Hola de mi nueva ciudad

So I will probably make my titles in spanish, but I promise to try my hardest not to write in Spanish and will make sure I only ramble on in English. Yes, your welcome. My flight was Saturday (arriving Sunday). I was hoping I would sleep more on the plane, but I really only slept two and a half hours or so. Eric and I were picked up together and taken to our houses, where we ate and then left again to meet the rest of the group. It turns our there are four of us living in two different buildings that are right next to each other (Eric, Anna, Samantha and I). All of our senoras know each other and they took us to the meeting place. From the meeting place Isabel (our resident director) and the rest of our group took the metro to Sol (downtown Madrid). From there we walked around for five long hours (on two hours of sleep). I’m glad we did something to keep me awake, but I was way too tired to walk around for that long.

I couldn’t really tell you where how we got anywhere. From Sol we went to La Plaza Mayor and saw some things in that area. We were going to get churros con chocolate but it was hot and sunny outside so we got ice cream instead. We also went to an Egyptian temple that was donated to Spain; I want to go back there to see the sunset some day. I think we did some other things but I can’t remember, I was so out of it at the time.

I didn’t get back to my house until almost 10:00. For dinner she asked if I like “tortialla con champiñónes,” and I understood “tortialla” (like an american omelet but without the cheese), but I didn’t catch the “champiñónes” part. So, I got an omelet stuffed with mushrooms. I can’t stand mushrooms. I tried to eat it but I just couldn’t handle it. I told her and all was fine, but I felt bad for not eating what she had cooked for me.

Before going to bed I found an unsecured wireless network that so far is working very well :). I was so exhausted I thought I would have no trouble sleeping, but after two hours I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep for 3 hours. I heard this morning that a lot of people had the same problem, our inner clocks still have to adjust.

Today we went to the campus of Carlos III and walked around a bit. We also had the oral part of our placement exam and had the opportunity to get a cell phone (which I did). After lunch (which spaniards eat around 2:00), I went to the store and have been relaxing. I was going to unpack, but somehow I still haven’t gotten around to it… and now it’s almost dinner time (9:00).

I feel a lot more comfortable with my Spanish than I expected. I’m missing a lot of vocabulary, but I feel like I’m able to communicate most of what I want to. And there’s much more to be learned!