First days in Spain!

So I’m finally in Spain and I’s been muy bien so far! It was great to be on the group flight with all of the other students because it allowed us to all get to know each other before we even got there. We were picked up at the airport by our program director Jose Luis, and took a bus to Toledo. Toledo’s streets are so tiny that we had to stop outside the city and walk the rest of the way in. Only smaller cars can fit through the streets so and when a car comes through the street you’re walking on everyone has to cram against the wall so they can get by!
When we arrived at the fundación we had our first Spanish meal which was actually consisted of mostly American foods. They probably knew we were experiencing enough changes for one day. The fundación is where all our classes are and where the students not staying with families live. Then those of us staying in homestays got to meet our families. My host parents are María and Juan and they were super sweet. Talking to them was difficult because my Spanish is really rusty and they talk really fast but we managed. The last thing she said to me is that tomorrow I won’t be so nervous…I’ll take her word for it. That night we had our welcome party with a huge fancy meal consisting of all traditional Spanish foods in the courtyard at the fundación. After dinner there was a mariachi band. Unfortunately one of the band member s decided to pull me out of the crowd to dance with him in front of everyone which was pretty embarrassing but oh well.

Afterwards some of the girls convinced them to go out to the bars with us so we had our own personal mariachi band for the night! Everything at the bars is super cheap. Beers are about 1 euro and a glass of wine is usually 2 euro. We met up with the group of Puerto Ricans in our program and they definitely know how to party! It ended up being a super fun night so I’m glad I didn’t go sleep like I really wanted to.

The next morning we had our placement testing for our classes which was harder than I thought it would be but didn’t end up affecting my classes so I was happy. After that my host mom and brother came and picked me up to go to their house. They live in an apartment just outside of old Toledo. The apartment is nice and it has a pool so I was happy! Our first dinner consisted of chicken, French fries, and bread…not very Spanish but still good. I’m wondering if this is what they normally eat or If they purposely made American food.
Today was our first day of classes! My host sister rode the bus to the fundación with me so I didn’t get lost (thank god). Classes seem pretty good so far but it’s definitely challenging since all the professors are native Spanish speakers so they talk super fast. Unfortunately me and two other students I was with got VERY lost on the way home from school and ended up wandering around Polígano for about 2 hours before I called my host mom. I had to have her talk to a random man on the street to tell her where we were so she could come pick us up. We then walked both of my friends home, one of which lived at least 2 miles away.  She was super nice about it though and kept saying “es un chiste” as in it’s a joke like it’s funny to look back on. I just had dinner (at the usual time of 11pm) with her and Juan, my host dad. This time we had fish which is a little more Spanish. I’ts weird though because at the fundacion and with my family they always have salad and bread but never with dressing or butter. I guess that’s for us gordo Americanos.

I have lots of pictures up on facebook so check them out!