Living vs. Vacationing

I've now been here for 3 weeks, which qualifies as real life and no longer can be confused with vacation because a vacay would be over by now. It's a different feeling than in the first week or two when everything was a kind of blur, and didn't seem permanent. I have now been to Carrefour to grocery shop, which is like the Sam's Club on steroids of Europe, so I now have an abundance of comida (food), making it feel more like home =] I've cooked quite a few meals, and done a lot of laundry (which over here does not involve a dryer... love/hate relationship with that fact.) On February 1st I'll be able to use my unlimited metro pass, real resident-status right there.

The best part of having a life here is that Kelsey and I have joined a community group through http://oasismadrid.org/ and we meet every Monday night at a flat. We have a pot luck style dinner and then have a book study on Tim Keller's "Gospel in Life." The people are wonderful, a mix of American, British, Irish and Spanish, and everything is done in English. I've been on this church's website/ getting the newsletter/ communicating with one of the members for the past 4 or 5 months, so it's really exciting to finally be here and be a part of a body of Christ.

Life here is good, I'm incredibly blessed and I'm glad I've begun feeling I really live here =]

XAKE Japanese Buffet Video =]

This was delicious and like nothing I've ever seen before. Fun night, and the 5 of us had food babies after =]

La Universidad

Loving school. Or lack of school =] For instance, both my classes today were canceled, tomorrow is a school holiday, and last Thursday all classes were canceled because an old, loved professor passed away. The 3 of my 5 classes that have begun haven't picked up at all but I trust they will soon enough, so I'm enjoying relaxing and exploring in the mean time. Mi horario (schedule) is amazing. I have class Monday- Thursday (my Friday night one is getting changed to Wed. starting next week.) Also, next week, I begin my Spanish class for extranjeros, (foriegners.) Universidad Rey Juan Carlos has 4 campuses, and I'm at the Vicalvaro one, which is smaller than lot 18 and comparable to Titusville High School in size. If you don't relate to either of those 2 references, you just need to come visit and see for yourself. So, super small campus, but I like it because it's something different. I live 5 minutes walking from campus, which is wonderful because I also joined the University's gym and have been going almost every day.

The music at el gimasio is 90% english, so that's basically awesome. I was in Bodypump today, a cardio class, and the hilarious Wierd Al parody (below) on TI, was playing and I was laughing to myself but also wondering if I was the only one that could understand the extent of the humor. Which, then made me feel boss, for possibly the first time since arriving. Usually I feel quite the opposite about my language knowledge since everyone I meet knows at least two, if not three or four languages.

Tonight I went to a very French party at a friend of a friend's flat. It was a costume party, for no specific reason, which btw is awesome, and 4 people had on nearly identical chicken costumes? So great. We didn't know it was going to be a costume party, but I really want to know next time and dress accordingly. The Americans (Kelsey and I) stood by the food table the whole night (surprise) and raved about how delicious the crepes were while almost everyone around us spoke French together. It was a good time, but an even better time when we met and spoke with a few people in Spanish and got to practice.

K, that's all I got. There's always so much more but I really will update again soon!

Photos of my Apartment!!

I realize some of you are probably only here for the pictures... in which case shame on you, but that's something I would totally do too so no worries =] But nonetheless I'll keep this short so you don't have to scroll down a bunch (which is how I judge the length of blogs and therefore whether or not I'm going to read them.) 

I've absolutely loved my first week here. Madrid is a gorgeous city and I'm in constant awe of the buildings, statues, fountains, parks, and people everywhere I go. This weekend I went to the weekly market in La Latina, where hundreds of vendors line the street and sell ridiculously cheap things, for instance, bufandas (scarves) for 1 Euro. It was like no other market I'd experienced before. From there, a group of us went to this tiny shop that specializes in "chocolate con churros." Each person orders 6 churros and has a saucer of melted chocolate for dipping/drinking like hot chocolate. Delicious. I don't even know what would happen if America had something like this, but they're very popular here. 

So I think one of my favorite parts about being here is, as of Friday night's sushi adventure (documented on FB), I completely understand the metro. I've never paid attention to how subways work because I've always been led by someone else, unitl now =] Such a good feeling. K so check out mi apartamento! I just decorated my room yesterday, so depending on who you are, if you look closely at my wall maybe you can find yourself! Thanks for reading and I'll blog again soon <3

First days here =]

Incredible first 2 days in Madrid. I feel so blessed to have had Carlos and Aranxa pick us up at the air port. Learning the University campus and Vicalvaro area has been far easier because of our native Madrid friends =]

En este momento (At the moment, PS I use to abuse this phrase when I first learned spanish and said it unnecessarily and am glad to actually need it now) I'm jet lagged and its 1:36 AM but I'm wide awake. Theres a 6 hours difference here. So far I've had hardly any time to relax because there's been so many little things to get done. Haven't even unpacked, (which yes, Mom and Dad is driving me insane) but I have no class tomorrow so I will then.

I adore mi apartamento. It's very quaint and dear. I'll post pictures after I decorate!!!! My roommates are both Russian, and the one I've met so far is really nice and we get along swimmingly already =]

K so city center, or downtown, is AMAZING. We went last night and it's basically like New York City but with European style buildings and cobblestone streets with no cars in many areas. Being here doesn't quite feel like real life yet, but I'll let you know when that hits. The novelty is overwhelming but in a good way and I've been too sleep deprived to worry about anything despite the crazy confusion that is Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. Also, after not getting my visa until 3 days before I flew here, nothing seems like a it's a big problem in comparison. Just very thankful to be here when I am because this time last week I was preparing for the real possibility of missing days here. God has been telling me to trust him throughout this whole process but I like to take control back of course after 3.5 seconds, like we all do. Here I am though, perfect timing arriving here, and only by the grace of God.

In Madrid everything is exciting and different.

Por ejemplo (For example) there are tiny jam packed stores everywhere full of the most random things and run by Chinese people. I equate them to our dollar stores sort of because everyone knows you should go there to buy certain items for way cheaper.

So, en la universidad, the biggest difference in my first class today compared to classes in the US was students literally talked through the whole class. Nonstop, shameless conversations were happening all around the whole time. And in my night class, the professor didn't show up so native students in the class used that time to start a petition to change the course schedule so we don't have class Fridays. The schedule for English taught classes is very basic so the same students are in many classes together.

First Blog!

K so I haven't consistently blogged ever until now... unless you count livejournal from middle school, which in my case looks more like crazy dramatic status updates. I can recall this confidently, because last year I found my livejournal and had the joy of rereading a lot of preteen angst and I highly recommend you find and reread yours.

So, first OFFICIAL blog. Stoked. These last weeks I'm getting ready for Spain and enjoying hanging out with friends and the novio (boyfriend. I, much like Dora the Explorer, am dedicated to teaching you Spanish and will do so throughout this blog =]) I look forward to the challenge of living in another country and am also terrified of it at the same time. I fear the lack of easy communication with home and the language barrier in day to day transactions. The experience will certainly increase my prayer life though, which is the best news.

I invite you to join me in this adventure! Thanks for reading =]