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!