Madrileños is the term used to refer to a person from Madrid. In today's post, I am going to talk about los Madrileños/Spaniards. So to start off, I have to say that I am obsessed with how cute Spanish children are! I swear, they are sooo much cuter than American kids. They even dress well, too! Most of the little tykes I've seen here in Madrid have the cutest little dresses for the girls and the boys wear cute little preppy outfits. It's ADORABLE! On my way to class this morning, for instance, I saw a little boy and girl, probably both around 5-6 yrs. old, running with their mom to the bus stop for school. The little boy had a side satchel and everything. It was presh! BUT, everyone tells me that most all Spanish kids are brats. :( (From what I understand, the reasoning behind this is because during the time of Franco, everyone was so scared to do anything wrong or behave badly and no one was spoiled [?] and once Franco's era ended and a new generation emerged, they felt entitled to everything. It's just a different culture now...something along those lines).
Fashion in Madrid: Madrid is SUPER (said with a Spanish accent, ha) fashionable! Everyone here--people of all ages--dresses well. You always see men walking to and from work in their suits, and women either running around in their high heels or their trendy sandals that always seem to match their outfit perfectly. AND, everyone here is SO skinny! Even men. The thing about Spain (and Europe in general), is that everything is smaller: the people, the portions, the elevators, the clothes/shoe sizes, the beds, the showers, etc. You name it, it's small. Exactly the opposite of America, and Texas in particular, where we have the mindset that "bigger is better." I love that Madrid is so fashionable because it is so different from when I was in Mexico last summer where the fashion was...non-existent, to say the least. Madrileños also smell very good, which sounds weird, but, for the most part, men and women wear perfume and cologne, so it's a pretty good-smelling city!
Dogs: a surprising number of Madrileños have dogs! Most are small dogs, but it's kind of funny to me because everyone lives in apartments, for the most part, and Madrid is such an urban city that there isn't a lot of grassy areas for doggies to run and play. The exception, of course, is Retiro Park and a few dog parks, but other than that, not much. I love that there are so many dogs here, since I'm a dog lover, but there is kind of a lot of doggy poo on the sidewalks. Ew. Oh well. I just walk around it!
Other facts/info: Spaniards smoke A LOT. It's awful, but luckily Spain passed a law this past January that banned smoking indoors! My marketing teacher, who's from Mexico City and is a non-smoker, told us that smoking is so prevalent here in Spain that before this law was passed, students and teachers would smoke DURING class and that even news anchors would smoke while delivering the news! WHAT?!?! Can you imagine trying to take notes while smoking?? Or having the weather man pause for a second to take a puff of his cigarette while telling you about how tomorrow it's going to be partly cloudy with a chance of rain? Crazy! Anyways, that's all changed now, but I always see moms and dads smoking around their babies or small children and it just kills me! Yuck.
Another interesting fact I learned from my marketing teacher is that it is rare to see people eating in the street, i.e. drinking a Starbucks on the go or snacking on a cereal bar on your way to school, work, wherever. Eating/mealtime in Spain is not meant to be fast-paced or done alone. Meals are like mini social events. It's a time to relax, eat, and spend time chatting with friends or family. You NEVER eat or drink alone here. It's simply not done. I find this so interesting because it is so different from America. We are always running around, getting take-out or fast food, grabbing a quick bite to eat in our 30 minute lunch breaks, etc. There is no such thing as a business lunch in Spain, for example, because you just can't have lunch and do work at the same time.
Well that's all for now. I'll blog again after my trip to Barcelona this weekend!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
This weekend/Monday
On Saturday Ashley, Fati, and I slept in late and then decided to go to the Starbucks near our house and do homework. Ashley left a little early, but Fati and I were there for about 5 hours! It was so fun doing homework there. We finally left right before dinner, and by that time we were starving. After dinner Ashley and I met up with Lorena and some of her girlfriends. We got to meet Lorena's new roomie who is from Milan, Italy! She is really sweet and speaks English and came here to improver her Spanish. It was a pretty low-key night.
Sunday I woke up around 11 because Fati and I had planned to get up and go running in Parque Retiro by 12. This did not happen...Fati slept until almost 1pm haha. But that's okay because we still made it to Retiro and ran for the first time in Spain! It was kind of rough, haha. But we got to see other pretty parts of the park and I found where the tennis courts are! (except who knows if I can find them again...). Then Fati and I came home and worked on homework. Sunday was also Brent's 21st birthday (a kid in our group), so we went out to celebrate at this seafood restaurant near our house. Everyone was super late, including the guest of honor! ha. Ashley, Fati, and I got lost because there wasn't a street sign (due to construction), so we accidentally passed the street and were 30 mins. late.
Today I had one class and then walked home and went straight to teach another English class. I didn't get lost this time! I still had to ask a few people for directions, just to confirm that I was going the right way, but all was well! A really nice lady helped point me in the right direction!
The little girl I tutored is 9 and we went over a lot of vocabulary! She was fun and silly but a little shy at the same time. Overall, it was a good day. Anyways, that's all for now! Gotta go do homework!
Sunday I woke up around 11 because Fati and I had planned to get up and go running in Parque Retiro by 12. This did not happen...Fati slept until almost 1pm haha. But that's okay because we still made it to Retiro and ran for the first time in Spain! It was kind of rough, haha. But we got to see other pretty parts of the park and I found where the tennis courts are! (except who knows if I can find them again...). Then Fati and I came home and worked on homework. Sunday was also Brent's 21st birthday (a kid in our group), so we went out to celebrate at this seafood restaurant near our house. Everyone was super late, including the guest of honor! ha. Ashley, Fati, and I got lost because there wasn't a street sign (due to construction), so we accidentally passed the street and were 30 mins. late.
Today I had one class and then walked home and went straight to teach another English class. I didn't get lost this time! I still had to ask a few people for directions, just to confirm that I was going the right way, but all was well! A really nice lady helped point me in the right direction!
The little girl I tutored is 9 and we went over a lot of vocabulary! She was fun and silly but a little shy at the same time. Overall, it was a good day. Anyways, that's all for now! Gotta go do homework!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Field Trip to Segovia
Today we went on our group field trip to the beautiful city of Segovia! The first thing we did was visit the Palacio Real de la Granja (royal palace where the actual Spanish royal family stays sometimes!). It was very pretty inside and the gardens were beautiful! It also had a forest, but we didn't take a tour through that, haha.
Once we finished our tour of the palace, we hopped back on our bus and drove into Segovia (only a few mins. away) and saw the famous Roman aqueduct that has been in existence for approximately 2000 years and in use until 1970! The most unique thing about this aqueduct is that it the stones are not held together by any kind of cement or mud, etc. The stones are held together by the pressure they place on each other as well as these little metal things (it's hard to explain because our guide told us in Spanish). Anyways, it's really cool!
Next we walked throughout Segovia and saw several cathedrals and walked through a street that was once a Jewish barrio (neighborhood). We made our way to Segovia's plaza mayor and then had 2 hours of free time to eat lunch and explore. In Segovia's plaza mayor, there is a cute little rotunda where several of us girls sat and ate our lunches and then went shopping, of course!! We were told to try two types of desserts special to Segovia: ponche segoviano and leche frita (fried milk). Ponche segoviano is delicious! Tan riquisimo!! It's very sugary and has cinnamon in it. Unfortunately, the leche frita we tried wasn't Segovia's best. It tasted like freezer-burnt ice cream or something to that effect--not so good.
After our free time was up, we met in the Plaza Mayor and were off to visit the castle called Alcazar de Segovia. WOW! It was so magnificent! And the landscape/scenery in Segovia is so beautiful it almost seems unreal! After the tour of the castle, we climbed up a very tall tower and got an even better "view from the top," if you will. So amazing! I love Segovia! It was such a great day. Well, here are some pictyasss:
Once we finished our tour of the palace, we hopped back on our bus and drove into Segovia (only a few mins. away) and saw the famous Roman aqueduct that has been in existence for approximately 2000 years and in use until 1970! The most unique thing about this aqueduct is that it the stones are not held together by any kind of cement or mud, etc. The stones are held together by the pressure they place on each other as well as these little metal things (it's hard to explain because our guide told us in Spanish). Anyways, it's really cool!
Next we walked throughout Segovia and saw several cathedrals and walked through a street that was once a Jewish barrio (neighborhood). We made our way to Segovia's plaza mayor and then had 2 hours of free time to eat lunch and explore. In Segovia's plaza mayor, there is a cute little rotunda where several of us girls sat and ate our lunches and then went shopping, of course!! We were told to try two types of desserts special to Segovia: ponche segoviano and leche frita (fried milk). Ponche segoviano is delicious! Tan riquisimo!! It's very sugary and has cinnamon in it. Unfortunately, the leche frita we tried wasn't Segovia's best. It tasted like freezer-burnt ice cream or something to that effect--not so good.
After our free time was up, we met in the Plaza Mayor and were off to visit the castle called Alcazar de Segovia. WOW! It was so magnificent! And the landscape/scenery in Segovia is so beautiful it almost seems unreal! After the tour of the castle, we climbed up a very tall tower and got an even better "view from the top," if you will. So amazing! I love Segovia! It was such a great day. Well, here are some pictyasss:
Thursday, September 15, 2011
¿Cabe o no cabe?
On Monday night, Carmen took Ashley and I to Carrefour, a small grocery store nearby our house. It was quite an experience. I love going to foreign grocery stores! Then on Tuesday was the first day we went to Fuen Carral!!! Oh man, Fati and I are in love with Fuen Carral! It's a whole street full of stores, and I LOVE to shop!! We didn't have a lot of time, so the three of us just explored a bit. So of course we HAD to go back on Wednesday! I got these super cute trendy Euro sandals for only 5 euros! Fati has been on a mission to find a new purse ever since we got here, but sadly, she didn't find one she liked, so we went to Fuen Carral again today! We finally made it to the end of the street of the shops of FC and realized we were at Sol! Which is another major shopping area! hahahahaha. So we journeyed on! Side note: there are also a plethora of hookers in this area, Gran Via. It's hilarious. I don't think I've ever actually seen real live hookers working the streets during the daytime. This was for real. Anyways, we shopped for about 4 hours!
Yesterday, Wednesday, was my first day to teach English class to an 8 y/o for an hour. We get paid for this tutoring and we (all of us students) go to the family's home. So, in order to get there, we take the metro. I thought I had my route all figured out and I had both my metro map and my map of Madrid, and had given myself about 45 mins. to get there. Well let's just say when I had to change from line 5 to line 6 Circular, I went the complete WRONG direction around the circle. GAHHHH!! So I literally went through probably 20-25 stops. I wanted to die. And there was no other line that I could have switched to that would expedite my travel. So once I finally got off at my stop, I raced out of the metro and attempted to figure out where the street was that the family lives on. I was going in the right direction, but the street signs are not like ours in America; they're on the sides of buildings and are very hard to read. I asked a waiter in a cafe that I walked past and he said he'd never heard of the street, so I simply thanked him and moved on. Turns out the street I was looking for was at the corner in the same block. Ay ay ay. Long story short, I called the mom and got directions from her and made it there...30 minutes late. Ha. Well I know how to get there for next time!
This week was my first week of my marketing class and so far I love it! My prof is from DF (Mexico City) and he is so cool! He speaks English but with a super thick accent, so you really have to listen to understand him. He is really really well educated and went to the London School of Economics and tons of other places for a BA, MBA, and PhD. He makes our class so fun! We always end up talking about food (marketing food, etc) and it's really fun because he tells us he's going to take us to a real Mexican Restaurant here in Madrid.
On Wednesday morning, we took a class field trip to the Prado Museum here in Madrid! It is a world-famous art museum and houses the famous painting "las meninas" by Diego Velazquez. I've been to the museum before, but it is still muy interesante! We saw paintings by Goya, El Bosco, Greco, and one more.
Tomorrow we are going on a class field trip to Segovia! I am really excited because it is a lovely city! Carms made us all awesome sack lunches for the trip and after dinner she showed us each of our lunches that are labeled: "Fati" for Fatema, "A" for Ashley, and "J" for Hayley, of course. Haha, no one understands my name in Spanish, but I'm used to it. Whenever I say my name, I always have to say "Hayley, con ah-che" (how you pronounce the letter 'h' in Spanish). Anyways, Carms tried to put our huge lunches in a small brown sack and made Ashley try to squish it in. She kept saying, "cabe?? no cabe?? cabe?? no cabe??" The three of us couldn't stop laughing and we tried really hard to hide it. We couldn't help ourselves, she is just so cute and kept trying to fit our huge lunch in this small brown bag and it just wasn't working. (Caber="to fit"). Oh brother. I love Carms!
Anyways, that's all for now. Here are some pictures of the Prado and of my beautiful school here in Madrid!
Yesterday, Wednesday, was my first day to teach English class to an 8 y/o for an hour. We get paid for this tutoring and we (all of us students) go to the family's home. So, in order to get there, we take the metro. I thought I had my route all figured out and I had both my metro map and my map of Madrid, and had given myself about 45 mins. to get there. Well let's just say when I had to change from line 5 to line 6 Circular, I went the complete WRONG direction around the circle. GAHHHH!! So I literally went through probably 20-25 stops. I wanted to die. And there was no other line that I could have switched to that would expedite my travel. So once I finally got off at my stop, I raced out of the metro and attempted to figure out where the street was that the family lives on. I was going in the right direction, but the street signs are not like ours in America; they're on the sides of buildings and are very hard to read. I asked a waiter in a cafe that I walked past and he said he'd never heard of the street, so I simply thanked him and moved on. Turns out the street I was looking for was at the corner in the same block. Ay ay ay. Long story short, I called the mom and got directions from her and made it there...30 minutes late. Ha. Well I know how to get there for next time!
This week was my first week of my marketing class and so far I love it! My prof is from DF (Mexico City) and he is so cool! He speaks English but with a super thick accent, so you really have to listen to understand him. He is really really well educated and went to the London School of Economics and tons of other places for a BA, MBA, and PhD. He makes our class so fun! We always end up talking about food (marketing food, etc) and it's really fun because he tells us he's going to take us to a real Mexican Restaurant here in Madrid.
On Wednesday morning, we took a class field trip to the Prado Museum here in Madrid! It is a world-famous art museum and houses the famous painting "las meninas" by Diego Velazquez. I've been to the museum before, but it is still muy interesante! We saw paintings by Goya, El Bosco, Greco, and one more.
Tomorrow we are going on a class field trip to Segovia! I am really excited because it is a lovely city! Carms made us all awesome sack lunches for the trip and after dinner she showed us each of our lunches that are labeled: "Fati" for Fatema, "A" for Ashley, and "J" for Hayley, of course. Haha, no one understands my name in Spanish, but I'm used to it. Whenever I say my name, I always have to say "Hayley, con ah-che" (how you pronounce the letter 'h' in Spanish). Anyways, Carms tried to put our huge lunches in a small brown sack and made Ashley try to squish it in. She kept saying, "cabe?? no cabe?? cabe?? no cabe??" The three of us couldn't stop laughing and we tried really hard to hide it. We couldn't help ourselves, she is just so cute and kept trying to fit our huge lunch in this small brown bag and it just wasn't working. (Caber="to fit"). Oh brother. I love Carms!
Anyways, that's all for now. Here are some pictures of the Prado and of my beautiful school here in Madrid!
Monday, September 12, 2011
First week of classes
So last week was the first week of classes and it went really well! I am taking 4 classes: Spanish culture and civilization, Spanish Post Civil War novela, Corporate Responsibility and Ethical Leadership (or something along those lines), and this week I am starting a Fundamentals of Marketing course. All of my courses have been very interesting so far and I like all of my professors. I just completed my first novel for the novela class. It was fairly short, but I'm not sure I completely understand what was going on in the book.
Last week, Fati, Ashley, and I also met up with Lorena and a bunch of her friends for dinner/drinks at this chain restaurant called Lateral. Lorena says that it's really good for a chain restaurant. We had so much fun meeting all of her friends! On Wednesday night, we went out to a club called Zombie with one of Regi's friends from Spain.
Thursday night we went out to a club called Kapital, which has 7 stories! Each floor has a different thing going on. It was a lot of fun! We slept in late on Friday (since we don't have school on Fridays!!) and Ashley and I decided we wanted to get out of the house and go to homework. So we ventured to this little park-like area near our house and sat on a bench to read. We didn't stay too long, though, because it was getting pretty hot. So we decided to go exploring around our neighborhood. We found a good bank for me to go to, some cool restaurants we want to try, a little park called Villa de Paris that has a dog area in it, and a Marc by Marc Jacobs store! Friday night, we decided to stay in since we were so tired from the past two nights. We felt so lame, though! Instead of going out on our first Friday night in Madrid, we did homework! Haha.
Then Saturday we woke up late and Brittani, Fati, Ashley, and I went to Retiro Park to do homework. It was our first time to go!! Retiro Park is basically like the Central Park of Madrid. We found a nice place to sit and read, and once we were done with our homework, we explored the park a little bit. There is a small "lake" where you can rent a rowboat! Once it cools down a little more, we are definitely renting one! Then we wandered some more and came across the Museo de Cristales (I think that's what it's called). It's this empty building that's all glass, in the middle of the park! It was really cool, but I'm not exactly sure what its purpose is...
Finally, we decided it was too hot and so we walked back home and stopped by the Marc Jacobs store just to check it out. Nothing good, so we left and went to get a refreshing smoothie/froyo at our fav place by our house: Juicy Avenue! Yum!
Saturday night, we booked a flight to Portugal for the end of September! Sooo exciting!! Then we went out to dinner with Carmen to Pizza Jardin (pizza garden)--one of Carmen's favorite restaurants. She knows everyone there! We ate dinner from 10pm-12:15am. Whoa. I don't eat that late. But it was fun and the food was good!
Sunday morning we woke up early to go to El Rastro--Fati, Ashley, Brittani, and I. El Rastro is Europe's biggest open-air market! It was kind of interesting but about 98% of the stuff there was junk. I did get some really cute sandals for 3 euros though! Once we were done at El Rastro, we went to shop at this other place called Opera and I got a cute top on sale for 10 euros! By the time we finished shopping and got home, it was about 3pm! Good thing we started early!
Once we got home, I decided to work on some homework for my novela class. Then Lorena asked if we wanted to go get tapas with her and her friend Claire. Fati was asleep and we didn't want to wake her, so Ashley and I met up with them at La Latina and had a blast! They are so much fun!
Anyways, that's about all for now.
Pics of Retiro Park:
Last week, Fati, Ashley, and I also met up with Lorena and a bunch of her friends for dinner/drinks at this chain restaurant called Lateral. Lorena says that it's really good for a chain restaurant. We had so much fun meeting all of her friends! On Wednesday night, we went out to a club called Zombie with one of Regi's friends from Spain.
Thursday night we went out to a club called Kapital, which has 7 stories! Each floor has a different thing going on. It was a lot of fun! We slept in late on Friday (since we don't have school on Fridays!!) and Ashley and I decided we wanted to get out of the house and go to homework. So we ventured to this little park-like area near our house and sat on a bench to read. We didn't stay too long, though, because it was getting pretty hot. So we decided to go exploring around our neighborhood. We found a good bank for me to go to, some cool restaurants we want to try, a little park called Villa de Paris that has a dog area in it, and a Marc by Marc Jacobs store! Friday night, we decided to stay in since we were so tired from the past two nights. We felt so lame, though! Instead of going out on our first Friday night in Madrid, we did homework! Haha.
Then Saturday we woke up late and Brittani, Fati, Ashley, and I went to Retiro Park to do homework. It was our first time to go!! Retiro Park is basically like the Central Park of Madrid. We found a nice place to sit and read, and once we were done with our homework, we explored the park a little bit. There is a small "lake" where you can rent a rowboat! Once it cools down a little more, we are definitely renting one! Then we wandered some more and came across the Museo de Cristales (I think that's what it's called). It's this empty building that's all glass, in the middle of the park! It was really cool, but I'm not exactly sure what its purpose is...
Finally, we decided it was too hot and so we walked back home and stopped by the Marc Jacobs store just to check it out. Nothing good, so we left and went to get a refreshing smoothie/froyo at our fav place by our house: Juicy Avenue! Yum!
Saturday night, we booked a flight to Portugal for the end of September! Sooo exciting!! Then we went out to dinner with Carmen to Pizza Jardin (pizza garden)--one of Carmen's favorite restaurants. She knows everyone there! We ate dinner from 10pm-12:15am. Whoa. I don't eat that late. But it was fun and the food was good!
Sunday morning we woke up early to go to El Rastro--Fati, Ashley, Brittani, and I. El Rastro is Europe's biggest open-air market! It was kind of interesting but about 98% of the stuff there was junk. I did get some really cute sandals for 3 euros though! Once we were done at El Rastro, we went to shop at this other place called Opera and I got a cute top on sale for 10 euros! By the time we finished shopping and got home, it was about 3pm! Good thing we started early!
Once we got home, I decided to work on some homework for my novela class. Then Lorena asked if we wanted to go get tapas with her and her friend Claire. Fati was asleep and we didn't want to wake her, so Ashley and I met up with them at La Latina and had a blast! They are so much fun!
Anyways, that's about all for now.
Pics of Retiro Park:
Friday, September 9, 2011
Orientation in Toledo
On Friday, we took a bus to Toledo. I have been to Toledo--when I studied in Spain in high school for 3 weeks--and was excited to visit the city again. It is absolutely beautiful! The city of Toledo is unlike any other that I have ever seen, granted I haven't yet traveled throughout Europe... It is like a whole different world; you feel as if you've stepped inside midieval Eurpoe. A big river (almost looks like a moat surrounding the city) runs through Toledo. The streets are very narrow and you're constantly walking up steep inclines or down steep slopes. It was quite the workout, and my legs were sore after the first day. :/
Each day we had a mini class about Toledo and Spain in general and then either went on a tour of the various cathedrals, a synagogue, etc. and then had free time to explore the city. It is very easy to get lost in Toledo because everything looks the same--it feels like a giant maze. But we eventually found some stores to shop in and I bought a postcard! On the last day, we had a class about Spain and then we took a bus tour to get a panoramic view of the city. Sooooo beautiful! Here are some pictures:
Each day we had a mini class about Toledo and Spain in general and then either went on a tour of the various cathedrals, a synagogue, etc. and then had free time to explore the city. It is very easy to get lost in Toledo because everything looks the same--it feels like a giant maze. But we eventually found some stores to shop in and I bought a postcard! On the last day, we had a class about Spain and then we took a bus tour to get a panoramic view of the city. Sooooo beautiful! Here are some pictures:
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Getting to Madrid
Hi everybody! So I am finally getting around to writing my blog about Spain! I'll just dive right in...
So I get through security at DFW and go to 2 places to exchange currency before finding my gate and then deciding I have to go to the bathroom before I board the plane. When I got back from the bathroom, I looked around at the people sitting at gate D26 and make eye contact with Alexandra from high school, who I'd just run into at her place of work a few days before. So funny that we were on the same flight!! So I went over and sat next to her and we chatted about Spain. Then this random girl who looked about our age came over and sat next to me and asked Alexandra and I if we knew if the WiFi worked (which we didn't). We started chatting away about how we were going to Spain. She told us that she's basically from there and that she went to college there and now is going back to work.
Her name is Lorena and the 3 of us became fast friends. She is super nice and helped guide me through the Madrid airport once we arrived b/c I was a little lost...We exchanged emails since we would both be in Madrid, and planned to hang out.
Taking a taxi: OK, if y'all know me, you know that I don't like taking taxes in America. It's hard enough trying to speak English to those guys and figuring out tip and whatnot. Now imagine a foreign country that you've just been thrown into and you have to take a taxi from the airport all by yourself to a house you've never been to and you kind of know the language, but since you're semi-stressed out, your knowledge goes out the window. Yep, that was me. The taxis in Spain are actually very nice and clean and my taxista (as we called them in Mexico at least) was actually kind of good looking. Ha! I mean, he looked presentable and all. Anyhoo, I showed him my home address and he plugged it into his GPS. Lorena told me that the cab ride shouldn't be longer than 20-25 mins. so if it was, then I should say something. Luckily, the cabdriver did not lead me astray. The whole ride, however, was super awkward and very silent. At the beginning, I asked him "Cuanto va a ser?" (how much is it going to be?) once he plugged in the address. I always did this in Mexico b/c I don't think the cabs there had a meter, just a flat rate for certain distances. Not the case here in Madrid, so the taxista basically told me he didn't know, it'd show up on the meter. Yeah, I felt pretty dumb.
Anyhoo, I finally made it, and went up to my street number and rang the buzzer thing. It's totally like the walk-ups (I think that's what you call it??) in NYC! You press a buzzer and then the person can talk to you and buzz you in to go upstairs. I'd never really done that before! Soooo, I buzzed Carmen--mi mama-- (after accidentally buzzing some rando at the same time) and told her I was here! So she buzzed me in and after getting my big, fat suitcases through the old, narrow door, I realized that I didn't know where to go from there. All I saw were stairs and no elevator. Sooo...I hauled one of my suitcases up one flight of stairs, then decided I had no idea where I was going and had to buzz Carmen again for help. She came down and I figured out where to go. La 2nda planta (the 3rd floor. They do it differently in Spanish; the ground floor, which is normally the first floor in America is called "la primera planta" and the 2nd floor up is la primera planta). So I basically had to lug my two 50 lb suitcases up a billion and one stairs b/c the building, Carmen later told me, is 200 years old. So of course they hadn't updated it to include an elevator. Thank the lord I'm not on the 3rd or 4th or 5th floor!!! It was a struggle carrying it all up there, but I did it!
Mi madre Carmen is kind of old. She's probably in her 70s, and she greeted me in an precious leopard print moomoo sort of outfit and slippers. She was too cute, and kept repeating, "solo es el primer dia." haha. I arrived first before my other two roomies. Ashley was due around 4 and I got there around 12pm, so I knew it was going to be a pretty interesting 4 hours alone with my senora. She fed me and then we chatted about this and that and she told me that I am now her hija (daughter) and that she can tell me anything. So if I don't like something or have a problem, I can tell her and then no more problems!
I eventually went to see if I could connect to the internet and soon found out that I could not. This would happen. Carmen, being an elderly Spanish woman (I don't think Spaniards are 100% up on the same technology as America), knows nothing about technology of course. Not like Poppy and his computer skills! :) Anyways, she basically thought that because my computer wasn't an "appel" that's probably why I couldn't connect to the wifi "en seguida" (right away). I tried to explain to her that a) my computer isn't old (b/c she thought it was) and that b) it's not the type of computer, it's the router. She wouldn't listen though, so we decided to wait for Ashley to get here and see if she could connect.
Once Ashley got here, she--a fellow PC user--could not connect either. So we journeyed to the computer man to see if he could figure out whether the problem was our computers or the router. To make a long story short, it was Carmen's 10+ y/o router. Anyhoo, as you probably can tell by now, all is well with my internet situation. I am connected!!
Our 3rd roomie--Fatema--wasn't due to arrive until the following day in Toledo. So we packed our bags and went to bed for orientation there the next day. Friday, Carms (what we call Carmen) led us to the Fundacion where we walk to school everyday. It's a little less than a 20 min. walk and very easy to get to school. We boarded the bus after a presentation and were on our way! Toledo orientation will be my next blog. I'm tired of typing for now.
Besos.
PS- at the end of every blog, I'll post some photos!
So I get through security at DFW and go to 2 places to exchange currency before finding my gate and then deciding I have to go to the bathroom before I board the plane. When I got back from the bathroom, I looked around at the people sitting at gate D26 and make eye contact with Alexandra from high school, who I'd just run into at her place of work a few days before. So funny that we were on the same flight!! So I went over and sat next to her and we chatted about Spain. Then this random girl who looked about our age came over and sat next to me and asked Alexandra and I if we knew if the WiFi worked (which we didn't). We started chatting away about how we were going to Spain. She told us that she's basically from there and that she went to college there and now is going back to work.
Her name is Lorena and the 3 of us became fast friends. She is super nice and helped guide me through the Madrid airport once we arrived b/c I was a little lost...We exchanged emails since we would both be in Madrid, and planned to hang out.
Taking a taxi: OK, if y'all know me, you know that I don't like taking taxes in America. It's hard enough trying to speak English to those guys and figuring out tip and whatnot. Now imagine a foreign country that you've just been thrown into and you have to take a taxi from the airport all by yourself to a house you've never been to and you kind of know the language, but since you're semi-stressed out, your knowledge goes out the window. Yep, that was me. The taxis in Spain are actually very nice and clean and my taxista (as we called them in Mexico at least) was actually kind of good looking. Ha! I mean, he looked presentable and all. Anyhoo, I showed him my home address and he plugged it into his GPS. Lorena told me that the cab ride shouldn't be longer than 20-25 mins. so if it was, then I should say something. Luckily, the cabdriver did not lead me astray. The whole ride, however, was super awkward and very silent. At the beginning, I asked him "Cuanto va a ser?" (how much is it going to be?) once he plugged in the address. I always did this in Mexico b/c I don't think the cabs there had a meter, just a flat rate for certain distances. Not the case here in Madrid, so the taxista basically told me he didn't know, it'd show up on the meter. Yeah, I felt pretty dumb.
Anyhoo, I finally made it, and went up to my street number and rang the buzzer thing. It's totally like the walk-ups (I think that's what you call it??) in NYC! You press a buzzer and then the person can talk to you and buzz you in to go upstairs. I'd never really done that before! Soooo, I buzzed Carmen--mi mama-- (after accidentally buzzing some rando at the same time) and told her I was here! So she buzzed me in and after getting my big, fat suitcases through the old, narrow door, I realized that I didn't know where to go from there. All I saw were stairs and no elevator. Sooo...I hauled one of my suitcases up one flight of stairs, then decided I had no idea where I was going and had to buzz Carmen again for help. She came down and I figured out where to go. La 2nda planta (the 3rd floor. They do it differently in Spanish; the ground floor, which is normally the first floor in America is called "la primera planta" and the 2nd floor up is la primera planta). So I basically had to lug my two 50 lb suitcases up a billion and one stairs b/c the building, Carmen later told me, is 200 years old. So of course they hadn't updated it to include an elevator. Thank the lord I'm not on the 3rd or 4th or 5th floor!!! It was a struggle carrying it all up there, but I did it!
Mi madre Carmen is kind of old. She's probably in her 70s, and she greeted me in an precious leopard print moomoo sort of outfit and slippers. She was too cute, and kept repeating, "solo es el primer dia." haha. I arrived first before my other two roomies. Ashley was due around 4 and I got there around 12pm, so I knew it was going to be a pretty interesting 4 hours alone with my senora. She fed me and then we chatted about this and that and she told me that I am now her hija (daughter) and that she can tell me anything. So if I don't like something or have a problem, I can tell her and then no more problems!
I eventually went to see if I could connect to the internet and soon found out that I could not. This would happen. Carmen, being an elderly Spanish woman (I don't think Spaniards are 100% up on the same technology as America), knows nothing about technology of course. Not like Poppy and his computer skills! :) Anyways, she basically thought that because my computer wasn't an "appel" that's probably why I couldn't connect to the wifi "en seguida" (right away). I tried to explain to her that a) my computer isn't old (b/c she thought it was) and that b) it's not the type of computer, it's the router. She wouldn't listen though, so we decided to wait for Ashley to get here and see if she could connect.
Once Ashley got here, she--a fellow PC user--could not connect either. So we journeyed to the computer man to see if he could figure out whether the problem was our computers or the router. To make a long story short, it was Carmen's 10+ y/o router. Anyhoo, as you probably can tell by now, all is well with my internet situation. I am connected!!
Our 3rd roomie--Fatema--wasn't due to arrive until the following day in Toledo. So we packed our bags and went to bed for orientation there the next day. Friday, Carms (what we call Carmen) led us to the Fundacion where we walk to school everyday. It's a little less than a 20 min. walk and very easy to get to school. We boarded the bus after a presentation and were on our way! Toledo orientation will be my next blog. I'm tired of typing for now.
Besos.
PS- at the end of every blog, I'll post some photos!
my school
my school
my street
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