Well, we made it!! I was waiting for some free time to finally sit down and write, and now that I have it my computer is dying, and my converter isn’t compatible with its 3-prong adapter so I’ll try to write as much as I can in the 8 minutes that remain! The internet here is also VERY shoddy so I will be very happy if this even posts…

Traveling alone was a lot more stressful than I expected, especially once I arrived at the Madrid airport. Nothing is marked or announced and since I was changing airlines there I didn’t know where to check in and get my boarding pass.  I had to ask 5 different people where to go before finally getting there! Oh and side note, it seems like my Spanish isn’t quite as strong as I thought! Almost everyone I talked to gave me really disgusted looks when I stumbled over my words and ended up speaking English with me anyway. Kind of disappointing but that will be my goal by the end of this trip: to be able to talk to a native without them guessing right away that I am American!!

Going through customs and security was surprisingly quick and as soon as we were up in the air on the way to Granada I was out like a light!! I arrived at the Hostal Atenas around 3PM and was more than happy to finally shower, even as tiny and gross as that stall was. I had hoped to do some searching for food, water and internet but I fell asleep once again getting ready to leave! (Side note, that’s something I seem to be doing a lot lately… most frequently I will be writing something and wake up a half hour later with pen all over the page! I can’t WAIT for my body to get adjusted to this time zone) I napped for several hours before leaving to wander the city around 7 or 8PM. All of the roads here are so narrow! There’s lots of alleyways that look like they should be for pedestrians but cars drive on them too. Pretty sure I almost got myself killed a couple times. I found some water but couldn’t settle on a good restaurant so I decided to wait until the other 3 girls from Winona arrived. They finally did around 9 or 10PM, as exhausted as I was when I arrived! Luckily they were also just as hungry so, in true American fashion, we ordered a large pizza from Pizza Hut which was devoured in under 5 minutes I swear!!

This morning we woke up at 6:30 to get ready and make our way to the university to take our placement test for classes, which starts tomorrow!!! I can’t believe it’s so soon. My test went pretty well and as far as I can tell I’m in Advanced B. There are five different levels and within each level you can get either A or B, with B being higher. I’m really happy with my placement because it’s the second highest level, the highest being Superior A/B!! The University’s website says that I have class from 9-11 and 11-1 so by that time I’ll be able to come back to my host family’s house for lunch and siesta!!

Speaking of which I absolutely love my host family so far, despite the fact that it is FREEZING in here. Right now it is 12 degrees celsius in my room (53 F), and that’s warm compared to the temperature it was in my room when we arrived around 1PM - 8 degrees celsius (46 F)!!! Needless to say, I’ve been wrapped up in my sweaters and scarf and blanket in my bed for the past few hours! I really hope I don’t catch a cold - I’ve been sniffly all day, and my immune system probably took a hit from being on the plane for so long anyway. Three cheers for Vitamin C lozenges!!

Apart from the fact that I may have to buy thicker slippers and clothes, I’m really enjoying my stay here so far. The house is so charming and the architecture is a typical Spanish adobe. The floors are tile, the walls are pretty thin but everything is gorgeous. My host mom, Mamache, is absolutely adorable! She really wants to make sure that we are taken care of and that we understand everything. She slows down her speech a TON for us and repeats a lot of things too.  She made us delicious lunch around 3 and of typical spanish food: soup, bread, tortilla española and a chicken salad with pineapple and oranges. We had the soup and tortilla for dinner around 9:30 along with a couple different types of meat and an egg/potato salad with shrimp. And for dessert we had pineapple and some DELICIOUS Spanish Christmas cookies!! 

The other cool thing is that we have a French student staying with us until March! (This might be beneficial for me since I am trying to teach myself French as well!) Her name is Jennifer and she is 18 years old and really sweet. She invited Samantha and I to go out with her and her friends tonight but we declined because our bodies are still adjusting to the time zone! The other girls from Winona and I will hopefully go out shopping at the Corte Inglés to see the REBAJAS - clearance!!! - and maybe for some tapas this weekend to celebrate actually being here We are also already planning what to do with our time off at the end of the month! We all definitely want to travel, but I think we might just stay within Spain for our first excursion and then possibly go outside the country later in the semester. I definitely want to see Sevilla, Malaga y Barcelona for sure. Oh and Madrid too, of course! I’m not sure how much time we have off, or when it is exactly, but we’ll probably get the details worked out soon!

I guess I  will leave you with a few things different from the US that I am already noticing! First of all, the girls and I went to eat at a cute little cafe down the street from the University around noon. The owner spotted us as American right away, of course, but we started talking with her and it turns out that she was from Scotland anyway, which is really cool! When we went to pay, 2 of the girls didn’t have Euros, they just had credit/debit cards. The owner was kind enough to warn us that we should double-check with our banks to make sure there isn’t a ridiculous amount of surcharges that we weren’t aware of when using those cards, and then told the 2 girls to come back and pay her another day when they had Euros!!!!! That completely blew my mind because that is something you would NEVER see in the US! After leaving the cafe we went down the street to a store where we thought we might be able to buy minutes for our cell phones (which I have yet to do, so I apologize if you’ve been waiting to hear from me!!). When we got to the counter I noticed lots of snacks, but I also noticed 2 shot glasses on a platter next to 2 bottles of alcohol!!! Again, something you will NEVER see in the US and very interesting to say the least! 

Oh, and one final thing… it was SNOWING today WTF?!?! Everyone we talked to said it hasn’t snowed here in years. Leave it to the girls from the Midwest to bring snow to the Mediterranean. *headdesk*

Well I am off to get some much-needed rest, so hasta luego!!