Quick Update

So, I haven't been updating as much as I had planned... I was fantastic at updating my Norway blog but I'm having a hard time thinking of things to write for this one.

I haven't been on many trips lately.  I caught another cold recently and am waiting for it to subside and possibly go to Valencia or something this weekend.

I have booked trips to Lisbon, Budapest and Mallorca for April... And of course Norway for spring break!  I will be going with Lynn to Lisbon where we're going to spend time on the beach.  I will be traveling with a group of girls to Budapest and will hopefully be able to see Vera, our old Hungarian Rotary Exchange Student, who lives in the city.  My last planned trip is to Mallorca, where I plan to relax in the sun on the beach!

Let's see... What do I need to catch up on...

We went on a class trip with my theology class (Jerusalem: City of Three Faiths) to Toledo.  It was really interesting to visit the city while completing a project.  We visited a Catholic church, a synagogue and a mosque broken up into groups.  It was great to meet more students, especially some permanent students.  We wrote an 8-10 page paper about a book we read previous to the trip (about religion in medieval Spain) and our experience in the ancient city.  We just received our grades back today, actually.  A-.  Not bad.

We just read Hedda Gabler in my Intro to Drama class.  I really enjoyed it, seeing as the playwright is Ibsen!  Reading this play is adding to my excitement about my trip to see my Norwegian families and friends up north!  I'm flying out on the 22nd of March and I return on the 31st.  Jeg gleeeeder meg!!!! I can't believe I get to see everyone in less than three weeks... It's unreal.

Lynn and I went out with a bunch of her friends from SGA recently, which was fun!  We went to a bar not too far from where I live.  This allowed me to get to know more permanent students, some who are in my classes.

I haven't had any problems with giving up dessert, junk food and soda for lent seeing as I rarely eat/drink any of this at home... especially in Vermont.  I just forgot about how studying abroad makes you crave literally anything from home, especially that which is typical such as soda, chips, chocolate, etc.  (No wonder why I gained the exchange weight... stress-coping mechanisms and all.)

I apologize again for not keeping up with this blog like I did with my exchange student blog.  It's just that this time I actually have to do schoolwork!

When the honeymoon is over...

So I haven't updated in the last few weeks...  This is because the initial excitement of moving abroad has worn off and I am now deep into normal life: class Monday through Thursday.

I'll take this time to talk about where I am living, SLU Madrid Campus, daily life, etc...

top left: lobby; top right: elevator;
bottom: Miriam and my room

I'm living about a five minute walk from campus, which is very convenient.  I live in a room with Miriam and Jess lives in a room down the hall.  The apartment is a nice size and the three of us share a bathroom.  Our host mom, Carmen, is a little older and makes us a different dinner almost every evening.  She's pretty helpful with my Spanish.

Padre Rubio Hall

I have three classes each day, which isn't so bad.  I just had my first test in Spanish today... not quite sure how that went...  Otherwise, I got two As on my papers in Intro to Drama (we've read Oedipus, Lysistrata, Everyman, and The Merchant of Venice so far) and As in Management.  I have yet to get grades in my theology class (we're going to Toledo on Friday for a day trip) and my Macroeconomics class.

Between class I normally head up to Super Sol, a local grocery store, with Emma and whoever else wants to join.  Tomorrow Emma and I are giving up chips, soda, chocolate, and any other junk food for lent... Wish us luck!  I normally buy bread because it is SO cheap and the fruit is really inexpensive as well.

After class recently, it's been too cold to sit outside on campus so I've come home to nap and do homework for the evening.

We have dinner between 8 and 8:30PM every night with Carmen.  For the past week she's left the news on so we can try to understand it and learn more about Spain.

top two: Dubliner's (rt Superbowl)
bottom left: Mardi Gras
bottom right: salsa dancing

I caught a cold sometime in the past two weeks and lost my voice, but I'm slowly getting better... I definitely caught whatever my host mom had.  Otherwise, we've been going out, taking advantage of anything that is free and hanging out with everyone as much as possible.  It's so funny to think that I never knew the kids I normally chill with here in Madrid from the STL campus... We also celebrated the superbowl at our favorite bar: Dubliners.  This past Thursday we went salsa dancing, which was so much fun as well :)

Dublin

Alright, so Thursday night, Miriam and I packed our backpacks to head off to Ireland for the weekend!  We left around 6 AM on Friday and boarded the metro for the airport.  There, we met up with Kelly, Emma, Claire and Lauren and we also saw that there were several other SLU students heading that way on the same flight!

We landed in the early afternoon, bought Dublin passes (which saved us a lot of money at attractions), took a bus into the city and walked to the Four Courts Hostel (after getting a little turned around) and checked in.  This was all after waiting in line at customs FOREVER.  They were having problems with some people from South America, I think.  Then when it was my turn, the guy got confused with my Norwegian visa, which happened on the way in.  But soon understood and we all got a fancy stamp for a 90 day visit allowance in Ireland.  Miriam, Claire, Lauren and I shared a room that was meant for six, but we were the only four in there while Kelly and Emma slept in a room of 16.  We locked everything up and headed to the Guinness factory.

We got in for free with the pass when it was supposed to be 13 euros (from what I recall) and walked around the museum for a couple of hours.  At the end, we went up to the Sky Bar (a bar on top of the building that was totally encompassed in glass in order to see the whole city) and then learned the tricks to pouring our own pint of Guinness.  We got a certificate, of course.  The coolest thing was that "our teacher's" grandmother's best friend's name was Noellen! I've never heard of anyone else with my name!  That was a really neat discovery.

From there, we were really tired and got fish and chips at a pub called "O'Shay's".  From there we just went back to the hostel and hung out in the "Bubble Room" in the basement reading some sickening romance novels aloud by Irish authors.  One of the men who worked there kept coming by and was amazed at the number of romance novels there were in the hostel's library and kept pestering us about reading them (although it was a joke).  I really appreciated the mural that was outside of the Bubble Room...

The next morning, we ate breakfast at 8:30 and left soon after to visit some cathedrals.  We walked to Christ Church first and then to St. Patrick's after.  Both were stunning on the inside and out.  There was a festival of some sort outside of Christ Church with traditional food and dance, which was very neat to look through.

After that, we walked around the city and saw the Trinity College campus (very impressive), got free cake and coffee at a restaurant (courtesy of the Dublin pass), saw a leprechaun in front of the Molly Malone statue (of course we took a picture with him), and visited the Jameson distillery.  I was lucky enough to be one of the whisky testers (not much of a fan, unfortunately) and learned the difference between the different kinds of whiskey.  Shopping was next on our list and we walked around for what seemed like hours to find a place to eat because of a music festival that was in town and all of the restaurants were full.

Sunday morning, we left fairly early again.  It was just Miriam, Emma, Kelly and me on Sunday, because the other girls were doing a day trip.  First, we got more free cake and coffee and then we walked across town to Aviva Stadium and got - what felt like - a VIP tour (it was fo' free... Dublin Pass) through the whole place.  We got to see the locker rooms, showers, press rooms, corporate rooms and even enter the field the same way the soccer and rugby players would.  It seemed even more VIP because it was only the four of us on the tour.  We then walked across town again (after lunch) in the rain and did some shopping.  I bought a nice coat for pretty cheap and the girls found things as well.

We saw a castle later, went to the wax museum and met up with the girls for dinner at a pub called O'Donaghue's where Emma and I both ended our trip with fish and chips and a pint of Guinness.  When we got back to the hostel, we had a Spanish woman living in our room and we spoke with her for a bit before we packed, showered and went to bed.  We took a taxi to the airport and got there around 8 AM.

The flight was uneventful, but when I tried to go through customs, the same thing happened that keeps happening to me: they look at my expired Norwegian visa!  So the guy was questioning me, but he eventually realized I just never got stamped coming in or leaving from Madrid.  For whatever reason, I never EVER get stamps, which is sad because I've been so many places and nothing to prove of it in my passport.  (I don't even have a stamp from Norway... and I entered and exited that country at least four or five times...)

Miriam and I are going to look into a trip for this weekend... Maybe Barcelona?  If you have any suggestions, let me know!

Five Clubs, Salamanca and a Proposal

On Thursday night, Miriam and I went out with a large group.  We planned on going to Kapital, a club with seven floors and supposedly a cool venue.  So we went downtown and walked around to find the place and saw more and more kids from SLU on the way.  We went into a bar to have a drink before getting in line to go inside where a boy pointed at me and said, "Hey!" He was referring to my hair and we quickly joked about how there are NO redheads here!  (He had red hair, too.)  After standing in line fifteen minutes before the "no cover" time was up, Miriam and I made it in with our driver's licenses and no one else did.  So after standing inside by ourselves for a few minutes we went back outside and everyone was leaving so we went with them.

We ended up going to the club next door, which was called "Faena Madrid" and I just couldn't get over the name, which can mean something vulgar in Norwegian...  There was NO ONE THERE.  Except creepy older men... So we left there as well.  Next we headed to Sol to go to another bar and then ended up at Dubliner's.  There are always SLU kids there along with very attractive foreign people, but there was NO ONE THERE EITHER!  It was a bummer of a night.  To top it off, Miriam and I were hit on by a 29 year old Venezuelan... who "looooves American girls!"  (Oh wow, you're so original!)  So we decided to go home early.  We took a taxi with another SLU girl and made it home by spending less than 4 euros each.  Not too bad!

Friday we had a very chill day to prepare for Saturday.

Saturday we went to Salamanca!  It was about a two hour and fifteen minute bus ride from SLU Madrid to Salamanca and we spent the day walking around the city in the rain and cold and visiting the cathedrals and various Jesuit and other churches of different denominations.  We also visited the University of Salamanca building to find the little frog for good luck in our studies.  We split up at the Plaza Mayor and went on our own to get lunch.

Six of us went to a little cafe and had the menu of the day with a bottle of wine for the table.  While we were sitting there, I spotted someone who looked familiar standing at the bar... I kept staring and getting freaked out... And as soon as he walked my way I knew it was him: Ross from the plane! He lives down south of Madrid near Sevilla and we just happened to be in the same city, which is two hours Northwest of Madrid... Crazy!  We had a brief reunion and I spoke some Norwegian with his Swedish friend who was with him.  Then we all met back up at the bus and left Salamanca after walking around for another hour.  I ended up buying a silver ring, but nothing spectacular happened.

That night Miriam, Jess and I met up with some of Miriam's friends as well as Lynn, Hannah and Emma at Dubliner's.  We had so much fun!  We met a lot of people, from Amsterdam, Spain, USA and other places. We asked a French guy to take our picture and he did and then decided that I was too beautiful to not marry haha!  He kept taking pictures with me and told me that in "five years, three months and four days we'll meet again and get married."  And I told him that I might be married then, so what would happen? And he told me it doesn't matter and I would throw off my ring and marry him anyway.

Then he actually got down on one knee and proposed...  It was so funny.  At least he was attractive and not hounding me...just being silly.  Later, around four or five, Jess and I took a taxi home and then Miriam came home shortly after.  It was a good night :)

Classes are going well... I just read Lysistrata by Aristophanes... Let me just say, double entendres galore!!  management is going well and I am really enjoying the class and Spanish is actually quite difficult.  Hopefully I'll improve while I'm here...

This weekend Miriam and I are going to Dublin with a bunch of SLU girls!!

Toledo y Real Madrid

On Sunday, SLU offered a chance to go on a day trip to Toledo which I signed up for.  We left early in the day on a couple of buses and it took roughly 45 minutes to get there.  The tour guide was a teacher at SLU and he was so worried that he was going to leave us behind... We must have been counted a hundred times to make sure everyone was there!

We began the day by driving up a mountain that overlooks the city and took a few pictures there.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  Then, we drove into the city and the rest of the day was spent on foot.  We walked all around the historical city and went into a synagogue.  Then we were free for lunch and whatever else we wanted, but we all needed to meet before going into the famous Toledo Cathedral.

Miriam and I went off by ourselves and bought a few things and ate a good lunch at a little bar/restaurante where it was only 10 euros for a three course meal and drink.  Then we went into the Cathedral and it was breathtakingly gorgeous.  We all got back together with the group on the other side of the San Martin bridge and made it back to the school in the evening.

I have had normal classes so far this week.  I only have class Monday through Thursday (lucky me).  Everyday I have Spanish 115 at 10AM with Monday/Wednesday Management at 2:00PM and Intro to Drama (we just read Oedipus the King... hello high school!) until 4:45PM and on Tuesday/Thursday I have Macroeconomics with a concentration on European markets at 12:30PM and Jerusalem: City of Three Faiths immediately following.  Not too difficult a schedule :)

creds to Jess

Last night, we (Miriam, Jess and I) impromptu decided to attend the Real Madrid v. Valencia game at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, even though I had an essay to write and Spanish homework to do.  It was a great experience and we met up with a few other SLU people in the stadium.  The tickets were 25 euros and were up in the nosebleed section, but it was great!  Real Madrid won 2-0 and it was a fun game to watch.  When we were leaving, it was almost impossible to buy a ticket for the metro it was so packed and getting on the metro itself was insanely close for comfort haha.  We got back around midnight with no problems. (And don't worry, I finished my homework haha.)

Redhead on the Metro

The past few days have been very busy, but at the same time very free.

Wednesday we didn't have any orientations, but had an optional free trip at 3pm to El Pardo outside of the city.  We met up in front of Padre Rubio Hall (where I have all of my classes) on the sidewalk as the buses arrived.  I saw a bunch of girls I kind of knew so I stuck with them for the duration of the trip.

We took buses (naranja bus represent!) to this park area with lots of trees and grassy areas up a "mountain" (by my standards haha).  We stopped at this restaurant called Restaurante El Faro Del Pardo where we got off the bus and went inside this permanent tent-like area.  It was pretty fancy looking and had a bunch of tables put together in a rectangular shape with glasses and pitchers of water all around it.

After standing around for a bit and talking, the waiters started carrying in trays of churros and chocolate.  Can you say, "Best trip ever??"  We stood around eating churros and chocolate for a while and then headed outside and spent some time out in the park.  Then we were back on the bus home.  We stopped and hung out for a little while at a bar nearby.

The next day was the first day of classes!  I had my Spanish 115 class at 10AM with no one that I know, then I had a break until 12:30PM so a few of us went to VIPS and had a late breakfast.  At 12:30 I had Macroeconomics with a bunch of people that I know from SLU and then I had my theology class called Jerusalem: City of Three Faiths until 3:15 then I was finished for the day.

That night, Miriam, Jess and I got ready and went out to Sol, a part of the city that has many clubs and bars, not to mention shopping.  Miriam and I navigated the Metro for the first time and I quickly noticed how much we stood out.  It wasn't our outfits, those were pretty normal and nonflashy, but a blonde and a redhead on the subway in Spain?  That's a sight, I guess!  We met up at Dubliners then headed to a club called Joy and stayed there until after 3AM.  We had a free drink but anything after that was 12 euros!!!! So I just stuck with the free drink and danced the whole time.  These drunk Spanish guys kept coming up to the girls I was with and it was hilarious.  But almost as soon as I got into the club did I notice that this was not a Spanish club, but an American one... Next time we're going to a Spanish bar.  There were sooo many SLU kids there and Americans studying abroad with other schools!  We met back up with Jess and the three of us navigated through the city to the buses and took the night bus back to our neighborhood.

On Fridays, we don't have class, so we slept in pretty late.  Then we went to the bookstore on campus to get our books (just one or two for now) and then bought some bread and meat to make lunch and some notebooks at the chino on the next block up from us.

Last night, we met up with the guys and some more girls at a cheap bar in Sol where we could get 5 beers for 3 euros, granted they were a little small in size.  It was nice to just sit and talk, even though it was OUTSIDE haha.  It was a little chilly for that...  On the way over, it was much easier to navigate, but Miriam and I quickly noticed that people were staring; I had left my hair curly last night so that stood out pretty easily.

Today I woke up pretty late and am taking a day to be alone, as I really need that sometimes.  Later I'm planning on going shopping down in Sol (after siesta... so maybe around 5PM) and meeting up with some others.  Tomorrow we have a trip to Toledo!

Soy aquí!

I'm in MADRID!!!

I left on the 6th from Killington at around 11:30, drove to Logan International in Boston with my parents and had a very nice dinner at Legal Seafood.  I went through security and was on the plane by 6:30 and we took off around 7:20 because of some sort of runway difficulties.

Before I got on the plane, I sat down at the gate next to a young boy who said I could sit there, then started speaking to his mother a few seats down... in NORWEGIAN!!  I turned to him after he was done speaking with his mother and asked if he was Norwegian in Norwegian and he said yes.  So I had a brief conversation with him and I was so excited because I hadn't met a Norwegian in a very long time.  He was 15, from Trondheim (heldigvis forstått jeg ham haha) and was coming back with his family from a cruise (what a surprise haha) with Royal Caribbean.  It was so refreshing to speak to a Norwegian, especially because he was Solfrid and Eirik's age (while I was there) and he reminded me of Jon. :)  I can't wait to see all of my host families and friends over spring break when I visit Norway!

My flight was to Amsterdam and arrived early, despite the delay taking off.  I watched "Brave" and "Pitch Perfect" which kept me occupied on the plane.  In Amsterdam, a girl from my flight walked with me to the next gate because we were on the same flight to Madrid.  We went through customs where we entered the EU.  At the gate I saw a few people who I recognized going to the SLU Madrid campus as well.  Then I met a few kids who were not from SLU but were also going to our campus.  We all conversed for a while before getting on the plane.  I found out that one of the girls on my flight, Rocio, was going to be living in the same neighborhood as me, so we decided to split a taxi when we arrived.  Before we took off, the flight attendant told us that there was too much fog in Madrid and that we couldn't take off until they knew the visibility would be good enough to land.  So, I was speaking with Rocio, who was just a row in front of me and a guy who wasn't going to SLU Madrid but was staying South of us in Spain, Ross, sitting next to her.  I ended up moving up to sit with them because the flight wasn't full.  We talked for the two hours we taxied before we took off and we made plans to hang out and visit each other.  We finally arrived around 2:30 or maybe later (we were supposed to land at 12:10).

The three of us (Rocio, Ross and I) got our suitcases and then went around the terminals looking for anyone from SLU because they said there would be people there meet us but they were no where in sight.  With the help of Ross we got into a taxi and dropped Rocio off at her place first then to mine!

views from the apartment

Carmen, my host mother, met me downstairs after buzzing me in, and we took the elevator up to her apartment on the 7th floor.  Miriam was sleeping in our room when I arrived and Carmen and I spoke briefly before I told her I was going to nap.  Miriam woke up when I came into the room and we talked a little before we fell asleep.  We slept until 8 and had a dinner of soup and sweet and sour chicken with rice that Carmen made.  The four of us eat dinner together at 8:30 PM.  Miriam, Jess and I each took showers and Miriam and I spent the next hour or so unpacking.  Then we crashed into bed and set the alarm on my iPhone for 8:30 because we were going to have breakfast at 9:15, but the next thing we knew, Carmen was knocking on the door asking if we were ready to go... My phone died over night (my converter doesn't fit into the sockets at this apartment... I'll explain later...) so we rushed to get ready and were out the door by 9:30.  We walked across the street and went into a cafeteria where Carmen treated us to a breakfast of coffee/tea (I had coffee... haha) and churros and bread with olive oil and sugar on it.  It was different, but good!  Then we walked just a couple of minutes and were at SLU.

We had a short orientation in the auditorium and were placed into large groups.  There were a few people I recognized in my group and Miriam was in the blue group with me.  We had lunch in the reading rooms and met a few people throughout the day, mostly from other schools that came to SLU Madrid for this semester. Then we had an on-foot tour around the neighborhood around campus (almost our neighborhood) where we were told where to buy cheap supplies, food, beer... you know, the important stuff.  ;)

After that, we went into the finance office and bought cell phones and signed up and paid for day trips.  The cell phones were 35 euros, so not terrible.  Just for calling and texting.  My iPhone only works with iMessage, so anyone with an iPhone out there can still message me :)

Miriam and I returned home (approximately a five minute walk) and went to buy shampoo, etc. for Miriam and a new converter for me (a la tienda chino haha) for only 1.80 euros.  I think it was a bargain.  Then Carmen went to her night class...

Miriam discovered that there was food on the table all served and ready... We also thought Carmen wouldn't be home until 9 and told us that we would eat alone on Tuesdays...  So we sat down and ate!  When Carmen came home she was laughing so hard... She came home at 8:20 and saw that we ate and said, "The soup wasn't finished!"  And we all started laughing and she wasn't mad, but was more confused.

Anyway, I'm going to bed!