Charmartin

Most recent strange encounter: Spanish kids love to mix red wine with coca-cola. Whaaaaat? We had a party to meet our Spanish pen-pals from the university yesterday night and it was a little nervewracking to meet so many people all at once. I met my penpal that wrote back to me, and she was super nice. She studies English literature too! Although she is in her first year, so I said maybe I could help her, being that, you know, English is my first language. They all said our Spanish was much better than their English, although, they could be liars. Mentirosos. We went out last night for our first Madrid friday. It was pretty fun, but we're still figuring out the good places to go and also it was a little scary not knowing how we would get home because the metros close at 1:30. So a bunch of us actually left before the metro closed. The nice thing about London was that we all lived in one place. In Madrid we are scattered all over the city. This means, we cannot get ready to go out together and no one can help me pick out my clothes. Also, it means we kind of have to have a spot in mind to go so everyone can meet up. Also, we have to go home alone. I took the metro with my friend because we overlap for most of the way. Then when i stood up after she left, these boys starting talking to me in english. I was like "Jesus, is it that obvious that I'm an American?" and they said "Sí." Sigh.. These nice older Spanish helped point me in the right direction of my street and I got home fine. Actually, my host parents were just going to sleep at 2 a.m. So, the cool Spanish kids probably stay out much much later haha.
Oh oh also, the Prado was awesome.
Another strange encounter: we went out as a large group last night, and split up into two groups for people who wanted to eat a dinner and those that had already eaten and just wanted small tapas. Embarassingly enough we ended up at a place that served hamburgers, which the waiter thought was pretty funny. Americans eating cheeseburgers in Madrid. However- the hamburgesas were actually ham. It was the strangest thing.
Anyway, I think I'm going to explore the area where I live. Or keep chilling in my pajamas in the house. Either one.

Sellos

My host family thinks I hate all of their food because I eat so slowly, I have to convince them that I do it all the time. I don't think they believe me.
Also, their bananas are turning brown and they mentioned that, so I tried to explain banana bread to them and between my Spanish and their culture I don't think they understood at all. However, they do enjoy Petit Ecolier cookies and plan to buy them next week, which is good with me.
Today on my way home from school I didn't use a map once! And I had intense problems with unlocking the apartment door the first day and the second day, so yesterday they made me practice opening their door like ten times. So, today, no problems! I feel a little more confident speaking, although when the bus driver today tried to explain something to me when my ticket wouldn't work (because it was a little ripped, and it just needs to be punched instead) he told me "tu no me entiendes" with a little too much annoyance for my liking. I was like, so true buddy, so true.. Also whenever I talk at dinner, Antonio has to ask Luisa what I said. That doesn't make me feel so confident haha.
We went on a tour of the Autonoma university today, and i got put in the art history group even though I don't think i'm going to actually take any, anymore. I'm taking Health and Disease, and some English class. Ayy I didn't want to take English while I was in Spain, but it looks like it will be the difference between writing a thesis and taking two lit classes at the same time, or just one lit class per semester. With a thesis of 40-80 pages I tihnk i will need all the free time I can get.
Tomorrow- El Prado! I'm so so excited.


I figured out how to do pictures, albeit it takes forever. So, a few:

This is an orange tree in the middle of a cloister in the big cathedral, raining slightly, looks very pretty.


And swords?


This is an orange tree in the middle of a cloister in the big cathedral, raining slightly, looks very pretty.
Toledo is medieval, so I guess that means they need to have knight armor everywhere?



And to represent the home front, Harley.

I am finally in Madrid! This is my second day here, first full day. It feels so nice to be settled in with my family. All I want now is for classes to start and life to get as normal as it can be. My host family, Luisa and Antonio, are really friendly and nice. They're in their fifties I think. I'm trying to speak as much as I can at the moment, so far I've only gotten a few "no entiendo"s from them. I have my own room and bathroom which is really nice, as well as wireless, or as they call it wi-fi (pronounced wee-fee haha).
This is kind of my first time to relax since I've left America. The program has us as busy as possible, or perhaps more than possible in my opinion. We got to Madrid around 10, took a bus to the Skidmore center and then had fifteen minutes to pack a bag to go to Toledo. Once we got to Toledo we basically immediently started orientation. It is really really difficult to pay attention to someone when they are speaking Spanish for two hours straight. If you zone out for even a second it's hard to pick the topic up again. Like, if they say a word I don't know then I wonder what it means and by that time I've already missed something. It was a little scary to have all of our crucial information given to us in Spanish, because I think I only understood half of what was said. Toledo was really beautiful though. It is this medieval city with tiny narrow streets that cars nonetheless drive fast on. I was worried my feet would get run over a few times. We went to a bunch of touristy places, cathedral and a museum with lots of El Greco (but not View from Toledo, alas). There was a random Bosch painting in my hotel room. Zelie and I got put together in the hotel which was nice. The program got a bunch of profesores from the University to come and give us a preview of their classes, which is I guess kind of good, although it sucks because some of them are really boring but they are all an hour long. The geography one we had today was the worst one.
Madrid gives me a strange feeling. I feel like the city is really easy to navigate; I walked home from the Center today. At the same time, the language thing makes it really really foreign. It is really tiring to always have my brain on for the Spanish. It's really frustating to have to think about how to say something every time I want to speak, but hopefully that will go away with time. My host mother already said my Spanish was better than yesterday, although I find that hard to believe.
Anyway, I can't figure out pictures yet, but the one on the top is from Toledo. Hay más on Facebook (sorry Mom). I'll figure it out later.

Frigorífico!

I have a little under two weeks left before I leave- yikes! I've been using Rosetta Stone to practice and it's been helping a lot, even just with making me feel comfortable with my language abilities. Also, the vocab is really useful. I have been learning a lot of good words like kitchen appliances, cutlery, every-day verbs, and the like. There was a whole lesson just to teach me the word for bandage (tirita) which I thought was kind of funny. And my new favorite word- frigorífico. It sounds like an adjective like "magnifico" or something but it just means refrigerator. It makes keeping perishables from going bad much more exiting. I'll put that left-over chorizo in the frigorífico! ¡Excelente! Lavavajiillas is another fun one.
I got a guidebook for the whole country of Spain for Christmas from my aunt and uncle- I'm going to go through that later. In addition to the trips we are taking with Skidmore around Spain I am really hoping to explore the country more. When I was in London I only went to Barcelona and Scotland, and stayed the rest of the time in the city. Hopefully I'll get to do more travelling this time around! For our break (Holy Week) we have ten days off to go exploring- a really good opportunity to go somewhere a bit farther perhaps.
In other news, I got my mom a Spanish cookbook for Christmas, and I have read it through. I am really excited to eat. A lot. This blog may quickly become a food blog once I get there.