April 21, 2012
The parents and Rex took me to the airport. I got there thinking I would meet up with all
my España friends in the JFK airport, but I ended up meeting 3 in the tunnel
while boarding. Caitlin, Jordan,
and Josh. What a happy surprise that I
didn’t have to find my Madrid
flight in the JFK airport alone. It was
a quiet flight: I was at the window seat and I had put my headphones above my
head and I didn’t want to bother the 2 sitting next to me to get them back out,
so I just attempted to sleep: I made up for 2 hours (2 hours of the flight to
go). Such a long flight!!! We got off
the plane and did some money exchanging.
Shuttled over to the gate and went to eat something just finishing in
time to be the last ones on the plane for Madrid.
We waited for about an hour in line to take off but finally began our
expedition over the Atlantic ocean toward Madrid.
8 hours of trying to sleep, movies, Spanish music from my ipod, and lots
of food. We all got to sit by each other
because the flight was pretty empty, but I got to know the 3 of them pretty
well in between the drowsiness. Off to a
great start at making some friends. And
it’s only the beginning.
April 22, 2012
8 hours later: We met Profe Hague at the curb and we got a
taxi to our doñas. It took forever
because the taxi driver had no idea where he was going. Ha it was bad. Finally we got to my house and I met my host
family. The husband’s name is Paco and
the wife’s name is Irene. They have 2
kids living with them. Raquel and
Javi. But they’re lots older like 25 and
29. They’re so nice though. But I was so nervous to understand everthing,
that I forgot how to talk. It will just
take time I’m sure. It’s a lot of fun,
but it’s hard. My room is tiny and then
I have to share it, but the house is gorgeous!!!
I went on a walk after I finished packing waiting for lunch
(the big meal for the day) just around the block to get a feel for where I
live. There are plazas on every corner!
It’s sweet! I walked into a little shop, it reminded me of an American Dollar
store, and looked for some converters and a notebook for school. I forgot my money though and was walking out,
and some old man tried talking to me… He was quite the awkward soul bless his
heart. He spoke quietly and made me give
him a beso after he walked me home telling me he lived across the steet…
probably not all that safe… ha
I got home and the daughter was cooking. She made me Spaghetti and the mom made
mushrooms (Zetas), which were the best tasting mushrooms I have ever had in my entire life. Usually I'm not a fan, but I've been persuaded to be in love with mushrooms from this day forward. I helped set the table because it’s a rule that I’m not
allowed to cook, I’m not even allowed to open the fridge. So we sat down for
cena with all 5 of us and Raquel’s boyfriend Carlos. There were also some Megedes (?) They were
like picked green pinecone looking vegetables stuffed with a chile. They were good, and everyone laughed because
I didn’t’ know how to eat it. J it was funny.
At dinner we watched drag racing and they were all surprised that we
didn’t do that much in the states. After
dinner I went upstairs to take a siesta and fell asleep for 3 hours! Let’s just
say traveling wore me out. I came
downstairs and was immediately fed again.
Basically a toasted pita pocket with turkey and some delicious cheese
I’ve never had before. And then for
dessert a huge bowl of flan! It was so good!!! Then Paco and I watched a game
show in the kitchen. And after that
Raquel and I watched get smart.
April 23, 2012
Today was great! I woke up ad had hot chocolate and lemon
bread bars that look like twinkies but they’re not filled, just delicious. Then I went on a walk because Katie (my new
roommate wasn’t getting here until 12 or so. I brought a map, my camera, my
wallet, ad my phone in hopes of finding ay sort of internet So I could send my
family an email as soon as possible. So
I wandered about the city trying to find the center plaza. I went up and down streets trying to follow
signs and just enjoy where I was. I went
into a few stores wanting to buy way too many things. There were Kebab shops and heladerias and
panderias on every corner. Too bad I
have too much restraint to buy anything.
:/ I eventually ended up in the
Plaza de Cervantes (not knowing it at the time). I wandered the plaza just enjoying myself,
sitting on benches, taking pictures, people watching. It was great.
While sitting there Caitlin and her doña found me. So I wandered the streets with them, coming
to find out this is where all the host families met the students to pick them up
from the bus from the airport. So I was
looking out for either Paco or Irene. I
found Paco and he took me to the university which was way close. We went back and the bus was pulling up. So we grabbed Katie and headed home in Paco’s
truck.
We went upstairs and unpacked her stuff. She is way more prepared than I am!! She
brought converters for my computer, movies, books, games, she even brought a
frisbee! Needless to say, she’s awesome! Way super nice! And me and her will be
great friends I hope. Ha we ate lunch (a
delicious white bean soup with chorizo…Hot dog and sausage-and a bowl of fruit)
after that she was way tired so we threw in a movie and fell asleep til 5 or
so. When we went downstairs no one was
home, so we decided to go on a walk around the block. We were gone for about an hour just wandering
the streets. It was good to get to know
the place a little better. We went home
around 7 and still no one was home. So
we played games in our bedroom while listening to Spanish music—for about an hour. Then Javi got home from work and made us a
delicious noodle soup with boiled eggs in it.
We ate that with bread and then Raquel came home and gave us
yogurt. We are livin large here! We then
took showers because we’re not allowed to take them at certain times of the
day, like mornings so we hurried (Because we’re only allowed a 5 minute shower
because of the drought). And then we
went to bed! :)
April 24, 2012
What a great day today was!! I woke up around 5 or 6 and
couldn’t fall back asleep, so I went down to the kitchen around 8:00 and ate
breakfast with Irene. Then I went back
up to bed thinking I’d just sit here til Katie woke up, but I fell back asleep
til around 11:30 AY!!! We got ready for the day and then went to the Alcalá
mall. It has an h&m and a million
other stores. It was quite large and so
fun! We walked around there for about 2 hours.
I didn’t buy anything but I wanted everything!
We came back and played monopoly (cards style) until
lunch. We had noodles and salad and some
sort of fried turkey with cheese in the middle, kind of like a cord-on-bleu,
(with out the chicken). It was very
good! and then an orange for dessert. We
then headed out for Alcalá to meet with the whole group to see a lot of the main parts of the
city. We met in the Plaza de Cervantes
and went on a tour to the college and a bunch of other plazas. I’m sure I’ll be visiting there again. Oh and the wall of the city. Then Katie and I went to McDonald’s after all
our tours so we could use its free wifi.
I finally emailed my parents to tell them that I was safe and did some
sufficient facebooking. We talked to
profe and told him we didn’t have internet so hopefully they get that
fixed. Ha Tomorrow! After McDonald’s we
met back with the group in the plaza so we could go to FHE with the singles
ward here in Alcalá. There was a going-away-party
for one of the future missionaries in the ward.
And then we watched the futbol game (Barcelona vs. Chelsie). I didn’t get to see who won because it was
late and we stilln eeeded to wlak home.
So we went home with 2 of the boys in our group, Carlos and Josh. They walked us home because we had no idea
how they bought us to wehre their house was.
Very gentleman like no? Then I got ready for bed and started writing.
I met a lot of people today. I really really love Noelle! We’re going to
be great friends throughout this trip.
And I met Amanada, and she’s a little bit awkward but very sweet. So many more that I had legit conversations
with but I can’t put a face to the name.
Britney, Alsha, Logan, Holly, y mucho mas. I’m falling asleep here. It’s been a long day! And I was only awake
for 10 hours. AY!
April 25, 2012
Last nights sleep was the worst! I went to bed around 11 and
I woke up around 4. I could not, for the
life of me, go back to sleep. I laid in
bed until 9 (when we planned to have our alarm go off) and then we got ready
for the day. We had to leave the house
at 10:30 so that we could go to our first day of classes. We went down and had the usual. I had chocolate milk and lemon bars and Katie
had Juice (peach, apple, and grape) with hers.
We walked to school, it’s about a 15-20 minute walk to school from our
house to Alcalingua, but it’s fine. We
get bus passes starting may, and we still don’t know if it’ll be better to just
walk or not. We’ll time it later. So we had our literature class and I
apparently have the attention span of a four year old. I could not stay focused. First of all it’s in Spanish, second of all,
I’m in Spain—I
could be exploring, Third of all, It was like 2 hours long! (okay, an hour and
a half, but still).
Then for the drama that lasted all day!! We met with
everyone who wanted to go anywhere for the free weekend trip. I have always wanted to go to Morocco and so
I got that going before we got here, but then once we started talking
logistically here people back out and change their minds. So We ended up completely ditching that idea
(after I booked a hostile) and were debating on Amsterdam,
Ireland, and Budapest. Ireland yes, but not the other two…
maybe later. So all day we were debating
on what would be best.
Katie and I went home so that we could go eat lunch. We ate Verduras (Zucchini, Potatoes, Carrots)
They were a little bit weird, almost a pickled taste, but not quite. Then we had Fried fish! So good! It was
clearly salted and so delicious!!! I’m in love! Then of course we had an orange
for dessert. She told us that we are
getting Internet tomorrow! So that was great news! I can finally be a part of
the group facebook page and know whats up, and I’ll be able to text people all
the time on my phone via wifi! And then we decided to give Paco and Irene our
gifts that we brought, our welcoming gifts.
We gave them a big soft warm BYU blanket, a picture book of Utah, a magnet, and a
tabernacle choir CD. It was warmly
welcomed. Ha After that we were on a
whole new level with them. Irene showed
us her whole house and showed us things brought from past students. She pulled out more picture books, of Michigan, Church paintings, normal paintings, and a lot
more. Then she pulled out a Book of Mormon. She started getting teary eyed talking about
it. Either the girls that gave it to her
were her favorites, or she actually knew and felt something. I have no idea, but It was so cool. They are so much warmer to us now, and we’re
trying to talk to them more and ask them questions. It’s working out quite nicely thus far.
After that we went back to Alcalingua so Katie could
organize her group. I got on Skype and
got to talk to Rex, the first who answered all my calls for help to communicate
with America. It was great.
I texted him over my Textplus over wifi and told him to get on
Skype. It was 8 a.m. there so he was
just waking up. It was fun to see him.
Ha too bad the internet here is a little sketch. Good nonetheless.
Josh came and found me and we walked around and
explored (a group of 8 or so of us) and we went to the Puerta de Madrid (Door
of Madrid) and took pictures, chased storks, scaled the city walls, and just
did really cool things. :) Then we were hungry so we went and got my
first Kebab. Very good! Big, and a lot
to handle, but Good. After that we went
back to Alcalingua (The University) and tried to figure out travel plans
again. Got no where. So we went back to the Plaza to meet up with
a group to go to a bar to watch the Madrid vs.
Germany
game. Way fun! I love being with the
people. I love getting to know the true
heart of Alcalá. That’s why I’m living
in a different country: to get to know the real city, not the touristy parts
and not the student aspect (Even though I probably should…). So we watched the first half there but then
me and Katie kind of have a curfew so that we can make it back in time for our
showers. :) So we started walking home,
and she hadn’t eaten, so we pulled over to a Kebab shop and she got a Kebab and
I got an ice cream for us to split. The
game was 2-1 for Madrid. It was intense. So much fun.
It’s cool walking down the street and having no one there and every
store and bar had the game playing, or they were closed. I love the Spanish culture. It is a religion for them here (soccer). We walked home and we showered and got ready
for bed, we heard Raquel screaming at the TV so we went down to watch it with
them. We came back in time for the
Penalty kick off. It was so intense!!! Germany made their first 2 and Madrid missed their first 2. Madrid made
one, Germany
missed one. Madrid missed. And Germany made
it… Germany
took the game. It was so sad. Poor Raquel was so upset. Javi was at the game. How terrible would that be? How depressing. Then we went up to bed and Hopefully I’ll get
more sleep than last night. I have
conveniently worn myself out for tonights rest.
:)
April 26, 2012
I woke up today at 6.
I’m getting better. Slowly
adjusting. My alarm went off at 7 so we
coul get to Alcalingua at 9. We got
ready and had breakfast (lemon bread and juice today) The juice is way thick
here. If it didn’t taste so good I would
think it was snot going down my throat.
It’s so good though! (The juice…) We then walked to school, in the misty
weather of Alcalá. By the time I got to
school there was no point in doing my hair that morning. Ha oh well.
We had History class and it was way hard. It’s going to be such a hard class! It’s so
fast, she has so much information to tell us in every sentence she says and
it’s all in Spanish. Ay. Not fun.
Hopefully I pass that one. Ha ha Then we booked all our flights and
train rides and hostiles for our Morocco trip. We settled on that finally. What the heck?! Why couldn’t we just go with
what I said in the first place. :) It’s
fine. It’s great. I’m just glad I’m going. After that I went home with Katie for lunch,
we were starving so we stopped by a panderia by our house and it was the best
decision I have ever made. We decided that
we’re going to stop there every Tuesday and Thursdya to reward ourselves for
getting up so early. :) We bought a
churro looking treat that was filled with an apple pie type of filling. SOOOO FREAKIN GOOD!!!!
Then we got to our house and had alentil soup with sausage. Like rolled up sausage. I want to say it was blood sausage but I don't know. I didn't want to ask so that I could finish it. But it was way good. It had powerful flavors which is a rarity here in Espana. And as always, eaten with pan, You can't have a meal here without it. After that we went upstairs ot watch Finiding Nemo in Spanish
