"No sè hablar en pasado..."

That was basically my catch phrase on Sunday. I got to Madrid with a thankfully uneventful flight. Actually, it was beautiful because when the plane took off from the Philadelphia airport, the sun was just setting, and when we arrived in Madrid, the sun was just beginning to rise. The sight was wonderful both times, and it melted a little bit of the fear away.


Anyway, on Sunday my host father and the oldest sister picked me up from the airport and brought me home. I slept for a couple of hours and immediately went with the older sister to her friend's birthday barbecue party. We took the bus to get there and we had to run really fast to the bus station because we were very late. In all, it was an interesting first experience with the transportation in Madrid. Everyone at the barbecue was super nice and patient with me. They all laughed whenever I tried to say something because I kept mixing up the little Spanish I knew with Italian, English, and French. I also didn't (and still kind of don't) know how to conjugate verbs in the past, so I kept saying I didn't know how to talk in the past and I talked all in the present with wild hand gestures to indicate that I wasn't actually describing the present. Who knows, they laughed a lot. And despite all that, I managed to have some intense conversations, I loved it!


Then on Monday I tried to go to the university where I will be taking classes starting on October 4th. But since I'm really not into asking people for directions, especially in a language I don't know, I tried to figure out the train system by myself... huge mistake, also considering the fact that I have absolutely no sense of direction. I ended up taking a million wrong trains and when I finally got to the university, I found out (after a while of walking around aimlessly, asking myself whether I had the courage to go up and ask someone where I was) that this university campus wasn't the main campus, it was the "external" one. So basically, I spent three hours trying to get to this place just to find out that it wasn't where I wanted to go in the first place. But at least I got to know the train station, and I'm very happy with it. The transportation system in Madrid, and probably just generally in Spain, is very well-organized and clean. The trains are on time and there is logic to everything. It's funny, when you get on the train, everyone is super quiet. When people start talking, it sounds really weird. Usually, the only sound you can hear are people flipping pages in their newspapers. It's peaceful though... and a perfect ambience for sleeping.


Today I finally got to the right place, and I LOVED it. Madrid is a city with a very urban feel: the buildings are new and modern, inside and out. Instead, the little city, called Alcalá de Henares, where my university is located, is much different. It's about an hour away by train and it is much more rural. The buildings are visibly older and very beautiful. There is a hint of medieval architecture as well as some Arab architecture, and the mix is wonderful. My university, Alcalingua, is part of the larger Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, but it is located in a old-looking building about ten minutes away from the central campus. Inside, the building is full of classrooms with smartboards and foreigners - today, I heard people speaking Italian, Russian, Chinese, and English. It's just amazing! On Monday, I have to go to Alcalingua to take a placement test, both oral and written, for my level of Spanish. I'm nervous! But I'm still really excited, everything about the school is very positive. I think I accomplished a lot today: I even got up the courage to ask people questions along the way, to make sure I was going the right way!


As for other adventures, today I was stalled by a gypsy who read me my fortune and then demanded that I pay her 50 euros, which I obviously didn't have and didn't want to give her anyway. She managed to get 6 euros out of me though.. Also, I started my daily three hours of working - from 4:30 to 7:30 I talk in English with the youngest daughter of the family. I teach her piano, do some reading with her, and then we go to the park. It's pretty relaxing work, I like it. Also today, I helped the second youngest son do his French homework and then he explained some Spanish grammar to me. Who know the "b" and "v" sound the same? No wonder I get so confused! He's so funny though, I love it. And the second to oldest daughter, who's sixteen, showed me these drawings she did.. she's so talented! I told her that she has to teach me, so maybe I'll come back a talented artist too haha, except probably not. She also showed me these two short poems from Bécquer, a Spanish poet, which I really liked:


"¿Qué es poesía?, dices mientras
clavas en mi pupila tu pupila azul.
¡Qué es poesía! ¿Y tú me lo preguntas?
Poesía... eres tú."


"Por una mirada, un mundo;
por una sonrisa, un cielo;
por un beso... yo no sé
que te diera por un beso."


Anyway, I should probably get to bed. Apparently, tomorrow there is going to be a strike because the parliament just passed a law about working and the labor unions are trying to get everyone, especially the transportation system, to go on strike tomorrow. I picked up a pamphlet today to see what it was all about, but it'll take me a while to read it and understand it. We'll see what happens though. Tomorrow's adventure for me is to go to a phone store and get a SIM card. We'll also see how THAT goes. 


Right now, I feel very much at home. I'm having some difficulties with the language barrier, but I feel fortunate to feel at ease within the culture and the European atmosphere. I love walking around in the city and knowing that I'm not a complete stranger. In my room, I stuck a large bright orange post-it on my bulletin board that says NO TENGO NINGÚN MIEDO (I have no fear). :)


Pictures aren't uploading right now - my Internet is sometimes slow here. I'll get them up when I can!