La primera semana

            So I have officially survived the first week here in Madrid. I’m going to be honest, it was rough. Still is. It’s hot, it’s a long commute to school, the food is different, people are different... everything is different. Which was to be expected, don’t get me wrong, but everything is a lot different than expected. I guess this is what people refer to as “culture shock.” It will take some time getting used to everything, I know, but I just wish it would happen quickly.

            Speaking of quickly… the first week did NOT pass by quickly! It feels like I’ve been here a lot longer than eight days. Wow, eight days. I have been here ONLY eight days. It does not feel like that at all! The first week I mostly tried to acclimate myself to my new home. My roommate and I would go to class, come home for lunch and maybe nap then head over to Puerta del Sol and browse around. We spent a lot of time there last week, that’s where our program’s office is located and there are a lot of shops! It’s also a good place to meet; a lot of people (Spaniards included) meet at this place call Kilometro Cero. It’s where all the streets are based off of… it that makes sense? I’m not sure how to explain it correctly. Google it.

Here is a picture of my and my roommate, Alex, at Kilometro Cero. We're cute. I know.

             Right now my classes are just review, I signed up for the Fall 1 program which means the first two weeks I take intensive review classes before I start my real classes that will transfer (hopefully: oh jeez don’t get me started) to OSU. I am supposed to schedule on Wednesday. I’ll let you all know what it is because I know you’re all dying with anticipation. Anyway, the classes are fine, if not a little too easy for me but I think this week might be more beneficial to me. Last Monday we took a placement test and I think my level is intermediate. Which is not good because I need to be advanced to take advanced classes so they transfer and I can get credit so I don’t have to take them next semester because I won’t be able to graduate and ugh. But I’m calmer now, I talked to the faculty at Antonio and they said that I could schedule advanced classes but they might be too hard for me. I have two weeks to change my schedule if it’s not working out so we’ll see. Maybe this intensive review will help. Already I am feeling more confident with my skills so that’s good news at least.

            So what did we even do last week? One of the girl’s in my program turned 21 last Thursday so we all went out for her birthday. We got drinks and tapas at a restaurant and then tried to find a club to go to. In Madrid the party doesn’t truly start until 3 or 4 AM! Some of us ended up going home around 2 AM so I went to bed at 3 AM and had to get up a 6 AM for class. Needless to say, I was really tired. I don’t want to really do that again but we’ll see, I might not have to get up so early when real classes start. Maybe not: I don’t want to spend money on drinks and taxis; I want to spend it on jewelry!

Some of us girlz

            I’m not sure what else to say about this week. I don’t think I really did much of anything. Alex and I went to a place called El Corte Ingles, it’s a department store, and we got some ingredients to make guacamole. She loves Mexican food and was really missing it. I went to a place called Chocolateria, we got some churros con chocolate. It was okay, the churros aren’t like the ones you find at Disneyworld at Epcot. It’s just fried dough and it comes with a cup of melted chocolate for dipping. I like the dough much better plain, the chocolate was too dark/rich for my taste. Guess I won't need to buy them again.

Churros con chocolate

            On Friday we (when I say we I mean me and some friends, I don’t feel like specifying who sorry) went to Buen Retiro Parque and just explored a little bit. It was too dark to get good pictures but I tried. I went back today and got good ones but more about that later. After we went to restaurant called Tacos and got Mexican food! Nachos and chips and salsa and tacos, yay! Too me it wasn’t a big deal but some of my friends LOVE Mexican food so I was just happy that they were happy.

            Saturday we went to Toledo but I’ll write about that next post. I’m getting tired. Today we went to El Rastro (it’s a flea market) and then back to Buen Retiro. To be continued!