¡Mi vida en España!

Holaaaaa!

No, I'm not going to write this in español.  I am having an overload of spanish in my life right now, and I don't feel the need to subject you all to my pain as well.  Yes, pain.

Here it is.  The famous first post after leaving your home for another country.  It's just so nice to possess this power in my hands.  Everyone waiting, wondering when I'm going to share my experiences with them (and again, by everyone I mean mostly Marisa and Mother dearest).

Enough with the small talk.  (There's a fly in my room and its driving me insane.)  I don't even know where to start though, but I guess the beginning is always good.

My first plane trip.

I almost puked.  For real.  I hate roller coasters and the first plane was a little "puddle jumper" or whatever they call it.  Everyone was practically sitting on each other and the plane bumped and jolted every few minutes.  Jody was worried that I would vom all over her.  Whoops.

The second plane was better dealing with turbulence, but definitely not with noise/space.  I had a friendly (NOT) girl my age on my left and Jody on my right.  Not only did this girl next to me practically sleep on my lap/shoulder the entire 8 hours we were on this plane, SHE DIDN'T TURN OFF HER ELECTRONICS DURING TAKE OFF OR LANDING.  I honestly thought we were going to crash because of this stupid, rude, and obnoxious sleeping girl.  I had a mini heart attack.

Besides the stupid girl, there was absolutely no possible way I was going to sleep.  The little screens on each headrest for movies were so bright that the person two rows in front of me was bothering me.  Then there was the old person somewhere in the back hacking up a lung every 3 minutes.  And don't let me forget the baby.  Yes.  I HATE THAT BABY.  I was finally, after 4 hours, about to nod off into the land of dreams when this freakin baby started wailing!  Just screaming its little head off!  And did the parents hold it? No.  Did they coo at it? No.  Did they continue watching their movie? Yes.  Every one on the plane was awake at this point because of the baby.  And do you think it's possible to fall asleep with 50 other people moving and trying to get comfy again?  Wanna take a guess at this answer? Yea, the answer is no.  It's impossible.  Yet somehow, Jody was able to sleep.  And drool for that matter.  Sicko.

So we finally arrive in Spain.  The trek to the baggage claim seemed like a mile and a half.  And I was carrying a 23.5 pound backpack as well as a 27 pound carry on (without wheels).  I was sweating when I got there.  Rough.  I had to leave the baggage claim because I thought I was going to pee myself.  But of course, our bags were last off the plane and we waited almost 40 minutes to get them.  Even rougher.

We only waited an hour or so at the airport for the rest of our classmates and Magda, one of our directors.  At this point, it had been 18 hours since I had slept.  And I needed chapstick. Badly.

We were all dropped off separately to our respective host families.  Mi Mama Española is Àngeles.  My sister (mi hermana) is Rocio.  She's getting married on Saturday, and unfortunately, I am unable to attend.  Boo.  We live in an apartment about 5 minutes (walking) from la plaza (sort of like downtown in America) and about 20-25 minutes from the university.

We had an orientation today at the school.  Our Spanish Mom's took us on the bus.  They showed us around, gave us our class schedules, and we talked about the culture in a Spanish classroom.  It's basically the same as at home, except more things are considered rude.  For example, eating, stretching, or leaving for anything.  Our host mom's were supposed to come and pick us up from school as well, but a grad student lives in the apartment across from me, so he and I walked together.  It was awkward, in case you were wondering.  BUT, I found out he has a cat.  We'll be best friends in no time at all.

At siesta, MY FAVORITE TIME OF THE DAY, I met my other sister, Mariposa, her husband, I can't remember his name, their son, and Paula, their daughter.  they were very nice and talked a lot slower in spanish for me.

After siesta (nap), all of the students in my program met at la plaza for a tour with Susana, our other director.  She gave us a brief tour around, showed us the bank, the post office, and where to get phones.  After, all the students decided to get tapas y bebidas.  Tapas are like appetizers basically.  A small portion of something.  So far I've seen fish, hamburgers (which were absolutely ratchet!), eggs, bread with cheese, calamari, and tuna.  Tonight I tried some cheese with bread.  It was like a sharp, white cheddar.  SO GOOD.  And, I had vino blanco called Alma.  Great choice.

At cena (dinner) we had an egg omelet with tuna.  It sounded so gross, smelled even weirder, but oddly it was delicious.  Also we had nagges? I can't figure out what they were called after I asked mi mama to repeat it 3 times.  They were chicken nuggets.  So whatever that is in spanish, that's what I had.

Tomorrow we have more orientation junk at the school, but after that the day is free!  Jody and I are going to go to the supermarcado (supermarket, nice friend word eh?) for champú (shampoo) and other things.

I haven't taken one single picture yet.  I apologize for that.  I'm just trying to get comfortable and know my surroundings before I start being all touristy.  It's very difficult to find your way around.  All the buildings and streets look the same.  Tonight, when I came home from tapas, my key somehow worked on the building next to ours, and I got all the way to the 7th floor to realize that it wasn't my doormat or my building.  It was so embarrassing!  My host Mom just laughed at me.  For like 5 minutes.  She's great.

In case you are curious, I'm 6 hours ahead of you.  It's 10:45 pm here, and I'm exhausted.  If you want to reach me, message me on Facebook.  Or we can skype.  I have a prepaid phone now as well.  If you get a missed call from a very strange number, just call me back.  I have to pay an arm and a leg to call America.  You however, can call me for free. It's very strange.  Also, iPhone blue messages, I can receive! And I can send them back too!  It's very convenient.

So I think that's all for now.

Happy reading.  Stay excellent, ME.

P.S. We have a dog named Pipi.  Pronounced Pee-pee.  As in I have to tinkle.  It's hilarious.  That's all now.