Aventuras en Madrid

Well I'm back for the latest of my life abroad and I'm happy to say some interesting things have occurred since my last post.

First of all it is very hard to type in English right now. I find myself thinking in Spanish frequently, even when I'm not in class. It's really difficult to switch between the two languages and I often find myself speaking a mix of the two (I would like to think I have made a new language, but I think the reality is that my Spanish could use a bit more work). The language change also makes classes here very exhausting. While each class is only an hour a day, two days a week, by the end of the day my brain feels so fried from focusing on EVERY word that I find myself begging for the sweet relief of chemistry once more.

If you are interesting in the classes I'm taking here is a list with my feelings on each:

Spanish Culture: YES

Spanish Literature: YES

Spanish Conversation: YES

Spanish Painters: YES

Spanish Theater: NO NO NO NO NO

Apart from musings, when we last left off I forgot to mention that the Fund was throwing us a party style dinner to which they had invited dozens of local Españolos, both young and old. The goal of the dinner was to get to know each other and find partners for a conversation exchange program. The dinner was great and I met a bunch of people. I ended up being partners with a girl named Mona (her name tag said José, but that's her last name and her actual name is Maria, and her other last name is Rodriguez... P.S. people Spain have a lot of names). I'm really excited to start our conversations, which are two hours once a week: first hour in Spanish and the second in English.

The trip to Madrid that I mentioned in my last blog was an interesting experience. The day started with a tour of the Royal Palace. After came a bus tour of the city. Finally we got to lunch which was at the Museo del Jamón which translates to... brace yourselves.....

¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡THE MUSEUM OF HAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently Spanish ham is a delicacy and it's served uncooked. I was told it was like spanish sushi, only with ham. We were all really excited because our lunch was included in the program fee.

We were served fried chicken for lunch. Fried chicken. At the ham museum. Who'd've thunk it?

After lunch we were given free time. This is where I discovered one of the highlights of Madrid; there is a four-story H & M. Oh, and it's down the street from another H & M. Oh, and between them is a store called Zara, which was described to me as a european H & M. On an unrelated side note, my faith that there is a just and loving God has been renewed. Needless to say shopping consumed most of our day.

The busses left to go back to the Fund at 6:00 (or 18:00 for all you world timers), but I was one of the many people who decided to extend the trip through the weekend. My roomie Sandy and I found our Hostel with little trouble. The accommodations were nice and for the two of us we were given a room with 5 beds (I quietly calmed my urge to make a fort). After unpacking for about a minute we were surprised to discover that many of our other friends had booked the same hostel and their room was right next to ours.

Plans for the night were dinner and clubbing for my friend Kina's 21st birthday. I would like to just forget dinner all together, but I feel it involves some necessary life lessons in european dining:

1. Just because a waiter puts olives, bread, and water on the table without you asking, that doesn't mean it's free, but if he puts pig liver on the table you may partake.

2. Splitting a meal is a difficult concept for Spaniards.

To explain the latter, two friends and I wanted to split two entrees between the three of us. Somewhere a grave miscommunication occurred and the three of us were all served two entrees each. At 11 euro a plate we were on our way to having one hell of a birthday. After realizing the error, we tried to explain the misunderstanding to our waiter who, with regret, informed us that we would have to pay for the entrees regardless. 110 euros later we were happy to not be washing dishes and left.

Note to Family Members: The adventures in Madrid ended here. We went home, said our prayers, went to bed, and lived happily ever after. The end.

Continuing:

The fiasco at dinner called for heavy drinking, and heavy drinking in Spain calls for lots cheap wine, and cheap wine in Spain tastes like grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Regardless of the meaty aroma of the vino, we decided to do like the Spaniards do.

A word on Spanish night life. Everything here seems to be pushed back a few hours, this includes going out. Most clubs in the US close around 2 or 3 in the morning. Most clubs in Spain seem to open around 2 or 3 in the morning. This made for a long night that involved rain, a british guy I couldn't understand for the life of me, an irish bar, and a woman wearing lingerie who tied herself to a rope and rose 15 feet into the air and proceeded to show the club her danger-zone while pouring champaign at the same time.

The only real failure of the evening: The DJ had no idea who Ke$ha was and we had to go the whole night without a little Tik Tok (don't judge). After a much needed taxi ride we made our way back to the hostel and fell asleep.

The next morning started bright and early (and a little blurry). We visited the Prado museum and a Starbucks. We missed our train home by minutes and had to buy tickets for one leaving a few hours later. This gave us a little time to explore the Madrid Train station which is AMAZING (there is a turtle pond IN the station). We boarded our train and finally made it back to our beloved Fund.

Well, there's your Day in the Life. Lindsey and I are going to Málaga this weekend (God willing) so stay tuned for updates. Until then, peace, love and happy thoughts!

Culture Shock

So, if you were all wondering, I survived my first week abroad. It's funny, but it feels as if I've been here for months now. The days are finally starting to get a little routine and I am slowly getting used to this Spanish lifestyle; however, this acclimation came with a few minor struggles...

First thing: the toilets here flush by pulling the handle up, not down. As far as other bathroom necessities, it seems that righty-tighty lefty-loosey

is a universal standard, so no worries there.

Moving on...

I may have overestimated my excitement for cobblestone streets. While at first they appear enchanting, the overall image is somewhat misleading, because after only about 10 minutes of steady walking you're ready for a good foot rub. It's also hard to not look like a meek tourist when you are tripping on stones all the time. Another comment on the streets

of Toledo: it's very rare that you're not walking up or downhill. It's also very rare that you are not walking up or down said hill at a 45% degree angle. The final formula is something like this:

Cobblestone + tripping + steep hill = pain and suffering

I was also mislead about cafes. I was excited to exercise my inner european with some cafe camaraderie, but I'm starting to lose hope. Spain isn't really one of those countries that has menus. This turns getting a cup of coffee into a game of 20 questions if you don't want it black. And just because a cafe might have tortilla española one day, that doesn't mean they will have it the next.

Jesus is big here. In the older parts of Toledo, every building seems to have a cross. There are also some fantastic nun sightings if you look hard enough. Also the cathedral right outside my window rings it's bells every fifteen minutes. Every fifteen minutes. If I sleep with the windows open I can use Quasimoto as my alarm clock.

Oh, and fun fact for the day: The phrase Holy Toledo! is a reference to the amount of churches in the city.

I have become more accustomed to the food here, although the portions of meat are ridiculously large. Overall I'd say B+ which far exceeds my first day expectations.

Interactions with the locals have been pretty positive. Most seem really excited to listen to our broken spanish. Occasionally I will get the blank stare or well duh! response, but overall it's not that intimidating. Small conversations are all you can generally get out of people, but I think that will change once we assimilate a little more.

Side note: Nobody can pronounce my name

"¿Cómo te llamas?

"Me llamo Kyle."

"¿Karel?"

"Ky-el."

"¿Kay-lel?"

"KYLE!"

Well that's all for now, I have to get to class. We have a trip to Madrid this weekend and a birthday to celebrate so check back for details.

Just Arrived

This is my first time blogging so bear with me.

I got to the airport at roughly 1:00 p.m. for my 4:10 flight to Philadelphia. I was happy to have mom, Jacob, Katie and Scott with (oh and Marley made a special guest appearance). As we parked the car, flashing fire truck lights greeted us and we began to speculate about the man with a bomb in his underpants who was probably going to ruin my entire day. Luckily when we entered Lindbergh terminal there were only a handful of people and my bag check took only a minute. Of my allowed 50 pounds, I weighed in at 47 (pretty good if I say so myself). However, my victory in the weight department was short lived as I was told I had too many carry-ons and my ukulele would have to stay behind (sorry I wont be returning the virtuoso I expected). After a Houlihan's appetizer feast and some corny photos I said my good-byes and got in the line for US Airways. For the most part security was a breeze. No beeping, no searched bags and no pat-down. But once I was beyond the checkpoint, I could only wave one last good-bye to friends and family before I was on my own.

I literally had to take a deep breath and count to five.... Here we go!

With my big-boy shoes on I began to search MSP for gate E2 which I found in seconds. I took a seat in the empty waiting area and was considering going on an airport adventure when more and more people my age kept showing up. Like strangers at a movie theater, we all seemed to sit a few seats away from each other and waited for someone to break the silence. Small conversations began to pop up.

"Are you going to Toledo?"

"What's your major?"

"What year are you?"

"Home-stay or dorms?"

I hopped on with a conversation going on behind me that turned into a game of P&A and Egyptian Rat Screw. Meeting new people helped the time pass easier and before I knew it we were called to board. Here comes my one and only hurdle. Being one of the last people in line to board I was told that there wasn't enough room for my carry-on. As the flight attendant strapped my bag with yellow tags a "why me?" feeling set in. I made her promise me at least a dozen times that I would see my bag again as she hauled it away (I never seem to trust airline employees). It was when I sat down on our matchbox of a plane that I remembered how my, now out of sight, bag held a good portion of my money and all of the chargers to my various electronics. My anxiety was well cleared by my seat mate, Angie. After going through the preliminary questions I learned that she was from Eden Prairie and we knew some of the same people. Our conversation soon reached out to our neighbors as we all shared life stories and even had time to deal out some nicknames (mine is Coco Chastity). All of a sudden we were landing.

The layover in Philly was marked by the highlight of my day: the return of my beloved bag and then scarred by the ten mile walk to our connecting gate. I was happy to be greeted by my friend Lindsey and I learned my transit was going much smoother than hers. After a short time we boarded the plane and I found my seat. Here was how my plane was arranged

AB CDEF GH........ I was riding in seat D, or as I like to call it, bitch.

On the bright side, my row was filled with toledo-ers and I spent a good amount of time talking with a junior named Kina (from Kristina). We all played the get-to-know-you game until lights went out and our personal tv's on the back of each seat turned on. The movie selection was grim (I watched Juno) and I spent the next 5 or so hours trying to get a little sleep. After an eternity the lights came on and we all bonded over which body part hurt the most. There was a thick excitement in the air for everybody as we landed.

Customs was a breeze, as was baggage claim (although Lindsey had to wait a good 40 minutes for her bag to arrive). We left the airport and were greeted by Yuki who might be my new favorite person. Next came an hour long bus ride to Toledo and I have to say the countryside is comparable to driving through North Dakota in the fall. That was all a little misleading though because Toledo might be the prettiest city I've ever seen. It is, no joke, like something out of a fairy tale (pictures soon). I would, however, offer this warning: wheeled luggage and cobblestone streets do not mix.

Once inside the Fundación, which is a renovated 16th century convent, I received my room key and hauled my luggage up two flights of stairs to unpack. We were fed dinner which was for lack of a better word interesting, but I'm going to reserve judgement until we get through the whole week's menu. Later, we were given a tour of the Fund which I topped of with some me-time and a nap. The home-stay kids have all left to go meet their families and everyone else seems to be unpacking. It's kind of quiet.

Bottom line: I made it here, I'm safe, I like it, it's different, I'm having fun, I miss you, I can't wait for tomorrow!