Alcalá Week 2

Claire and Nicole standing in front of hanging laundry- people don't really use dryers here

Guess who's updating on time this week?!?

• Things around the residencia have been a little slow, considering I moved in right as Spanish University are giving exams. Spaniards don't really have midterms so they study all day every day for the two week finals period, since this one exam determines almost their entire grade! My suitemates promise me things will pick up in a week or so, and that one day soon I will see them not in their pajamas 24/7.

• I have been trying to pay attention to what my suitemates eat, and there seems to be a lot of frying of food in olive oil. The residencia doesn't have an oven so everything gets cooked on the stove top- lots of ham, rice, chorizo (sausage links?) and eggs, plus a lot of other things I cannot name. Tuna and mayo on french bread is also a crowd pleaser. Every meal usually includes cigarettes too (one of my suitemates, Miriam, smokes indoors ALL THE TIME. I have accepted that my entire wardrobe will eventually reek of second hand smoke).

• Alcalá de Henares is more or less a series of roundabouts, each with a distinct statue. I know to get off the bus when I see this:

Peace sign with a shell on the bottom?

• School is going well, nothing too hard yet and all of my teachers and kind and patient. I think my phonetics class will help me loose at least a little of my American accent!

El Instituto Benjamin Franklin, housed inside El Colegio Trinitarios

• On Sunday I ventured into Madrid to look around the Reina Sofia, a contemporary art museum. There were paintings by Miró, Dalí and Picasso, the most famous being his 'La Guernica'- it takes up an entire wall of an exhibit!

'La Guernica' by Pablo Picassso

Outside La Reina Sofia

• Most days I walk home from school and wander a bit, trying to orient myself and discover new places to eat. I think I could try a different café/bar/pastry shop every day and still not get to them all. I also sit in the living room with my suitemates and try to figure out what they are talking about. They seem to surf Tuenti.com (the Spanish facebook- I made an account!) a lot and make fun of people? According to them, everyone falls into two categories- fea (ugly) or guapa (pretty). They are nice to me so I'm not drawing any conclusions regarding cattiness just yet.

Alcalá Week 1

Sorry for the delay, it took me forever to figure out how to configure my laptop for wireless!

• I started classes last Thursday at el Instituto Benjamin Franklin. It is a special school for North Americans, however all my classes are in Spanish and all of my teachers are Spanish too. I'm taking Phonetics, Contemporary Spain and a grammar class, plus one more "real" class at the Universidad de Alcalá that will not start until February.
• I also moved into my apartment! I have all female suitemates; 5 are Spanish- Inés, Sonia, Sara, Miriam and Sandra (my roommmate) and 1 is Portuguese- Sofia. They are all very nice but talk to each other really quickly, so it's been hard for me to participate in group conversations. I can hold one-on-one conversations just fine though.

• I have already visited Madrid twice, because is only 35 minutes away by train. First I visited my friend Luis, who was nice enough to give me a walking tour, and the next day I went with my American group and got another walking tour. I will definitely be back to I can shop and explore places like El Prado.

Luis and me at La Plaza Mayor, a historical site used for many things, including executing people during the Inquisition

The Royal Palace

• There are HUGE storks in downtown Alcalá that nest on pretty much every rooftop. As far as I know they never swoop down and attack citizens, but I'm keeping an eye on them none the less.
• We've been to some pretty sweet bars here so far. Most Spaniards don't even head out until about 1am, and hence get home about 6am. My favorite place so far was El Casco Antiguo, where everybody was dancing salsa the whole night. There were some amazing dancers that were fun to watch. I only danced one song where you had to keep switching dance partners and felt pretty dumb, maybe sometime in the future I can at least learn the steps!
• Tapas bars are amazing, and delicious. All you have to do is order a drink and they bring you a free appetizer of your choice!
• The Coke here is made with real sugar. My father would love it haha
• I promise that I will update ON TIME next Monday! I might head to Madrid this weekend to watch the Vikings beat the Saints!!

The Plaza de Cervantes, the heart of Alcalá

Orientation

For some reason my last blog will not let me back, so I created this (similar) blog instead! Today is day 2 of my orientation, I'm here with 19 other American students, assimilating to the culture, talking about classes, safety issues, etc. Some highlights:

• I arrived early and alone on Sunday morning, and I slept most of the day. I went to dinner by myself and pointed to something on the menu (it turns out it was tuna salad)
• It also snowed my first night here! A rare occurrence in Alcalá

• We are staying at the Hotel Campanile, and eating lots of good food. Tonight I felt like being adventurous and ordered calamari, but it was gross. Most of the other things I've eaten I don't know the names of.

• Tomorrow I move into the "residencias" which are considered dorms but are more like apartments. I will be living with 5 other Spaniards, maybe girls, maybe co-ed, and sharing a room with one of them. My Spanish isn't terrible so far but tomorrow will be the real test.
• I plan on updating this every Monday
  
• OH! and "vale" means "ok"- a valuable discovery