Orientation is over. Therefore I can’t get lost anymore?

I survived the first week of classes!  And I’ve only managed to change my course schedule three times.  That may be a record.  However, this can get pretty tricky when I have to take 5 of the 20-ish classes offered (5 of which are grammar and I can only take one of these).  There are limited options on limited topics, which don’t seem to line up with my nearly unlimited interests.  The drop/add period ended, so I sure hope my newest schedule is a little more suitable.

The rundown:

Grammar class: Mandatory; Monday through Thursday, 9am.  It’s a good thing I sort of like grammar (no joke).  After the placement tests last week I was really unsure of where I’d fall in the mix.  But to my surprise (and boy was I surprised…), I found myself in level five (out of five).  Confusing?  Yes, very.  Want to know why it was extra confusing to me?  The professor who teaches level five was my same professor from orientation classes.  For what feels like the first time in my life, I’ve encountered a teacher with whom I can’t seem to get along.  Long story short, she asked for my travel plans and I told her where I wanted to go and why (Canary Islands – to listen to the silbo gomero, a language all of whistling), and she disliked my reasoning and argued with me that it was a bad choice.  Yeah, okay no big deal.  She argues with everyone, but she caught me at a bad time to pick a fight and I haven’t been pleased with her since then.  When I learned I was in her class, it was bittersweet.  I’ve decided to take this as the challenge that it is.  I will win her over and attempt a good grade at the same time.  And go to the Canary Islands.

Spain and the European Union: I had high hopes.  They were crushed when all we did was talk about econ theories that I would struggle to grasp in English and then reverted back to microeconomics topics.  Didn’t hold my interest….

Contemporary Spanish and Latin American Women Writers: During the first class I was pretty excited about this one and thought it could lead to good discussion and interesting reads.  By the second class, I was convinced otherwise.  Dropped that class too.

Legal and Political Structure of Modern Spain: Semi-interesting so far.  The professor seems cool and excited to teach us something/anything.  I’ll stay in this class.

El Greco, Velázquez, and Goya in the Prado Museum:  Yes, in the Prado museum.  Twice a week I have class in a famous art museum in Madrid.  Even if this class were horrible, which it isn’t, I’d stay in it just for the experience.  Good thing it’s kind of cool so far.  The professor is really passionate about the art and the details and teaching us.  And, as a neat little coincidence, he is my host mom’s younger brother.  Crazy.  Perhaps we will chitchat about art or something over some tapas with the family.  Or not…just a thought.

That leaves me with two more classes that I need.  So I picked up Almodóvar and his Contemporaries: The Image of Women in Spanish Film and Cultural Myths and Spanish Literature.  So far I haven’t been to the film one but I’ve heard good reviews.  The professor is so entertaining; I don’t know where to begin.  He is energetic, dramatic, very young, etc.  I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to sit through the 1.5 hours without laughing at least a dozen times.

What else have I done besides gone to class this week?  There are many adventures, but a few include textbook shopping that lead to the discovery of the most wonderful book store ever, making friends with a baker at a bakery around the corner from me (where I intend to become a regular), enjoying the royal botanical gardens, and finding a cool neighborhood with international cuisine and vintage clothing.

The bookstore: You’ll be seduced by the perfect lighting, soothing music, and smell of new books within seconds of walking through the door.  It’s heavenly

The bakery: Conveniently located near the bookstore; the baker is a sweet woman who explained the difference between many indulgences for me (and gave me a little discount!).  She was patient and kind and my new favorite pastry seller…

The botanical gardens: well…beautiful.  I can’t even imagine them in the spring.  I only took 150 pictures.

The neighborhood:  American bakery, French crepes, Italian everything on one corner.  Two small plazas, plenty of shopping, cobblestone streets.  I approve.

Quaint.

American bakery storefront. 

They sold "classic American treats" like cupcakes, brownies, peanut butter, marshmallows, Dr. Pepper, Betty Crocker mixes, etc.

OJO!  This was a Hanes ad originally.  I used it in a project for a COMM class last fall.  Scroll to the bottom to see it.

I had one of these bad boys.  Yummy.

Lucky Charms!!!!  I was so close to buying them.  Then I saw they cost 12 euros.

All in all, the start of classes wasn’t terrible.  It marked the end orientation when I basically had no responsibility, but I’ve missed productivity a smidgen as well.  You’ve read enough for now!  At least about this stuff.. hasta luego!

PS – Orientation may be over, but I still get lost from time to time.

PPS - I know it's really early in the game for this, but I've been having food cravings for things (such as the Lucky Charms pictured above) that are damn near impossible to find here.  If you'd like to send me a package of tasty treats that the Spaniards are lacking, I'll gladly accept your donations (and provide you with my address).  : )

Arrival & Orientation Day 1

From 9/5

There were no lines at passport control and I zoomed right through.  I waited for my bags for about a half an hour.  Good news (and this is rare when it comes to baggage claim), my bags were the second and third to come around the conveyor belt.  Fantastic!  I loaded them on a convenient, free cart and rolled on out to the arrival pick-up area.  As soon as the automatic doors slid open there were five staff members with a sign and huge smiles waiting to greet me.  For a second I thought they were more excited than I was (but that couldn’t be possible).  I checked in with them, met another American (with equally as much luggage), and was escorted to a taxi.  We were lucky enough to be able to share the cab and split the fare.  The ride was short but I was exhausted.  I was amazed and overjoyed to be back in Madrid.  I love it here!  It is beautiful and alive, and warm today.    

There was a three-course lunch before the start of the orientation, which lasted maybe two hours.  The orientation part only took about 30 minutes today.  Tomorrow’s will be much more extensive.

After the orientation we had some free time to walk around again.  I walked to look for a wifi connection.  I didn’t have a connection for long, so I only sent an email or two.  Hopefully I’ll get to update you again soon (and post in retrospect).   After that mini quest, there was a “paseo”  (walk/tour) through a bit of Madrid with Spanish students.  My tour guide seriously needed a lesson from a Lion Scout.  We all walked behind her and she didn’t face us, so it was nearly impossible to hear her.  She showed us all around different areas that were relatively close.  I have no sense of how the different areas were connected though.  I need a good map and a day of getting lost and finding my way home – then I’ll be good to go.  The Spanish student left when we were what I thought was part way through our tour, which meant that we got to hang out and walk about and find our way back.  It was really cool and super easy – we ended up taking the Metro back to our hotel (where we have orientation). 

I kept having these crazy flash backs to the last time I was in Madrid and remembering certain places.  It was such an odd feeling to be remembering things and street corners and buildings and statues.  I had no idea how close together the places from my memories are to each other.  It’s so neat.  I can’t wait to go explore more and find more corners of town that I recognize (and even more that I’m clueless about right now).  Along the walk we saw some unual sights.  The most noteworthy include the woman carrying around a rat like a baby, the store front packed with creepy dolls, and the insane foot traffic lined up on Gran Via to see some famous, handsome actor (not sure who it was, but the age group looked like it was for Spain’s version of Justin Beiber).  My group for the “paseo” was the same group that dined for the hefty lunch together, so we were starting to bond.  It was really nice.  We ended up hanging out the rest of the afternoon and then had a light dinner together before heading back to the hotel (where I am now). 

I’m stunned by the fact that this morning (yesterday really) I woke up in my own bed at home and everything was normal and now my world is upside down.  So far, two thumbs up for Madrid.

For today, I was clearly still an American.  Good news is attempts at being a madrileña are in the works.  There will be many café homework and people watching sessions, paella meals, and tapas crawls.

Tomorrow is a big day – hours of orientation in the morning followed by meeting our host families and placement testing in the afternoon.  Not sure what the resto f the day looks like but that’s enough to keep me entertained!

G’night for now.

PS – A HUGE SHOUT OUT TO ALL OF THE NEW THON CAPTAINS!  CONGRATULATIONS AND I CAN’T WAIT FOR FEBRUARY!!