Spain 1

Well guys... I've arrived in Spain. I am still alive. I have yet to arrive in Valencia (tomorrow) since we spent two days in Madrid and two in Toledo. I guess I should start from the beginning.

The Flight:
Seemingly ideal. I was sleepy when I arrived, didn't wait too long, and had two open seats next to mine, so I could stretch out comfortably.Unfortunately, after an hour's rest, I was no longer tired, and spent the rest of the flight trying and failing to sleep. Also Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants II is not so uplifting. Homesickness began early. My second flight, London to Madrid, yielded more sleep, and ended swiftly.

Arrival in Madrid and Day 1:
I realized in the airport, for the first time, believe it or not, that I am currently in a country where I don't speak the language. This has never happened before. I got asked questions twice and could only mumble confusedly and wear a fairly befuddled expression. I met one of the ISA directors in the airport and a couple of other people getting picked up. We took a bus to the hotel. My roommate had not arrived yet so I settled in and proceeded to mope in homesickness for a couple of hours (although the shower helped greatly) until I forced myself out of my room. We had a meeting where they three directors spoke almost entirely in Spanish. I think they were warning us about safety and health things, but I'm not really sure. We then took a panoramic bus tour of the city, but I was so exhausted I slept through most of it. I found a couple of people who didn't want to go out, and we went to a grocery store and got bread and cheese and churizo to share back in the hotel. I love spending 3 instead of 15 euros on dinner... I finally went back to my room, met my roommate who had arrived late, and too lazy to dig through my luggage to find PJ's, slept in a T-shirt.

Day 2:
Wake-up call around 8, meet at 9 after breakfast. There are 48 people in the ISA Valencia group, and we're the only ones together since all the other ISA travelers to other cities arrive on different days (Anna, for example). About 40 of the ISA students are girls, just to give you some perspective. We first visited the Prado museum, where, exhausted and jet-lagged, I proceeded to lose my breakfast in a mildly comfortable bathroom. Luckily I felt better afterwards, although I skipped lunch. We walked around Madrid for a while for lunch, then toured the Museo Reina Sofia. Not only was I feeling better, but I could actually mostly understand the guide this time, (everything, as expected, is in Spanish). The museum was also modern art, and held the oh-so-famous Guernica. It is as impressive as they say, and one of the few works of art that lives up to its reputation, at least so I've found.
The evening was spent getting Tapas with six people I've found who are pretty cool. Tapas are more filling than you would expect and cheaper than ordering a proper meal at a restaurant. I tried calling home at a payphone with a phonecard I bought, but no one answered. Stupid time difference... (6 hours later here, if you must know). Sleep came much easier the second night than the first, although exhaustion has not stopped at all.

Day 3:
Wake up at 7:30, meet at 8:15 after a hasty breakfast. Getting everyone's luggage in the bottom of two huge buses takes forty minutes. I sit next to Leigh on our way to El Escorial, about forty five minutes outside of Madrid. It boasts a cute town and an amazing palace, where we have another tour. It's the first sunny day since I arrived, and warmer than in Madrid, but not by much. The weather is just below freezing, but warmer in the sun, and never really windy.
The tour guides have so far all been funny and fairly easy to understand. Most speak in Spanish and English, though mostly Spanish. Everyone here seems to understand more than I do, but hopefully not for long. We had lunch in Escorial, then back to the bus for a fifteen minute drive to Franco's tomb, which you can imagine is a controversial place. What you can't imagine though, is the eerie and almost majestic church carved deep into a mountainside that wields a cross out the top as high as the Washington monument (or close), nor the amazing view. We only stayed briefly before returning to the bus and riding another two hours to Toledo. I slept the whole way, gratefully, although the exhaustion holds sway still with all the walking we've been doing.
We had another meeting in the hotel in Toledo about Spanish customs, common phrases, and what we can and can't do with our host families or at their houses. After the meeting I managed to get directions to another grocery store from the guy at the front desk of the hotel, and went to buy more bread, cheese, ham, fruit, and cookies for dinner with a few people. I've already kind of found a group (ish) that's very cool. Leigh, Ken, Andrew, Elizabeth, Anna, and the two Texans (Macy and Jessica). We came back to my room, since my roommate went out to Toledo for dinner, and chatted about lots of things... Mostly where we're from, our majors, why we're studying, and then other random things. I bought overpriced wireless internet later and wrote home, then slept at around 1am. Since dinner here is at around 9-11pm, bedtime is rarely before 12, and more likely close to 1 or 2am. Flashback to freshman year...

Day 4:
Another fairly sunny day... I'm glad to be out of the city and unable to hear traffic from my window. I don't know if I could ever really get used to the sounds of sirens and roads right outside my room. I know I'm living in the city in Valencia, but I hope at least an apartment is more soundproof than a hotel room.
A panoramic bus tour of Toledo is followed by a long walking tour of the old part of town. It's on a hill, a palace at the highest point and the fourth largest cathedral in Europe in the very center of the city. Most of the buildings are ancient, everything is made of stone, and the streets are tiny. The roads are all cobblestone, laundry hangs out of every window, and the views are fantastic. You never know where you could end up in the winding, narrow alleyways of the town. Toledo has also, for centuries, been a haven for Muslims, Jews, and Christians, so the architecture is a mosaic of different influences.
After the tour and a couple of hours for lunch the bus took us back to the hotel, where I am currently relaxing in my room before a meeting in a half hour about our host families. After that probably dinner, perhaps in Toledo, and sleep. Tomorrow morning we leave for Valencia, meet our host families, and settle in. Until the next time... Here are some photos!