Bienvenidos a Madrid!

Finally, the anticipation is over.  But I'm still feeling a bit hectic.  My plane took off at about 9:00 Saturday night, where I was lucky enough to sit between two fellow Lafayette students, Peter and Juan.  The flight was fine, and actually "flew" by pretty fast. Ha.  Anyway, I arrived at Barajas Airport yesterday morning and I instantly knew Spain kicks America's butt.  Everything is just so much cooler here.  I was afraid I'd have trouble getting around with all my luggage (one giant suitcase, one medium suitcase, and then a small suitcase carry-on and a messenger bag) but it wasn't bad.  They had wheely carts so I made it out to the taxi pretty easily.  It took the taxi driver and a SLU representative about 5 minutes just to fit all the luggage into the trunk.

Then Anna and I were off to our new home!! To get into the apartment for the first time we had to get buzzed in by the host family, which was actually pretty nerve racking.  We crammed ourselves and our pounds of luggage into a narrow little elevator, and up we went!  Maria Rosa greeted us at the elevator door as we made fools of our clumsy selves with our oversized luggage.  She let us pick which room we wanted, so Anna took the more centrally located one, and I have the room in the back.  We each have our own bathroom which is really nice.

Next came the horror story... We couldn't connect to the internet.  It was a shameful moment in my life.  I had to withstand being out of contact with anyone for practically 48 hours.  For me, that's a pretty big deal.  I just kept thinking about my poor mother worried sick about me.

Then came the next terror.  The plug for my laptop has 3 prongs but the 3-prong adapter we bought wasn't fitting the plug right, so I wasn't even able to use my computer.  Then I found out my converter is no good, and I can't use it for my straightener, so I've been borrowing Anna's converter.  I'm not really sure where I'll be able to purchase one around here but I'll figure it out sooner or later.

So after taking a 5 hour nap yesterday from about 1 to 6, I took my first Spanish shower.  First of all, the shower heads don't attach to the wall, so rinsing off was quite a feat... and second of all, it's nearly impossible to set it at the right temperature.  I was switching between boiling hot and freezing cold but I finally toyed around enough to make it manageable.  So yeah, that experience was interesting to say the least.

Then Anna and I enjoyed ourselves to a little dinner, with just the two of us.  Maria Rosa served us spaghetti with a salad and bread, and a little chocolately dessert.  It was muy delicioso!!  Speaking of Spanish... I suck.  I definitely came here over-confident with my Spanish-speaking skills.  Anna pretty much does ALL the talking.  I know how to say most things... I just can't bring myself to spit the words out.  It takes a lot of thinking, and I tend to be a very slow thinker, as most of you who know me can attest to. Also it's been a while since I've used any Spanish, so I've forgotten many of the things I used to know.  I'm slowly getting the hang of it though.

After dinner, Anna and I went on a little "adventure" and explored our surroundings.  We walked up and down our street to get an idea of where we were living.  Theres a bunch of stores and stuff but nothing too interesting.  We went into a little bar/cafe place because it said "free internet access" on the door.  We couldn't get it to connect so instead we just ordered wine.  Our first drink. :)  It's so awkward trying to communicate with people though... the waitress kept giving us weird looks and being awfully rude to us.  We hung out for a while and then headed back to the apartment and talked for the rest of the night.

Then this morning we headed off to orientation!! We successfully navigated the metro system!  Although it was a bit of a challenge to figure out how to get to the station.  The metro signs are really clear though, and it was not hard to navigate at all.  We did have to switch lines to get there however.  I would say it takes about 30 minutes for us to get from the apartment to the school.

Orientation wasn't all that interesting.  We got into our groups, heard some people talk, rotated around to different rooms to hear other people talk, and that's about it.  They gave us a little tour of the neighboring area so I guess I'll have some places to go in between classes.  It's fun being in the city.  I could definitely get used to this.

Then we were supposed to go buy our cellphones... but apparently we need our passports to do this.  Thanks for telling me this, SLU.  Oh well, I'll just get it tomorrow.  At least we got our internet working today, so I can talk to the rest of the world.  Speaking of the computer,  I also was able to shove my laptop plug into the adapter, it just took a good push.  So now it's charging!!  I'll probably go buy my cellphone either tomorrow at orientation, or possibly later tonight in the city.   Also tonight Anna and I are supposed to go meet up with some Lafayette friends and explore the ciudad! I'll report back in my next post about it.

It's so weird being the foreigner who everybody else stares at.  I can sympathize for all the foreigners in America now who mutter out a few words like "yes" and "ok" every few minutes... because thats pretty much all I say to anyone here. And barely anyone here speaks English.  Coming to orientation today was such a sigh of relief because I could finally be with other Engish-speaking people!  Any time Anna and I look at a map I feel like I'm the perfect culprit for a pick-pocketer.  And that's the last thing I need right now.

I hate being foreign.  I better start picking up some Spanish, quick.

Antes De Venir!

Well well... only one week and six days before I'll be lugging hundreds of pounds of stuff overseas to my new temporary home.  This is probably the most exciting thing I've done in all of the 19 years I've lived.  Today my grandma got me a book on Spain, so that'll give me something to do for the next 2 weeks (although I've got plenty of things to get done as it is). Also, I got my course approval form in the mail, so it looks like all five of my classes are good to go! Here's what I'll be taking abroad:

• VaST: Nanotechnology and Society (It's a Lafayette required course, taught by Lafayette Professor Ferri, who will be traveling to Madrid with us. VaST stands for "Values and Science Technology.")
  
  
• Engineering Science: Dynamics (This counts as a Mechanical Engineering course at Lafayette)
  
  
• Physics: Introduction to Astronomy (Really no good reason for taking it other than pure interest in the subject matter.  It doesn't count toward anything so if it doesn't end up being worthwhile, I might drop it.)
  
  
• Art History: 19th Century Art Survey (I've never taken Art History so this might be a challenge for me, but I'm sure it will be interesting! It will also count as an upper-level humanities course at Lafayette.)
  
  
• Engineering Science: Mechanics of Solids (This is equivalent to the Lafayette Engineering course "Strengths of Materials.")

The best part of my schedule is... EVERY class is on Tuesday/Thursday.  That means I have a four-day weekend... EVERY weekend.  Be jealous.  I'll most likely reserve Wednesday as my designated homework day, just to free up the weekends.  I'm so excited. You have no idea.

My host family is the Albert family, with husband and wife, Maria Rosa and Perfecto.  They seem like a lovely couple from the description.  Maria Rosa used to give classes at a private catering school, so I can guarantee you I'll be eating well during my stay.  They have four children and seven grandchildren.  Even though I'll be away from my adorable li'l nephew for a few months, hopefully the grandkids can keep me from missing him too much.  The pictures of the house look incredible too!  Take a look:

Bedroom

Living Room

Hall

Kitchen

Living Room

Also, I got very lucky with my rooming situation! My roomate is a friend from Lafayette, Anna.  We each have our own room and (possibly) our own bathroom.  This was just a  coincidence to have her as my roommate, but I'm so glad it turned out this way! She actually lived on my floor this past semester, and she'll be living on my floor again in two weeks :)

That's enough updating for now! I'll probably hold off on the updates until I get to Madrid.  Have a wonderful new year!

Love,

Hallie

Welcome!

The time is quickly approaching for me to leave on a plane heading for Spain... only three weeks from tomorrow!  I deemed it an appropriate time to set up a blog to chronicle my journeys that await me... even if I am still at Lafayette (three days... get me outta here!).  Spain seems to be the only thing on my mind nowadays, so it couldn't hurt to get a head start.  I plan on using this site to give any exciting updates on my travels or experiences while abroad.  Hopefully there will be plenty of things to talk about! If anyone would like to be on the e-mail list, just leave a comment with your e-mail address.  You will receive an e-mail update every time I post a new entry.  And don't worry Mom and Dad, I've already got you guys taken care of :)   If not, I hope you'll visit the site a few times anyway! I don't want all this laborious writing to go to waste. I don't write for leisure, you know.

Spread the word!!

Peace & Love,
Hallie

P.S.
Here's where I will be studying:
Saint Louis University, Madrid Campus