First day of University class

I placed into the level 2 Spanish class (out of 3 levels, if you’re wondering) and we had out first class at 9:00 this morning. I had planned on getting up at 7:15 because I have to leave my house at 8:25 to catch this autobus and my madre worries if I wake up with less than an hour to get ready. Needless to say, the whole getting up at 7:15 thing didn’t work out very well, I woke up at 7:35 or something. But, you guys will be so proud, I was showered and dressed at 7:45. iQue bueno! Getting on the bus this morning was crazzzy because there were soo many people. I think a lot of students have classes at 9:00 so I’m going to have to wake up earlier next time to catch a bus closer to my house.

Anyway, class this morning was good; I think I’m really going to like my teacher and I know she’s def going to challenge us which is good because at this point I feel like I’ve hit a wall as far as improving my Spanish goes. Mostly because we’ve been doing so many things as a group before classes started and we always talk in English to each other obviously so the only time I’m forced to speak Spanish is with my host family. It is getting a lot easier for me to understand them when they talk to each other though. Oh yeah, my madre’s youngest daughter came home like a week ago and she’s here until mid November I guess. She’s 28, has a novio named Serge and she’s very nice. Its hilarious to watch her interact with her mom because they get along really well but she rolls her eyes and makes faces sometimes, like when Mati (my madre) tries to give me more food after I said I was full, Elena (hermana) will always be like “iQue nooo mama! iTe dije que esta llena!” and rolls her eyes at me. I like both of them a lot.

Tonight we’re going to a Botellón, which is a kind of fiesta that students go to basically to drink. Its not legal to have drinks in the street I guess, so the students go to a place that’s basically a fairgrounds outside of the city. Its also a lot cheaper because buying alcohol at the store (Eroski) is a lot a lot cheaper than in bars. Sounds like a lot of fun, right? At first when I was hearing about this it sounded like it could go pretty wrong (and totally would never be allowed to happen in the US) but the city has buses running to and from the Ferrial (fairgrounds) all night for like 50 centidos each direction. Also, the Spanish concept of drinking is waaay different than the American way. Even for students. No one gets like drunk, most people will just have a few drinks, but its way more about the socializing than the drinking. So I’m excited for that.

Right now I’m planning a trip to Ireland with some of the people in the group because we have a long weekend (5 days, really more like a week) at the beginning of December and a lot of people were talking about going to Amsterdam, which would be cool, but I was thinking I’d rather go somewhere I’d never been. Then someone suggested Ireland and so now we’re going to Dublin! We found roundtrip flights from Madrid to Dublin for 40 euro! I’m pumped J

That’s all for now, folks.

Day Trip to Merida, Spain

Roman "acueductos" in Merida, Spain

Roman theater, also in Merida, it was in such good condition! (slightly restored, but for the most part it was all original)



Seats at the Roman theater



More Details!

Sorry it's been a few days but we've been really busy and when were not doing things as a group I'd rather be sleeping or talking with my madre than spending too much time on the internet, but I need to catch you up!
Okay so first, I would write in Spanish, and maybe a little later I will, but for now it's still pretty overwhelming having to speak and listen and understand everything.
My madre (host mom) is so nice and like I said before, she is so patient with me its wonderful. She has been hosting for 10 years so that 10 students before me so I'm sure she learned the best ways to communicate through practice. She literally does everything for me, and I know you're probably thinking "Maggie would love that!" but I sorta feel bad. I offer to help with things but she always says esta bien, esta bien. Its just her and me because all of her daughters (3) have moved out and two are married and one is living with her boyfriend, I'm pretty sure they're all in their late twenties-early thirties. One of her daughters and her husband came over for lunch (the big meal) on Sunday. She is very pregnant, only two more weeks until the baby is due! She said "vas a concocer Samuel" which means that I'm going to get to know him! 
I really like all of the people in our group, a  lot of whom I'd never tlked to once before we got here. At first I was spending a lot of time with the 3 peope I was sort of friends with before we got here, but I don't want to spend al mytie with only them, which I think they would be okay with. Plus the girl, Katie, is pretty annoying and whiney, not agood travel companion. So last night, Pooja and I asked everyone if they would wnt to go out for a drink and some tapas and we were pleasantly surprised when everyone said yes (except Katie and Pat and Fernando, my friends from before) so we went to a cafe and pushed a bunch of tables together outside and got a few bottles of wine and sat around talking and getting to know each other better. It was really fun, but I felt a little bad for the waiter because there are I think 20 of us.
We start our regular classes with the rest of the university students next wednesday so we have been getting to know the city and we have a lot of organized group activities, but this morning we had our spanish placement test :/ to see which level we would be placed in. I'm really not sure how I did, because it was pretty har, but everyone had about the same reaction, so I guess we'll see!
I love love love the city, it is so beautiful and it has been really warm and sunny so I have been walking everywhere, I have pretty bad blisters on my heels. Tomorrow morning were going to an open air market which im pretty excited for, and I'm going to try to go running before because I haven't had a good time to yet.
I'll give you more details later but for now here is a list of things that surprised me:
1. Everyone dresses really well. I knew this already but the Spanish women have a way of putting together the most impossible seeming outfits that would look ridiculous on anyone else but they make it look so much better than you would have thought! They are so much cooler haha
2. We eat all the time. All the time. This is me saying that so you have to appreciate how true it must be for me to say it. ALL THE TIME. If I don't go running soon you guys won't even recognize me because I'll have gained 100 lbs.
3. Speaking Spanish is really hard and frustrating. I know it will get better but for now, its hard.
4. Im suprised at how much I love the siesta, and how badly I need it. We eat at like 230 and by 330 I am usually asleep in my bed.
5. Everyone stays up so late! On Saturday, we left the discoteca at 4:30 and there were still people there, most people stay until 6 in the morning, sometimes later!

That's all for now!

Day One

So, I'm here! Everything is great so far, (except my spanish) my host mom is super nice and very patient with me when I can't think of how to say something. She speaks almost no english which I'm looking at as a good thing since I'm sort of forced to think of ways to ask her stuff. She has two small dogs, one of which barks everytime someone stands up but she is very nice and loves to be pet so its still a huge upgrade from rusty. I have internet access at my house which is nice, too. I'm so tired though, I took a nap earlier and woke up feeling much better, but its still not enough really. Tomorrow we're all meeting up and the resident directors are taking us on a walking tour of the city which I'm very excited for. Its raining right now and thundering a littl, and my madre just told me that there was a pretty bad storm here last night and some of the streets were flooding and were like waterfalls!
I'll keep you updated!
p.s. leave comments so I know you're reading this, otherwise I'll probably stop writing!