First Day of School!

As you may have inferred from the title, today marked our first day of classes at Carlos III. Woohoo! This past week we had orientation and registration for classes. Other than our required lengua and cultura classes, we got to choose 3 courses from the university. At least one of those 3 had to be a "grado" course, meaning a class we take with Spanish students. I signed up for art history (grado), teatro español, and historia de España. The latter two are taken with other American and international students, but still taught in Spanish.

Today, I had the lengua class and history of Spain. Lengua was sort of boring - filled out a worksheet and gave introductions. Felt a lot like middle school Spanish but hopefully that was just day one. After lunch and a couple hours of break, I came back for history of Spain. It sounds like it's gonna be a pretty straightforward and general history class, which might be boring but it's a subject I feel like I should be familiar with. Also, the professor seems great - friendly, engaging, and told us that he is open to suggestions about the course. My schedule every week is generally pretty good; even though I start at 9 am on Wednesdays and Thursdays, the other days I don't start before 12:30 pm and I don't have class on Fridays. Three day weekends wassup. The commute to Carlos III from my apartment takes about 45 mins. Since I didn't have to leave here until 11:30 this morning, I went for a nice run in Parque Retiro.

Speaking of school, I think this would be an appropriate moment in my blogging timeline to share some things I've learned/observed as I come up on my 3 week mark in Spain.

• Babies and young children here are cuter than in America. No explanation. 
• If you can say the word "vale," you can pretty much get through any conversation with a Spaniard (thanks for the heads up, Deb!)
• If you walk down a street without seeing at least one Museo del Jamón (basically Madrid's ham shrine), you are probably lost. 
• Spaniards dress for the season, not for the weather. Case in point: this past Saturday was perfect out - 60 and sunny all afternoon. However, all the señores y señoras were walking around in their fur coats and winter hats...??
• Bidets.
• When you buy a movie ticket, you get an assigned seat. Also, you can't go into the movie theater until 15 minutes before your movie actually starts. Huh?
• Milk doesn't always have to go in the refrigerator. I still don't get this one.
• Chocolate con churros (see photo below) is the best thing to eat at 5 am when you're still drunk and waiting for the metro to reopen at 6 taking an early morning stroll.

YUM

That's all I have for now...wish me luck on my second day!

A week in Granada

¡Hola! This week we traveled to the south of Spain to spend 10 days in Granada for program orientation and intensive Spanish language classes. Granada is a small and beautiful city with a lot of history and cultural importance, which made it the perfect place to start our Spanish culture class that will continue throughout the semester. Every day we had an excursion in the morning, lunch together at a restaurant in the central plaza, Spanish classes from 3-7 pm (oy), and free time at night. Our morning outings included La Alhambra, a visit to García Lorca's summer home, and olive oil tasting at a 15th century olive oil factory. Walking around La Alhambra was incredible, even though we were all running on 4 hours of sleep from staying out at a discoteca the night before! It's pretty mind-boggling to think about how the fountains, walled structures, and intricate design patterns have stayed strongly in place for so many centuries.

In front of a reflection pool at La Alhambra

How do we look?

In the afternoons, we sat through 4 sometimes painful hours of Spanish class. Even though it felt like a reaalllly long time to concentrate, learning colloquial Spanish has already been extremely helpful. The accent in Andalucía (the southern region of Spain) is distinct from the accent in Madrid. After class, the school we went to (Escuela Don Quixote) held optional classes on the very important topics of Spanish curse words and insults and salsa dancing. Then, most of our nights were free which left us to explore the countless tapas restaurants in Granada (birthplace of the tapa!) and go out together. In most of these places, each drink you order comes with a free plate of food. Love it. On one of my favorite nights in Granada, we went as a group to see a flamenco performance inside of a cave. It was a small and intimate setting, and the show was incredible. Three women danced on stage to the music of a live guitarist and singer. I was totally enraptured by the performance - the music, dancing, and unbelievable rhythmic syncopation held in unison by the five performers was unlike anything else I've ever seen.

La Alhambra lit up at night. The girls and Ramiro!

The stage is set for flamenco!

Another stand-out day was Saturday when we spent the morning touring a 15th century olive oil mill and the afternoon walking through los pueblos blancos. At the olive oil mill, our guide taught us all about the process of turning olives (aceitunas) into olive oil. At the end of the tour, we had a tasting! A word to the wise, extra virgin is the only way to go. Afterward we had lunch as a group and headed to the gorgeous Andalusian hillside towns, los pueblos blancos. Our guide, Juan, moved several years ago with his family from Madrid to one of these small and rustic pueblos. He cited the reason for this significant move as a desire to explore "el mito del sur" - the enchanting myth of the south. Walking through these whitewashed villages against a backdrop of lush hills and orange tree orchards, the allure of the pueblos was easy to understand. He told us about his family's life there and how they adjusted to a rural setting after living in Madrid for many years. To finish our tour, we walked up a steep cobblestoned hill to a breathtaking home overlooking the pueblo. An older couple lives here and rents out rooms to travelers as a sort of bed and breakfast. They welcomed us into their home and offered us tea and cakes, allowing us to walk around and take in the magnificent views. It was amazing!

Pretty rainbow over los pueblos blancos

A hilly walk led us to this beautiful view of La Alhambra and La Sierra Nevada

After a wonderful 10-day excursion to the south, I am ready and excited to be back in Madrid. This week, we start orientation at Universidad Carlos III, sign up for classes, and prepare for school to start next week. More to come soon!

My first days in Madrid

The past three days have been nothing short of a whirlwind, and I am loving every minute. Early Thursday morning, my flight touched down in a very foggy Madrid. After picking up our bags from baggage claim (everyone's arrived!), the four of us who flew in together from Chicago walked out and were greeted by our two program directors here, Ramiro and Belén. They then accompanied us in taxis, two by two, to our new homes. I knew I'd be living with a single woman named Ana and sharing a room with a girl on my program, but other than that I had no idea what to expect. I was the first to be dropped off and stood, bags in hand, anxiously awaiting in the street outside the big green door to Ana's apartment. She soon came down and greeted me so warmly, helping me with my bags and leading me up to her 4th floor apartment. As soon as we walked in, I decided that this is the cutest and most charming apartment of all time. There is a small kitchen, a shared open space of dining room and living area, and Ana's bedroom/office. Against a far wall, there is a narrow wooden staircase that leads up to...our room!! Even though I have to duck most of the time to avoid hitting my head on the super low ceilings, the room has more than enough space for the two of us and feels cozy.

Staircase up to our room

Our room (which Ana refers to as our own "república de independencia"); what you can't see are the two sets of dressers, central closet, and two desks she set up for us

My roommate, Jordana, arrived shortly after I did and we both unpacked excitedly in our new room. Ana then called us down and announced that the three of us were going for a walk. We live in an incredible central location of Madrid - a 5 minute walk from the Antón Martín and Atocha metro stations, and in 10 minutes we can walk to the Spanish botanic gardens, El Parque del Retiro (a huuge and gorgeous park), and 3 of Madrid's most important art museums: the Prado, the Reina Sofía, and the Thyssen. Being able to walk to these iconic sites from home is pretty incredible. When we came home from our walk, Ana prepared our first homemade Spanish lunch: tortilla española! This traditional dish is similar to a potato quiche and is also delicious. After lunch I took my first official siesta. I could get used to this schedule! Later (and I really mean later - Spaniards eat dinner at 10 pm or later), Ana called us down for our first dinner together as a new Spanish familia. We sat around the table, eating and chatting away (all en español) about everything from the best travel sites in Europe to cultural differences between Spain and the US to our families. By the time we got up to clear our plates, Jordana and I were barely still functional from our long days of travel and went right to bed.

The next morning, our only instructions from Ramiro were to meet at la Universidad Complutense, one of Spain's oldest public universities, at 9:30 am for our first orientation as a group. Complutense is about 30 minutes away from Ana's, which means that Jordana and I had to attempt to navigate the metro system. We were a little late and went the wrong direction on one of the metro lines but...we made it! Turns out the metro here is very easy to figure out once you've used it a few times. Once at Complutense, we had a mini-orientation followed by a quick tour of the campus led by Ramiro. Afterward, everyone returned to their homestays for lunch and siesta. In the late afternoon, we met up again as a group at the Plaza de España to walk around the historic area. The streets were crowded and a bit touristy but no less beautiful and interesting to explore. One of my favorite parts of being here so far has been discovering new areas of the city. As much as I roll my eyes when my parents talk about the glory days before technology, I must admit that there is something truly enchanting about walking the streets of a foreign place with nothing in hand but a map (the real paper kind, not the iPhone app). Plus, it makes me feel extra proud of myself when I actually get somewhere on purpose!

Today, we walked around Madrid's central district, very close to where I live. We walked by the 3 museums I mentioned earlier, which I cannot wait to explore more on my own. We also took a long walk (a "paseo") through El Retiro. On this beautiful sunny day, the park was particularly stunning. Soon I hope to come back to El Retiro for a picnic or paddleboating in the river! By the end of our paseo in the park, our legs were tired and our group separated to return home for lunch. Ana cooked us an incredible dish of tuna, cauliflower and broccoli with salad and toasted bread. Yum. After a small rest, I ventured to the metro by myself and took it to a northern area where two of my friends, Adi and Gillian, are living. Their area is far more quiet and residential than our bustling central one, so it was fun to walk around a different type of neighborhood. We took the bus (also a very easy and useful system to navigate) into a nearby district with lots of shops and cafés. Although I'm still getting used to the late dinners, I love having such a long afternoon (between lunch at 2 and coming home to get ready for dinner at 9) to stay out exploring.

Parque del Retiro with Haesun, Adi, and Gillian

Now I am getting ready for bed because early tomorrow morning we leave for a ten-day trip to Granada! While we are there we will begin our clase de cultura, which all 15 of us on my program take together at the university and which Ramiro teaches, and we will also be having intensive Spanish language classes. I'm a little sad to already have to say hasta luego to Madrid, but I can't wait to see Granada and take our first trip together as a group. Sorry for the lengthy post, but these first few days have been so exciting that I want to share everything! I will do my best to keep the updates coming. ¡A Granada!

Leora

Away We Go...

Well, this is it! As I sit in my room trying to soak in my last night in America until June, it is difficult to find the appropriate words to capture how I'm feeling. Glancing over at my barely-zipped duffel (please be under 50 pounds), it is hard to believe that this long-anticipated day is finally here. Tomorrow, I embark on what promises to be the biggest and most independent adventure of my life thus far.  Six whole months in Madrid! How can I possibly begin to anticipate what awaits me there? In 36 short (but actually probably really long - sleeping on planes isn't my thing) hours, I will be arriving in Spain with the other kids on my program, meeting my host mom, and settling into a new home. While this type of change is no doubt inducing anxiety and nerves, the prospect of a fresh start in a foreign place is, I admit, rather thrilling. With the new year comes new challenges, new experiences, and new opportunities for growth; I think that all of these encapsulate what I will find in the coming semester.

To those of you reading this blog, hi! I will do my best to post often and keep you updated. Hopefully I will have many aventuras to share with you during the next six months. Until then, wish me and my checked bags luck...entonces, hasta luego America - ¡hola Madrid!

Leora