HUGE UPDATES!

When I started this blog I definitely underestimated how much energy traveling takes. So I'll try to start from my departure.

I spent a hefty amount of time traveling, from Minneapolis to Chicago to London to Madrid. It may have just been the day I was in the airport, but it doesn't seem that European travel stations are as efficient as ones in the United States. The gate for my flight to Madrid wasn't even assigned until a half hour before scheduled departure, and as a result the flight was delayed two hours.

I got into Madrid and checked into my hostel, after taking the Metro from the airport. Madrid's Metro is really easy, with everything color- and number-coordinated (depending on whether you're left or right brain, I guess?). I was so exhausted by the time I checked into the hostel that I had no energy to do anything--I just shot off some emails and went to sleep. Unfortunately, some loud Americans were staying in the hostel who insisted on yelling at 3 am (more on European attitudes on alcohol later, I'm sure).

The next morning was a veritable nightmare. I had to wake up really early to catch a train to Alicante, and I made the mistake of filling up my water bottle with the tap water there. The combination of lack of sleep, jet lag, chloriney water, and stress was not a good combination. To make a disgusting story shorter, I got sick in the train station. And cried. Plus I had to pay 30€ extra for a first-class train ticket, because 2nd class was full. I couldn't even appreciate the complementary breakfast, being an incubus of bacteria and all. Plus, the signs in Europe are way different (for instance, the sign to go "down" is an up arrow. Stupid) and the person who was trying to help me insisted on speaking to me in English. My Spanish is pretty good. His English was awful.

After I got to the hotel, though, things got better. Luckily a friend was on Skype and he made me feel better just by virtue of providing a familiar face and friendly voice. After that I decided it'd be best to start familiarizing myself with the city so I stopped into this bar/cafe to read. The bartender (camarero) was so nice and chatted and joked for a long time. I think I'll try to be semi-regular there. Then we met our group and went out to dinner for tapas (traditional appetizer-like meals). The people in my group are really social and nice, and we have Spanish student helpers to help us improve our Spanish.

Today was intense in that we woke up sort of early and went on a huge walking tour of the city to familiarize ourselves with some of the landmarks--the plaza, the department stores, the police station, etc. We also had a lot of sessions to cover things like health, transportation, and notable cultural differences. One thing I'm really getting used to is the greetings, like kissing friends on the cheeks. I'm also not entirely sure how males and females are supposed to interact in Spain, so it could very well be that I'm stepping out of cultural bounds by joking and walking around with Spanish men. I suppose I'll learn that, though.

Also intense today was the food. We had three kinds of paella (kind of a Spanish rice stir-fry) for lunch (comer) and a huge Italian/Spanish meal for cena. I don't know if it's entirely customary, but shots of after-dinner alcohols usually follow cena. Yesterday it was sweet wine, tonight it was limoncello. There's definitely not a mentality that shots are meant to get drunk--you drink them for the flavor. After dinner there's drinks, and we all go to the bar district of Alicante called el barrio. Most people drink cañas, which is a highball glass of beer because it's cheap (1€!). Drinks are mostly used for a socializing time. People actually sip instead of chugging. In Spain people my age don't really understand the mentality of drinking to get wasted, and their minds are really boggled by the concept of drinking games. We're trying to prove to them that Americans aren't all alcoholics and irresponsible.

As I'm writing this, it's 2:15 in the morning, which is a very, very early arrival after a night out. It's also a Wednesday, so on the weekends people (including us American students) will probably stay out until the customary Spanish hours of 5 or 6 in the morning.

I'm having a lot of fun in Alicante so far. The city itself is fascinating, and I'm having a great time immersing myself in a new environment and doing my darndest to learn more Spanish. Tomorrow we move in with our host families, which should be another adventure! I'm a little homesick for the comforts of the United States, like texting and same time zones as my friends and talking to loved ones every day, but I wouldn't trade this experience.

Nos vemos!
Maren