Thursday started out as a bundle of fun at 6am when I tried registering for my spring courses for Penn State. It was especially fun because I had only been asleep for a few hours and the registrar somehow was led to believe I was no longer a PSU student. Needless to say I was a teeny bit stressed and frustrated, especially because of the time difference there was little I could do save send emails to anyone who I thought might help (including Mom, Jeff, my advisors, and the registrar). Regardless of the unsolved dilemma, I had to get ready for class.
Speaking of class, the intensive grammar orientation course is going well. Our groups/levels were based on a 100-question written grammar exam. To my surprise, it was reasonably easy. Somehow I managed to place into the level just below native speakers for the orientation class. However, next week we have speaking exams that determine our class level for the remainder of the semester. Speaking is about a million times more difficult than grammar, so I’m pretty sure I’ll move levels, but no worries. I’m here to learn, and that’s exactly what I’m doing.
After class ended around 1pm, I’d normally head home for some tasty meal with my Spomma (my Spanish Momma’s new abbreviated name, courtesy of Jeff). Instead, I had to go solve some minor cell phone fiasco. It took far longer than it should, and I missed the window of time to have a home cooked meal for lunch. That’s definitely one similarity these phone companies have – the service is slow and they charge you too much. My Spanish cell phone has fewer features than my first phone had about a decade ago. There isn’t even a volume button. Yes, seriously. But hey, it works now (yay!) so that’s really what counts.
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| Don't be fooled by the cuteness. |
After fixing my phone situation, I grabbed some tapas for lunch with friends, and then headed over to the Palacio Real. I had been there before, but it was still amazing to see again. It’s a huge palace, and very ornate. The craziest part is that this is what we have been calling the “back-up palace.” By that we mean that royalty doesn’t even live there. It’s where they greet other famous figureheads and/or politicians, and are able to entertain. They have a different palace to live in – no big deal.
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| Before entering the Palacio Real. |
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| Palacio Real |
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| Church behind Palacio Real |
After visiting the palace and taking a few pictures where allowed, I headed home to rest for a bit, as I hadn’t really had much time to do that since arriving in Madrid. My rest time didn’t last long. It was almost time to meet up with friends to start our first real night out. We did our first night in American style, as it was earlier than Spaniards would ever consider starting their evenings. We didn’t really know what was around, so a bunch of us chose a meeting spot and then wandered to find fun bars and clubs. On just about every corner there are people handing out cards to get free cover and/or free drinks at their bar or club. It’s half really annoying, and half really convenient because you don’t have to spend money and you can hang out with everyone. We found a few places that we liked, and stayed until around 3am. Needless to say, I slept very well when I finally got home.
We decided that on the next day, since we don’t have Friday classes, we would go to Salamanca. We got a group together and decided to meet at a metro/bus/train station. So exciting!
My biggest challenges of the day were not the staying awake and going out when having not slept in days, but the letting go of stress and asking for help to solve my registrar issues. It was difficult to be kind of helpless (besides sending emails) when the possibility that I may not be able to go back to school in the spring was presented. I just had to let it go and try to enjoy myself anyway. A HUGE thank you to everyone, especially Mommy, who helped sort out the mess and let me go play in my new home.
