First days in Spain :)

After two long days of travel, I am finally at “home” in Oviedo, Spain. We arrived in Madrid yesterday (Saturday, the 19^th) after flying from London. Already, I knew I wasn’t in my comfort zone any longer. The flight attendant spoke in Spanish and then English. However, her English was so laden with a Spanish accent and spoken so quickly, I couldn’t understand a word. I was given a rude wake up call. I thought I knew enough Spanish to at least get me by and I couldn’t have been more wrong. When we got off the plane and into the Madrid airport, reality set in. I was in a completely new country where everything was in Spanish and I was the American that stood out like a sore thumb. After walking miles through the airport, we finally found the train and metro stations and bought tickets for both. We caught the Metro to our hostel and immediately, we were targeted. Luckily for me, a gentleman let me take his seat so he could stand. Nicole and Andrea weren’t as lucky. Nicole was pushed up against a sketchy looking guy who kept pushing into her so she couldn’t move. I shouldn’t have realized right away that he was a pick-pocketer, but we were so exhausted, we weren’t thinking straight. As soon as Nicole realized her wallet was gone, we tried to confront him, but of course he pretended like he didn’t know what was going on. The people in the train seemed to understand that she had been pick-pocketed, yet no one said anything. We were flustered and scrambling to think of the right words in Spanish. A small miracle happened then, and we knew we were being watched over. He dropped her wallet to the floor. She didn’t come away completely unscathed, but fortunately, all he took was her money. Her cards and ID were safe.

            After that terrible start, we got off at the next stop and transferred trains. After a few more transfers and stops, we started making our way to our hostel. It was on the Calle Jesus y Maria, which is a little alley way off of the main cobblestone roads. Of course, luck was not on our sides that day. It started pouring rain as we were trudging along carrying our maps and luggage. At least we can say we have had many, many adventures. We arrived at our hostel and were so relieved so see it clean, colorful and cheery. Our room was on the fourth floor so we started lugging our stuff up. All I know is I have climbed thousands of stairs and hauled my luggage countless times. Traveling sure does get you into shape.

            We settled in and headed out for food. My oh my. Spain is on a very different schedule than the rest of the world. Lunch is at about 2:00 and dinner starts around 9:30. Of course, we were hungry at about six because we had been travelling all day and hadn’t eaten. (I feel like that became the norm for us. Tired and hungry.) We walked around to explore but everything was closed because of the siesta. So we walked into the closest open place, which was a bar with a few tables. Of course at that hour everyone was only ordering drinks, but we needed food! So we sat down and ordered water. (Which, by the way, is NEVER free here. If anything, water is the most expensive drink you can order!) After about 20 or so minutes drinking water and never being approached by a camarero (waiter), we were starting to get concerned that they weren’t serving food at that time. So of course, looking even more American, we asked, in Spanish, if they were serving food at that time. We got a nice laugh from the guy and he brought us menus. We understood most of the words, but we still had no idea what to order so we ordered blindly. We have had the WORST luck with food on this trip. We ended up eating sopa castilliana, a soup with bread, eggs, ham, and garlic, and a simple ham sandwich, or so I thought. Mine showed up with a raw egg plopped in the middle of it. After picking at our food and eating what we could, we decided dessert was a good idea to fill our stomachs. Wrong. The dessert, if you could even call it that, was horrible. It was supposed to be a churro filled with cream, but it definitely didn’t taste nor look like it.

            As horrible as our first day was, I wouldn’t change it for the world. It just makes travelling to new cities all that more exciting and memorable.

            The next day, we woke up and took the metro and a train to Oviedo for another six hours of travel. Oviedo is absolutely breathtaking. It’s much more open, clean, and relaxed than Madrid was. Much more my style. We got off the train and immediately stepped into a local festival going on. There was food, balloons, and costumes everywhere. I was filled with excitement. We asked some local policemen directions to the University and starting lugging our bags up and down the streets. We got to the Casa de las Lenguas, met the rest of our group and waiting nervously for our host families to show up. One by one, students met their families and headed off. My heart was pounding so badly when I heard my name called. I walked over and greeted my new mom with the traditional double cheek kiss. She is absolutely precious. Her name is Maria and she speaks very quickly with a very thick accent. I was so overwhelmed. I can only understand bits and pieces of what she is saying to me and so I just nod and smile like an idiot. I tell her I can speak and read Spanish, but when someone is speaking to me, I can’t understand much. Language barriers are AWFUL. She doesn’t speak any English and I feel so lost still. I ask her questions, but don’t understand the responses. I don’t know if I am going to disrespect her or her husband by not adhering to what they want. I asked if their were rules as from what little I could understand….I don’t believe there are. But I’m still not sure and so nervous to do something wrong because I don’t know what’s right. I know the first week is going to be so overwhelming, especially combined with all the travel I have done. I’m so excited for next week to come, when I feel much more comfortable with understanding the language. It’s going to take a lot of work, but I need to keep reminding myself, “this is what I’ve been waiting for and what I’ve always wanted.”

            I don’t have Internet at the house and so I have a feeling I’m going to become very familiar with the local cafes. I can’t wait to start taking classes and hopefully learning A LOT so I can feel less like a stranger in a strange land.