was due to the different voltage, but I'm not sure. In any case, it's not working. I'm in the process of dealing with tech support to get it fixed, but it's taking a while. (Side note: Dealing with tech support in another language is not fun at all.) I have to use the computers at my school while mine is being fixed.

I got into Spain in the morning on January 14th. We took a bus from the airport in Madrid to Toledo, the city where I will be for the rest of the semester. First we went to my school, the Fundación José Ortega y Gasset, for some business stuff. Then I met my host family! I live in a house with two parents (José and Isabel), two sons (Borja and Rodrigo), and a dog (Lia). They are all very nice... but the dog really likes to bark. That gets obnoxious. My first few days and weekend here were pretty chill. There was a lot of business to take care of, but we did get to go on a guided tour of Toledo. It was nice to see some of the main parts of the city. This city has a whole lot of history behind it. Also, the streets are quite small and there are no sidewalks, which means that you have to get out of the way when there is a car coming.

Week one involved figuring out my class schedule for the semester. I will be taking five classes: the art of reading literature, master painters of Spain, the history of Spain since 1936, politics and culture of Latin America, and Spain and the European Union. A lot of different and interesting classes, and none of them are science! It's fantastic. And I don't have classes on Fridays (well, none of us do), which makes for a good travel schedule. I get to my school by bus because I live in a different part of the city.

One thing that I was really hoping to do was an internship at the International Paraplegic Hospital here. When I got to my interview, though, there wasn't any space left. They only had two spots for all of the people in the program, and since the interview order was alphabetical, I missed out. Then I wanted to volunteer in the hospital or the Red Cross, but the volunteer schedule doesn't work with my class schedule, so that didn't work either. Instead, I am going to volunteer to help teach an English class in the city, which should be an interesting experience.

The weekend of the 22nd, my school took a trip to Madrid. We left on Friday. We went on a tour of the Royal Palace; that was really beautiful. My favorite room was the Stradivarius room- they had five (!!) Stradivarius instruments (three violins and two cellos). Those were some of the most beautiful instruments I have ever seen in my life. I only wish I could have heard them played.

I spent the rest of the weekend in Madrid with two of my friends from school. After that, we went to Museo del Prado, which had a lot of fabulous paintings. We saw a lot from some of the painters that we are studying in class. I could have spent the whole day there. The first night we went to a discoteca (club) that was really huge! Seven floors and tons of people. It was a fun experience for sure.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was really pretty, but I'm sure it would be prettier in the spring when things are flowering. After that, we went to Museo Reína Sofía, which was also cool. The main attraction for that museum was Picasso's Guernica. That is utterly impressive in person. The museum overall had more modern art, which I don't like so much. (I don't believe that putting tape in squiggly lines on the wall should be considered a work of art.) It was still fun to see, though. That night we went out for tapas (essentially appetizers) and then went to a karaoke bar.

The next morning, we woke up and went to this really huge market that is in Madrid on Sundays. There were a lot of people and a lot of stuff for sale. Then we were walking around the city a lot. I got some really great pictures! Also, links to pictures will be up later. One of the three of us went back to Toledo, and I and one other girl stayed. We toured the cathedral that is right next to the royal palace. I always like going to cathedrals- they have absolutely beautiful artwork and architecture. Then we went to a Real Madrid soccer game! That was really fun. There were tons of people there, and it was definitely a lively environment. We stayed in the hostel that night and returned to Toledo the next morning (I don't have class until the afternoon).

Week two of classes was a lot more work. I had a lot of reading to do, which is hard in a different language. I'll get through it, though- it's called "study abroad" for a reason. Last weekend was pretty calm- I stayed in Toledo. I caught up on a lot of my homework, which was nice. My next door neighbor (Karen) and I have been spending a lot of time together. She's the one I went to Madrid with. We did a lot of planning for our weekend travel for the rest of the semester. There's not a whole lot that is concrete at this point, but I do know that I will be going to Bilbao (northern Spain) next weekend, Barcelona the weekend of February 26th, and Rome the weekend of March 5th (to celebrate my birthday!). On Saturday afternoon, we went to the church of Santo Tomé to see the masterpiece of El Greco, who is one of the painters we are studying in class. The painting is called El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz, which means The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. That is another very impressive painting. There are so many amazing details and so much beauty in that painting. I could have stood there and looked at it all day. We also walked around Toledo for a while. That night, we went to two different bars and ran into our econ professor both times! That was a little weird.

The food here is really different, but I'm enjoying it. My host mom likes to cook seafood a lot, which is definitely OK with me! I didn't really have trouble getting used to the different eating schedule (lunch at 2:30 and dinner at 9). We have had mussels a lot. In the past couple days, we have also had squid and octopus, which were both firsts for me. It took a little getting used to, but they're pretty good.

In my literature class, we're talking about legends of Toledo. My professor has been taking us to the locations mentioned in the legends, which is really cool. It definitely helps to make the legends more concrete. I'm also enjoying my other classes.

It's a little strange hearing only Spanish all the time and not English, but I'm getting used to it. I have been asked if I spoke English and if I was from Spain (on separate occasions), which made me feel good about my speaking abilities. It's definitely a different world here, but I am having a fabulous time!

Whew. Sorry for the novel of an entry, but I had a lot to say. More updates and pictures to come!