Los primeros días en España / First Days in Spain

WARNING: This is a VERY long entry. I have a lot to write about this time. :-)

¡Estoy en España! I’m in Spain! I keep telling myself this and yet I don’t fully believe it. It hasn’t sunk in yet that after years of dreaming and planning and hoping and praying, I’m really here.

I said good-bye to my parents at the airport (I had said bye to Zach and the cats at home). For a few minutes there I was really wondering if I was crazy to want to go abroad. Saying bye was really hard. I miss my family so much already…

My flight to Spain left from Seattle at 9 AM on Monday, August 31. I flew first to Chicago (in a window seat in the emergency exit row) and then to Madrid (in an aisle seat in the second cabin with a Frenchwoman next to me – no chance to practice Spanish). I bought “My Sister’s Keeper”, which I’ve been wanting to read for a long time, at the Seattle airport and I had finished it by 2 hours into my Madrid flight. The in-flight food was decent, nothing special yet nothing terrible. I tried to sleep on my second flight, but I really couldn’t. I slept maybe an hour and woke up wide awake. So I was pretty tired when I got to Spain.

The airport in Madrid is very big. It seems even bigger because there’s glass everywhere. It’s very modern looking. When my plane landed I had a few more moments of panic, of Why did I come here??? But then I just wanted to meet up with ISA. I arrived in terminal 4S, which is the satellite for terminal 4, and terminal 4 is way removed from terminals 1-3. We were meeting the ISA people at 10:00 in terminal 1 so I had to first get from terminal 4S to terminal 4. There’s a little train you take (similar to the one that takes you to N gates at SeaTac). Then in terminal 4 you get your passport stamped and pick up your luggage. After my one giant suitcase came out (thank God it got here OK) I went and asked directions for getting to terminal 1. It was so exciting for me to use my Spanish…I’m sure I sound comical to Spaniards, but I love using it so much that I can’t help but try. I got in the bus that goes to terminals 1-3. On the bus I even talked to someone and asked if there was a stop for each terminal. I got out at terminal 1, which I got to at around 8:45 AM. So I got to Madrid rather early for when we were meeting…I waited an hour or so and watched the airport slowly fill up. I loved watching the people go by and hearing them speak Spanish. I could only catch snatches of what was being said but it was still exciting.

The ISA directors eventually found all of us ISA kids (I think I found them right at 10:00), and a big group of us waited together until 11:30 to take the bus back to the hotel. We started meeting each other then, and I think this is a great group of people. I’ve met a lot of interesting people from many different backgrounds.

At the hotel, HUSA Paseo de los Artes, we checked into our rooms and got settled in. I took a shower and tried to rest without falling asleep. The ISA directors – Quique, Manolo, and Ana – recommended that we not sleep the first day to try and get over the jet lag. It was hard, but luckily right when I was starting to fall asleep, my roommate Maggie arrived. She is a junior from the University of Denver. She had been traveling in Europe for a few weeks, and had already been in Madrid for a few days. Maggie is really nice and I think we are going to get along great as roommates.

Our hotel was right in the center on Madrid, so we set off in search of some food. We eventually stopped and had tortilla (a very common Spanish dish made sort of like an omelet of eggs and potatoes) and croquetas (these are kind of like chicken cordon bleu – it’s ham with white cheesy sauce that’s breaded). Both were delicious.

We returned to the hotel in time for the ISA meeting at 7:00. There we got information about what we would be doing in Madrid and cell phones. ISA offered us cell phone plans with Movistar, one of the biggest cell carriers in Spain. Most of us, including me, got phones right then and there. (If anyone feels like calling Spain, I’ll happily give you my Spanish phone number – all incoming calls are completely free in Spain, even on cell phones.) It’s a minimum charge of 5€ a month, with no rental fee, only a deposit on the phone in case something happens to it (and I bought the extra insurance to be safe). Phone calls are very expensive though – I prefer to use skype. Unlimited calls to the US and Canada for $2.95/month cannot be beaten. After the meeting, ISA took us on a panoramic bus tour of Madrid. I took pictures, but some of them are not very good…they were taken through the window of a moving bus, after all.

That night I went out to dinner with a big group of ISA people. Have I mentioned yet that Spaniards have a very different eating schedule from us? Breakfast is at the same time, but lunch is at around 2:30 (and it’s the main meal of the day) and dinner is anywhere from 8:30-11 or so. This is an eating schedule that will take getting used to. That night I was so tired (I hadn’t really slept since before flying to Spain) I crashed and slept really well.

Wednesday, September 2 was our first full day in Madrid. We started early with a tour of Museo del Prado (Prado Museum) where our tour guide, Silvia, highlighted the works of Goya, El Greco, and Velázquez. The tour was in Spanish, though Silvia was very nice and spoke slowly so we could understand. It was actually a pretty short tour, but we saw some good highlights. I was particularly excited to see “Las meninas” by Velásquez. It was very interesting. I felt like every time I started to really see a painting we had to move on! Maybe because it took me awhile.

After Museo del Prado, we walked over to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). I don’t remember our tour guide’s name, but she was not nice. She spoke really rapid Spanish, then would ask us a question. We’d look at her blankly, and she’d say to the ISA directors, “No entienden nada” (“They understand nothing”). I was able to understand about 50% of what she said, but not all, which was a shame because the palace was beautiful. Its grandeur is pretty difficult to describe. They have a collection of Stradivarius violins/violas/violincellos that’s pretty impressive too. And the throne room…well, if I was Queen Sofia and I had a bad day, I’d go sit on my throne to cheer myself up. Magnificent. The courtyard of the Palacio also had an amazing view of Madrid.

After the tours we had lunch right outside Plaza Mayor (croquetas again, but not as good this time). There was someone dressed as Tigger and someone as Mickey Mouse inside Plaza Mayor…very random. Then we went shopping at El Corte Inglés, H&M, Pimkie, Zara, etc. I didn’t buy anything because my suitcase was too full already and we weren’t getting to Sevilla for another couple of days. We also got gelato. After that we went back to the hotel and rested (I was still fighting jet lag). We went out for a late dinner at a bar and then explored the city, eventually making it to another bar. Let me tell you, Madrid has a bar every 10 feet. It’s crazy.

The next morning (September 3) we got on the bus to Toledo, the old capital of Spain. We had stops on the way though. First we went to Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen). This is a monument to Spain’s civil war. It was originally built by Franco as a monument to himself (he wanted to be buried there, near El Escorial where the kings of Spain are buried – and in fact he is buried at Valle de los Caídos). It has the world’s tallest cross, at 492 feet. It is a memorial that is beautiful inside and out. We had to run to make it into the sanctuary before they held services at 11 – apparently they just changed the rules so you can’t be inside during services. This monument was literally dynamited into the side of a mountain. It is a long tunnel leading to the sanctuary and where Franco is buried. The cross is outside and can be seen from quite a distance. This was one of my favorite places we’ve seen so far – it seemed so peaceful.

After this brief visit (it was only about 45 minutes), we got back on the bus to head to El Escorial. This is an old palace where the kings used to live in the summer (the palace in Madrid was for most of the year, while this was for vacation – the king refused to hear serious issues for the three months he was here). This is another place that was stunningly beautiful (I wonder when it will stop being stunning…). And they had an enormous library of books. Just crazy. We got to see the mausoleums where the kings and queens were buried. However, as our tour guide told us, a queen could only be buried with the kings if she was married to a king AND mother of a king (obviously not at the same time). Our tour guide was hilarious. He mostly spoke in Spanish, but he did some English too, and he made a lot of jokes. One of these was about Mary Tudor (she was married to Felipe II). He asked what was in a Bloody Mary. We listed the ingredients, and he said, “What do you call a Bloody Mary without the vodka?” We looked at him for a second, and then he said, “A bloody shame.” I should add that he made this joke inside the church at El Escorial. We saw the mausoleum for the rest of the royal family there too. I was especially impressed, in the area for kings, to see Carlos V (Charles V) tomb. I still can’t over where I am! After the tours we went to lunch in the little town next to El Escorial. Then we got back on the bus and drive to Toledo. We arrived at Hotel Beatriz, a VERY nice hotel (not that the other one wasn’t, but this one was especially nice). Our room had a view of the old city of Toledo. We had an ISA meeting at 7, and they offered the bus into Toledo afterward, but pretty much everyone stayed and ate in the cafeteria in the hotel because we were all so tired. It was an early night, and I finally felt like I might be shaking my jet lag.

The next day (September 4) we toured Toledo. It started with a bus tour, led by our tour guide Mario. He was very funny as well, and conducted the tour in “Espanglish”. He made a point of saying how Spaniards are Latin people, meaning they touch each other a lot, but reminded the girls in the group that he is happily married (by pointing to his right ring finger – I hadn’t realized they wear rings on their right hand here). He also made a joke about how Italians gesture so much that if you cut off their hands they couldn’t talk. Then we started the walking part of the tour. We went into El Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes (the Monastery of San Juan of the King and Queen). It was beautiful, and had interesting artwork in the courtyard. There were animals carved into the wall, including a monkey sitting on a chamber pot with a monk’s hood reading a book (I have a picture to prove it). Then we went into la Sinagoga Santa María la Blanca (Sinagogue of St. Mary). This is a synagogue that is built in the style of a mosque, because it was built when the Moors dominated Toledo. It was beautiful. (I know I keep using that word, but it’s because there just aren’t words.) Then we took a short break for water. Then we went to see El entierro del Conde de Orgaz (“The Burial of Count Orgaz”) by El Greco. It was a really interesting painting – made me really like El Greco. He put himself and his son into the painting. Mario joked that we should look closely at him, because his ancestors could have been used in the painting as models. Then we walked to the big cathedral (it’s closed, and generally only opened for very important visitors like el papa (the pope) or el rey (the king). But we got nice pictures of the outside! Then we walked to Plaza Zocodover and were told to meet for the bus back to the hotel at 3:30 (so two hours of free time). I went and ate lunch with a group of girls, and then we wandered around the streets and shopped a bit. I tried marzipan for the first time (Toledo is known for Marzipan, gold, and swords). I was really proud of myself because I asked the person at the candy shop to recommend a type to me. It was actually pretty good, though the texture was a little strange. We got ice cream and went into shops and meandered. The group met up, but me and Lori, an ISA student, decided to stay and walk around Toledo more. We had fun using our map to explore and wander the streets. We went by Museo Santa Cruz (Holy Cross Museum) and found it was free to go in. It was modern art, which was not very cool, but the building itself was gorgeous and had a courtyard similar to the one in the monastery. There was also an exhibit of pottery and azulejos (tiles) that was really beautiful to see. We also wandered outside the Alcázar (Arabic for “palace”) and took pictures. On the whole I’m really glad we stayed and spent the time wandering around. We took a taxi back to the hotel about an hour before we had another ISA meeting.

Hotel Beatriz had free wifi, but it was very sketchy. It would work for two minutes, then kick you off for twenty. It was very frustrating, because I REALLY wanted to skype with my mom. At 7 we had our ISA meeting, and it lasted a long time because they were giving us a lot of information about our homestays and life in Sevilla. After the meeting, I met up with a couple of other girls to go to dinner in the old part of Toledo. While we were in the lobby waiting for our taxi, these two little girls (like 3 and 5) came up and started taking pictures of us and with us. Their parents were checking into the hotel and they were having a grand old time playing with their camera. Their names were Celia and Carlota and they were adorable. When the taxi came, we went back to the Plaza Zocodover and had dinner. I had pasta, and we shared a pitcher of sangría. It was very delicious. Then we walked around a bit, looking for somewhere to hang out for awhile, and wound up at another restaurant/bar (there seem to be a LOT of these in Spain). We chatted and had a good time getting to know each other. Then we went back to the hotel and slept.

Saturday, September 5, was the day we took the bus to Sevilla and met up with our host families. The bus ride was very long, but we made several stops. The first one was in La Mancha, where we stopped and took pictures with the windmills that Don Quijote “fought” (in quotes only because he is a fictional character). It was a beautiful view of the Spanish countryside. Our next stop was at a gas station for bathroom and snacks, and the last stop was at a large truck stop (or so I assume, I don’t know what else to call it) where we bought lunch and relaxed for 45 minutes. The total trip took over 6 hours.

We arrived in Sevilla where our host families picked us up. Maggie and I are living with the Muñoz Vargas family. Our señora has three sons, the youngest of whom lives with us, Oscar (in Spain it is customary to live at home until you get married). Her mother also lives with us. They are a very nice family. Our señora immediately showed us the apartment and our room and bathroom. Maggie and I share a room with two twin beds, a wardrobe, a dresser, a table, and two comfy chairs. We also have a bathroom right outside our room that’s just for us. It’s a very nice set up. Señora also came in and talked to us right away, asking us things about ourselves and telling us about her family. She is extremely warm and very patient with our broken Spanish. She told us, though, that after 2-3 weeks everything will get much easier. She has had many students before, at least 30, and so she totally knows what she’s doing (we are the ones in the dark!). I’m really happy with my homestay so far.

For dinner last night, we had tortilla, tomatoes, and chicken noodle soup. It was very good and very filling. I have to admit I was worried that I might not like the food, but it was delicious. She’s also completely OK with my not eating red meat or pork, which is really nice.

This morning, we had breakfast (cereal and apples) and headed over to Plaza Nueva to meet the ISA directors. They gave us a brief tour of Sevilla and showed us where the ISA office was. Then we came back and had lunch with our host family. We ate a pasta dish and breaded chicken with bread. All the food has honestly been really good so far. Now that I’m here in my homestay (with wireless internet!), I feel must less stressed about how things are going to go. Tomorrow is the placement exam, so I need to go study my Spanish grammar so I can prepare myself for the next hurdle here in Spain! Classes start Wednesday (but we won’t know how well we did until Tuesday…it is a very quick turnaround). Wish me luck! Skype me if you want to talk!

Sorry for the length of this entry…I very much doubt they will all be this long. Probably only the ones that reflect a lot of traveling. :-)