Something Funny

Here is my dog Simon trying to find me. I was talking to my parents on voice chat and we had my webcam on and Simon heard my voice but couldn't fiind me. My mom said that he keeps going in my room to look for me. He would cock his head every time I talked and it was really funny. Isn't he cute?

Food

I thought you all might be interested in the food I am eating here. We first I have to say that I haven't found anything that I don't like yet. Everything is pretty good. For those of you who don't know, Spaniards eat a lot of seafood and cook everything in olive oil. The food is very healthy here, much more healthy than the US. The only thing that is strange is that milk is bought in one liter cartons like orange juice and it doesn't have to be refrigerated. It is displayed out on the shelves of the store with the cereal and chips. Very strange, but its still milk. The first weekend I was here, I went to Burger King with my friend Alexandra. They have Burger King and McDonald's everywhere here, as well as starbucks. I think there is a starbucks on every corner. But its a lot more expensive than in the US.
These are gambas, or shrimp boiling in the pot below. You can see that they are the whole shrimp, eyes and all. It is better to cook them this way and then you break the head off and the shell and just eat the inside. It has a better flavor than just the inside that is sold in packages. To buy this kind, you have to go to the supermarket and order it at the seafood counter like we would order meat and stuff at the deli. I have a picture of the fish counter below.

This is where you can buy fresh fish. I'm sure you can imagine how it smelled when I took that picture. I'm not sure if people buy the whole fish, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. :)

This is a a resturant on Gran Via, near where I live. It is the street where all the shopping and activities are. This restaurant is called the Nebraska, which I thought was kind of odd. I had Tortellini, as you can see.

These are empanadas and croquetes (i'm not sure on the spelling) The bigger ones are the empanadas and they are cooked in olive oil and they have a mixture of tuna and tomato sauce inside. The croquetes are also cooked in oil and have puree chicken and some sauce. They are both really good. It kind of sounds gross when it's described, but really its good.

School

Here are some pictures of my first day of classes. I am in the higher level class and my professora is very nice. We discovered the library and also a small bakery nearby that has some very good pastries. I have class from 9 in the morning to 1:30 with a 30 minute break at 11.

Plaza Mayor

Today I went to the Plaza Mayor, which is a 10 minute walk from my apartment. I went at night and it was beautiful. Chloe, I hope you are looking at these!!

This weekend I went to a friend´s house. Her name is Alexandra and she is Romanian but she lives in Quintanar, Spain which is like an hour from Madrid. She met me on saturday night and we went ice skating with some of her friends. It was a lot of fun. Then we drove to her house and on sunday I went to her church. It is a Romanian church so my spanish didn´t help me but it was nice. Its a pentacostal church, so things are done a little differently. Tomorrow is a holiday here so I will stay with Ale until monday night. Here are some pics from her house and ice skating. Her family was soooo nice and it helped me to not be so sad about missing my family. She has two younger brothers. Enjoy :)

In Spain

Well, I finally made it to Spain! So far I have just talked to my parents but I hope that I will be able to talk to some of you all as well. It has been a crazy few days. There has been a lot of things that I didn't expect, but so far everything is going pretty well. I am in an apartment with 2 girls from my program on the same floor. There are some other people on our floor too but I haven't really met them. They are all students like me though. The students in my program are....well let's just say..interesting to be nice. The girls are picky eaters and all brought like twice as much luggage as I did. The two girls on my floor are nice though. One is from New Jersey and the other is from Oregon. They are a little more down to earth i think.

Madrid is a beautiful city from what I have seen so far. It is very clean, which is something I didn't really expect. The weather is nice. Its like in the 50's and mostly sunny. This weekend is a holiday (El Dia de los Reyes). Its to celebrate when the wise men came to visit Jesus when he was born. They actually give their gifts on this day instead of Christmas. The streets are so busy because of this and there is a huge parade tonight.

I haven't really done any shopping, but I will have to soon because I have to do something with my room. Its not very appealing right now. We live near la Gran Via, which is a huge street that is full of stores and hotels and anything you would want to find. (Andrea-- I found an H&M :) Things are pretty expensive here though so I am definately going to be careful about how much I am spending.

Spanish is coming pretty easily for me. I haven't really had any communication problems. I think Spaniards are a lot easier to understand than other hispanics that I have talked to.

Well I think that is all for now. I have one picture that I took so far, and it has been so crazy that I haven't thought to take more. Don't worry, I will. I want to thank everyone for praying for me and please don't stop. I think I need it more now than ever. This is going to be a huge adjustment.
Talk to you all soon!!!

So my mom just realized that my brother is graduating the same day that I get back from Spain! The graduation is at 7 and my flight comes in at 3:25 as of now. So I need to find someone that can pick me up from the airport. If anyone can help me out, please le me know!