Wednesday:
The day was finally here that I was leaving for the trip I'd been waiting for since I planned to study abroad my freshman year. I met my roommate, Maren, at the airport in Minneapolis, and you won't believe what we did first. We squealed and ran toward each other--if you can call it running; it was more like waddling while lugging 70lbs of baggage--and gave each other a big hug. This kind of behavior continues throughout our entire trip. We got checked in hiccup free. Maren says goodbye to her mom making my mom start crying at the sight of them saying goodbye. Love you, Mom! Then it was time for my goodbyes and to head through security. It was there that I encountered my first hiccup. I got yelled at by the lady about three times for not pushing my tubs in far enough. I think she was a little grumpy, but we all have those days. Now it was time to wait. Now if you know me at all, waiting for anything is a challenge. Add the fact that I was 2 hours from boarding the plane that was taking me for my first time out of the country. My leg that normally bounces was bouncing double time as I waited in anticipation. We met two girls from Minnesota on our same program, Monica and Michelle. We were the 4 M's leaving from Minnesota. For awhile that's how I remembered their names til I got to know them better.
We got on the flight practically hyperventilating the whole time because we still could not grasp that we were about to begin an unforgettable experience. The flight to Philadelphia was smooth and short. I worked on about 7 sudoku puzzles and learned a lesson about flying: Don't play your iPod so loud that you can't hear the announcements from the flight attendants. They announced that they would be bringing out the drinks soon and that they would cost so much. I heard "drinks" so I was prepared to order my usual sprite on a plane. As they come around I ask for a sprite and subsequently got charged $4 for a can of pop. I had never been on a flight where they charged for the pop, but as is usually the case, I needed to try to pay attention better.
We landed in Philly and started the wait on the 5 hour layover in Philly. Maren and I walked the length of the airport to find our gate. Lucky for me there was a bathroom nearby because by this time i thought my bladder was going to burst. We then walked the length of the airport back to meet my high school friend, Andrew, at his gate. (This is no small airport) Once we found Andrew guess what we did?? We walked the length of the airport again to our gate. A nice perk in the Philadelphia airport is that there is free internet for college students. You show your student ID and they give you the password. I got the password but, because we were in the boonies of the airport, we couldn't signal. I did get signal at Andrew's gate where I shot one last email to my mom, which would be the last she would hear from me for a quite awhile because I didn't have access to internet at home the first few days. And I know that this will come as a surprise to you but not hearing from me for a while worried her a great deal. Still love you mom!! :D
After the agonizing 5 hour wait, we finally were boarding the plane that would take us across the Atlantic to our destination in Madrid. Again Maren and I were tweaking out. The flight to Madrid was long but I managed by watching 3 movies, pausing every now and then to squeeze Maren's leg and squeal. The meal wasn't too bad for plane food. My favorite part was the look the flight attendant gave you if you didn't want the meal. But I agreed. I paid for that meal I might
as well eat it. Besides, who turns down food?
Thursday:
The most beautiful sight was watching the sun rise over the Atlantic. Maren and I took pictures of the breathtaking view. Much to our surprise neither Maren nor I slept the entire time. We touched down in Madrid, and guess what? It was raining. So it wasn't the picturesque landing we were expecting but it was still Spain.
The wait at the airport in Madrid for our coordinator was the worst because it was morning there, and I hadn't slept yet. It was the one time I felt tired. We were rescued by a very nice German man sitting nearby. We learned a lot about Europe from him, and he learned a lot about the US. Finally, Toni arrived, and we loaded the buses and headed out. I had gotten over my fatigue at this point and watched the beautiful scenery of mountains, rocks, and hills while listening to my iPod. Maren could not take it anymore. She more or less passed out on the bus in a very attractive position with her mouth open. Andrew, Erin, and I entertained ourselves by snapping pictures of Maren's sexiest look at different angles. I was later forbidden to put them on facebook.
On our way to Caceres we stopped at a town halfway between Caceres and Madrid for some lunch. Which by they way, the lunch hour here is 2-5. It is called "Siesta". We had our first Spanish meal of tortilla and croquetas. Tortilla means something much different in Spain. It is an omelette with potatoes. It is very good. I'm not sure how to explain the croquetas other than that they are deep-fried and therefore delicious.
Our bus rolled into Caceres, and our families were there waiting for us. Toni had told Maren and I that we had a 19 year old brother. As we waited to get off the bus, Maren and I saw a young guy that was VERY attractive. We both thought to ourselves. I hope that's him! and it was. He and his grandma helped us pack our suitcases into a car that is smaller than almost any American car you will find. That was a fun experience. Luckily Caceres is not a big town so we made it to our new home in no time. Jorge, our brother, helped us take our stuff up to the 5th floor of the apartment building in the smallest elevator i have ever seen. It says max capacity 6 persons. I would pay to see 6 people fit in that elevator. We got all settled in and headed to meet the group for a short tour of the town.
They showed us around and then took us to a bar where we were given a free chupito. Though the music and dancing looked fun, we were exhausted by this point and a bed was all we wanted. So our host mom, Regina, picked us up, took us home, and Maren and I fell right to sleep. I had been up for about 34 hours by this point and sleep was welcomed. It was our first night in Caceres.
Friday:
During our first full day in Caceres, we were introduced to more parts of the city. We went to a restaurant for lunch and had some fried fish and drinks. Maren and I went home and had another lunch with our family. We took a three hour nap after lunch and met the group again. When Maren and I went back to have supper with our family. We got in the elevator and pressed 5. We got to our floor and our keys wouldn't work! We tried everything to get that apartment open. We couldn't. All of a sudden i get a phone call from Regina asking if we were coming home to eat. I said yeah we're in the hallway outside the apartment and our keys won't work. She said that she'd come let us in. We waited and waited and no one came to the door. Finally i thought myself, maybe it's the wrong floor. Just then I get a call from Regina wondering where we are, and I see that it says third floor by the elevator. I had managed to press 3 instead of 5. Maren and I were so glad that no one was in that 3rd level apartment. If someone had come to the door, we probably would have ran. Regina thought it was funny, and we felt like idiots, which is a feeling we have gotten used to here in Spain
We ate and met the grou for a night out on the town. Marina took us to a disco called Labola. There was an African band playing and we danced and danced and danced til about 3 in the morning. Labola is near where Maren and I lived but we decided we were hungry and would follow the group across town to get something to eat. Bad idea. While the bread with bacon and cheese was amazing, our feet did not appreciate the extensive time spent on them.
We made it, limping, back to our apartment building where we went to open the door. Our key won't turn! Maren and I tried unsuccessfully for a 10 minutes to open the door to no avail. We just wanted to sleep, and we couldn't get into our building!! Finally I found an open door around the corner. We took the elevator to the 5th floor but it was the wrong section of the building. We couldn't get to our part that way. Now what!! Next we decided to try going through the parking garage underground. So we hit the -1 button and headed to the parking garage. We made it to our part of the building that way and got to the 5 floor. We managed to get into the actual apartment without a problem and went to bed.
Saturday:
We got a more extensive tour of la ciudad antigua (The Old City) built by the romans 2000
years ago. It was the first day it didn't rain so it was beautiful. I want to pause and say that it never rains in Caceres. Never. Maybe 2 or 3 times a month. It has rained almost everyday that we have been here. Someone somewhere heard that we were coming and told mother nature to spite us with never ending rains.Back to Saturday, we were supposed to meet the group at 8 that night to have coffee. Of course, maren and I heard 8:30. I guess Maren and I feel we need a daily adventure to keep things entertaining. So we get to the meeting point and no one is there. I call Erica and she says they're at the bar they showed us today. Great now we have to wander around the old city and try to figure out in the dark where we were earlier today.
We eventually made it to the english tavern where the bartender is an englishman. Maren tried to order a mocha but he just stared at her. So she tried to explain what it was and he made a
make shift mocha that really wasn't a mocha at all. I stuck to the classic cafe con leche. After the previous night, Maren and I had no desire to walk all the way back to our home and then walk back to meet them to go out. So we stayed with Jordan, Josh and their host brother and went to a little bar where they have soccer games on tv. We ordered burgers and watched the game. My burger was much better than any burger I've ever had in the US. I was pleasantly surprised.We then met the rest of the group across the street at a bar, and danced there for a couple hours. We then moved on to my first gay bar. It was very busy but much to my surprise was a lot of fun. We danced and got to know our Spanish friends more. Maren and I managed to make it home without any problems this time.
Sunday:
A day of rest, literally. We didn't do anything other than sleep, eat, and watch tv.
Monday:
Our first day of class. We met the group to learn about the bus. Which was where I had my idiot moment of the day. I didn't really understand how the whole putting money on card thing worked but I managed while holding up the line to get on the bus. We got to campus and were given a tour, and they bought us coffees at the cafe. Then Maren and I attended our first and only class of the day, Intro to Spanish Literature. We left at noon and headed to do some shopping. On the bus, a girl in front of us noticed that we were speaking english. She is studying english at a language school. She asked if she could practice English with us, and then she'd help us with our Spanish. Her name is Mercedes. We exchanged numbers and will be getting together to have a coffee soon. We continued on our way to the shops. I bought some boots and a pair of jeans. We had some conversations with shop owners. Maren and I were so proud that we were able to carry on conversations with native spanish speakers.
We went home and did our homework. Yes, you read that correctly. Melissa Cali did a homework assignment the night it was assigned. I'll give you a second to process that ............................................................................................................................................................. got it? Good
Tuesday:
Maren and I had 2 classes that day, Spain Today and Spanish Literature. I like all of my classes and am impressed with my ability to understand the professors. We also were pleasantly surprised to find out that we didn't have class on Wednesday due to a fiesta of the university. So Erin, Bridgett, and I made plans to go out. We went to a little bar by the plaza mayor. We just sat and chat. Then two argentinian guys introduced themselves. They were here traveling. One of them knew english so he could help us with our spanish. It was a great experience to talk with people with a different accent.
Wednesday:
We went to the mercadillo. There is everything you could imagine for cheap. I got a scarf, jeans, shoes and coat. Maren and I decided to leave ahead of the group. To start, the mercadillo is literally on the opposite side of town. A good 40 minute walk if you don't get lost...which we did. We started in the wrong direction, but didn't realize it til we were good and lost. So we asked for directions in a shop. She pointed us more in the wrong direction. I then remember that I have a map. Problem solved right? wrong. We didn't know where we were on the map. We couldn't find a street sign anywhere. Finally we found a street name on the side of a building and located where we were. We were literally a block away from being off the map...story of my life. We argued for a bit about which way we should go but eventually agreed on a way that turned out to be the correct way. It took us more than an hour to get home. But we made it.
Thursday:
We went to class. We had all 3 that day. I went to the sports facilities tour (Maren wasn't much interested and went home) I then went home for lunch and on my way home I ran into an old man who started talking to me very fast in Spanish. I explained that I was new to spanish, and am studying at the university. He proceeded to think that I was German. I told him I was American. We continued to talk until we parted ways when he told me bye and said "Tu eres muy guapa" (You are very beautiful). What I've learned about the spanish men is that they are much more forward in their interaction with women. Walking down the street men will not hide the fact they are "checking you out". Maren and I have turned heads at time. Just living here boosts my self esteem.
We then kicked off the weekend with some coffee and drinks at a cafe. We moved to the bar where I watched the soccer game the weekend before. Maren, Debbie and I stayed there til we
met the group at 11:15 to go out. They had a countdown of the top 90's hits on tv. We sang our hearts out to Whitney Houston. I don't think the bartender appreciated it but it was fun. We then met the group and headed to a friend of Nacho's, one of our guides, apartment. Where we hung out until about 2 when we headed to a discoteca to dance. We danced the night away. I made the mistake of wearing new shoes. My feet were blistered before we even had coffee. I bought bandaids at a farmacia and that helped immensely. By the end of the night, they had rubbed off and I walked home barefoot at 4 in the morning. Got to bed around 5.Friday:
My feet were quite sore when i got out of bed at 2 in the afternoon. We met some people at the library to plan our trip to Rome the last weekend of february which was a fiasco. We are now going to Paris that weekend because all the flights to Rome were booked. We met the group at 11 to go out. It was pouring down rain. My idiot moment of this day was not bringing an umbrella. We were going to go to an Irish pub but it was far awaym and we didn't want to walk that far in the rain. So we went to a cuban bar. I played darts, and Carolina, who said she was horrible at darts, kicked our butts. I then proceeded to dominate the next game with debbie and Maren, which it took us the entire game it figure out the rules because we hit the cutthroat cricket button instead of the standard one. So we really didn't know what we were doing but it turned out my strategy
was the best for the rules, and I won. We had the game early so it's possible they could have caught up but i find that very unlikely. haha. We then went to a disco and danced for a while. Maren and I turned in early at 3:30.Summary:
The first week went by very fast but I learned a lot in that time. The following is a list of some of the most important things I've learned here.
-If you press the wrong button on the elevator it will probably take you to the wrong floor
-Learn how to use your key before coming home at 4 in the morning with dead feet
-Don't wear new flats and go out for 10 hours
-If you want to feel better about the way you look, live in Spain
-If a spaniard tells you it's cold outside, it's probably about 55 degrees
-An early night ends at 3:30 AM
-Mothers encourage their kids to go out on the weekends
-No matter how hard you try you cannot pull off the shoes the spanish women can
-The streets are designed to confuse you, they don't have visible street signs
-The sidewalks are designed to cause you to fall either through slipping on tile or tripping on rock
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