Hola from Espana! So I know I have been here for about 2 weeks now but my friend started blogging about the trip so far and she inspired me. Ok so after a 7 hour flight, which i hardly slept on because we had individual tvs with great movie selections so we all just got distracted. So once we got off the airplane and got our luggage (thank god no one lost their luggage or anything) we got picked up by buses and taken to the dorms, or residencias. The apartments are huge. There is a common area, eat-in kitchen, and then two double bedrooms downstairs and then upstairs there are four single rooms. I am in one of the single rooms but I share a bathroom with my friend Callie, which is great. We basically only had time to drop off our luggage and then we were being picked up to go out to our first lunch, which was at 2pm since that is what the Spaniards do. Our lunch was just a taste of everything so we could get accustomed to Spanish food but everything was amazing. After lunch we just came back, unpacked, and then everyone went straight to bed because we had a early morning.
On the second day we had a brief orientation of Alcala. Maria Jose, who is our director in Spain, took us around the town and showed us where all our classes were and everything. The town is so pretty. There is a main plaza that is known as the Plaza de Cervantes who is named after the man who wrote Don Quixote. All around it are tons of stores and then there are two main streets: Calle Mayor and Calle Liberos that also have more shops and everything. In order for us to get to the Plaza we take a 10 min bus ride from the doors. The public transportation is really nice and a lot more reliable then transportation in NYC. We are suppose to go to Madrid tomorrow but there is a threat of snow so we are not going because snow is a HUGE deal here because they hardly ever get any snow. So tonight I think we are going out somewhere but the nightlife here is completely different because people do not go anywhere till around 2am in the morning.
Ok so I know this is a long post but we were suppose to start classes today, Monday Jan 11th, but because it snowed like literally 1/4in classes were canceled. Instead we still had to wake up to go to an orientaion at CIFF, which is the school we take our English classes at and then our professors took us out for sangria and tapas...we are becoming so Spanish. The professors seem really nice and it is really formal to shake hands but instead they do the double kiss on the cheek so that is something I am going to have to get used to. We also took our Spanish placement exams, which I did okay on but I did well enough to place into the history class that I needed to take. I hope that the Spanish classes will help me improve my Spanish. At night it was one of the guys in our groups birthday so all 38 got together in one of the rooms to sing happy birthday and have cake.
After about a week in Alcala I am beginning to feel like I have been here forever yet we just got here. My Spanish classes are going well so far and I really like all my professors. I am still adjusting to the fact that everything closes mid afternoon and then opens again at like 6pm. Around this time the entire town comes alive and everyone is walking around and out in the plaza until around 8pm. It took awhile but everyone has finally figured out all their classes and everything so hopefully everything will work out now. I am taking 3 spanish classes which means I am going to be in language classes everyday from 1:45 till 6:30 and 2 days a week I also have class in the morning from 10:30 to 1:30. Even though it is bad now after March 17th my Spanish classes end so I will only have 2 classes, which will be perfect for traveling.
I know this is jumping around a bit but on Sat, Jan 16th we went into Madrid to go see a Flamenco show. In order to get into Madrid we took a train, which took about 40 minutes. Once we walked through a lot of the city on our way to Teatros de Canal where the flamenco show was held. We saw some familiar places, such as Starbucks, which was funny! The show we saw was a modern flamenco entitled "Fedra," which is actually based on a Greek tragedy play. It was really exciting and not too difficult to follow because of the acting and dancing. After the show a group of us went to this place called Pasta Nostra. It was a really good Italian restaurant and was nice because it was a little taste of home. After dinner we took the bus home from Madrid, which was good because now we know how to use both the train and bus to get into Madrid.
The next week was pretty uneventful. I had got a nice routine going with all my classes and cooking dinner and everything. I am actually starting to learn to cook but Mom don't get too excited because any cooking skills I learn in Spain will be staying here when I come home. Lately we have been going to this bar called Media Pinta, which is right in town because past Loyola groups have become really close with the son's owner, Javier, and they have free wi-fi so it is a great place to skype and just hang out. Hopefully this post has given you a brief look at my time in Alcala so far and I will try to now update regularly.
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