I'm here!

Hola a todos!

Welcome to me very first post from Spain. Right now I'm in a hotel called Hotel Campanile in Alcalá de Henares. On the way here, both flights were delayed but luckily it was BOTH so that I had time to catch the second one out of Amsterdam. And I had a very plesant surprise when I ran into my friend Al from UW Madison in Chigao. Turns out she and her friend were taking the same flight to Amsterdam...what a small world!!

Last night I stayed with a family friend of my friend Federico (also from Waukesha/UW Madison). For being a total stranger to her, she was really kind and welcoming! She picked me up from the airport in her SmartCar and we headed to her house right outside of the city. Last night I slept from 7-9 pm, then from 11 pm-10 am. Hopefully that wont mess up my sleeping patterns too much!

This morning was somewhat of a fiasco, as I got a taste of the relaxed concept of time that the Spanish seem to have. Federico told Tula (the woman we were staying with) that we needed to be out of the house at 10:30. We left at 11:30. And since we couldnt all fit in her SmartCar, she drove us one by one to the train staion and we were going to take the train. But then we missed the train. So we took a cab to the airport. But by the time we arrived at the airport, we missed the group pickup. So, we had to take the metro to the Cercanías (commuter train) station, and then take a train to Alcalá de Henares.

Luckily, I always know that nothing is going to turn out as planned when traveling so I didn't mind spending way too much money and way too much time for a trip that should have only taken 1 hour max. (well to be honest I did care about the money, but as they say in Egypt ma3lish!). Of course I was chuckling to myself as Federico was pouting. :P I think this is due to my disorder which makes me laugh when I really shouldn't...

Federico and I arrived at the hotel just in time for the orientation. We went to eat at a nearby restuarant and now we have a time for a "siesta." If you know me, you know I love naps. Thus, I already love Spain. But to be honest, I'm not going to sleep now because I want to try to get used to the time change.

Anyhoo, the whole group here seems really nice and Cristina Blanco (the program director) is also great. It seems to be a diverse group from all over the US.

I'm really happy that I'm already speaking Spanish a majority of the time. I try to speak it all the time unless I want to make a joke or say something witty. I suppose I'll KNOW that i can really speak spanish when I can say those kinds of things.

It was most difficult at Tula's house because she would talk to me and I understood what she was saying but I didnt respond how I wanted so I usually would just say okay or sounds good or "oh really?" Which kind of made me look like an idiot. But whatever, I suppose its part of the learning process!

Tonight we're going for a walk around downtown Alcalá. Then tomorrow is another day of orientation! We're moving into the dorms and homestays (dorms for me) on Friday morn.

Well thanks for tuning in! Until next time...