I've officially met my limit !

ESTOY MUY CONSONADA!! ( I'm VERY tired). I've gone out 5 days in a row, defienetly went out more days in a row in Gainesville, but in Madrid its different. Traveling takes time, theres more walking around during the day, I just started my first week of classes, and the jet lag. All of this combined has made me stay in tonight( even though I was dressed & ready to go out but changed my mind, I hope for the better ha).

                                        UPDATES:

Friday : Friday night we all went to Pascha, a discoteca. We hung out with people on our CEA program but who did the early-start with a spanish intensive program. It was so much fun. The partying time here is very different. Most people don't go out to the clubs, espeically on weekends until 1:30 and stay out until 6 or so. When we left the discoteca at 6, everyone was still dancing like it was 1am.I slept at Megan & Britney's place because I did not know how to walk home from my metro still, it was only my first night out. I had to take a taxi originally to get to our meeting place in the metro becuase I got lost. Oh well, I can deff say that we became good friends after this nights adventure :)
Saturday: Went to a tapas bar on Calle de Mayor in Sol. It has 2 euro tinto de verano(yummm) & 1 euro tapas. Esta bien. I decided to go out with my roomate Trent & the two girls next door(Kayla & Caroline) who are basically my roommates also. I met a lot of people from their ISA program which was awesome. I knew so many more people after this night. We then went to Fontana de Oro, a few streets over in Sol. This place was SO much fun. There is dancing upstairs & then tables downstairs. We all went downstairs & met equadorians, peruvians, and mexicans. There were hilarious. I met Ivan, a peruvian who was helping me with my spanish. It was like we were intercambios( I teach him english, he teaches me spanish). Everyone was partying until about 6:30 am. It was time to call it a night.
Sunday: I walked with Megan & Briteny to find our school near Buen Retiro Park. It was muy facil. I just get off at the Atocha station & walk about 7min to the school. We walked around the park & sight saw a little bit. This park is gorgeous & HUGE. We will be going back many more times in the future. Sunday we went for some more drinks but we started our first day of schol on Monday so we wanted to be prepared.
Monday: First day of Class! Well, I was late. As usual. EXCEPT, it wasn't because I got lost YAY but only because I didn't judge the time right. I know now I need 45 minutes to get to school. The trip is easy, I walk about 7 minutes to my metro, get on at my stop Alvarado( Line 1) & take it straight to Atocha where I walk another 7 minutes. But in between Alvarado & Atocha are 9 stops, so that takes a long time. Monday was easy. After class we went to el centro commerical( the mall) in Princpe Pio. We got our cell phones figured out FINALLY after having to pull old school moves & not go out with out phones. Es no bueno.  At night we went to El Tigre, a tapas/cervecas bar in the neighboorhood Chueca. It was a very small place but a good time. For 6 Euros you get a GIANT & I mean GIANT beer( maybe 2-3 beers in one) & muchas tapas. It was crazy. I really don't eat out because I already have homemade, VERY GOOD, dinner by Rosa!
Tuesday: 2nd day of school, nothing speical. I started to feel my body get run down but I decided I needed to go out! We all went back to the tapas bar on Calle Mayor. Had a few tinto de veranos & went home on the metro.I had an awful nights sleep because I kept thinking I wouldn't get up for class even though my alarm works fine. Woke up every hour.
Wednesday: I AM NEVER unless its a special occasion, going out on a Tuesday. I have class from 9-4. But that does not include geting up in the morning & the 2 hr commute. My day has been extremely long with 5 hrs of class in one day. Aye Dios Mio( OMG). I forgot I had so many classes until my friends reminded me. I finally got notebooks/folders for my classes. We have a store 2 doors down. Esta perfecto! Had a great dinner & got ready to go out. Until I decided to change & get a good nights rest because tomorrow is KAPITAL night. A 7 story club !!! :)

---> Living in the homestay has provided some good stories for me. I really like it & I like eating dinner/lunch with other people around. Still don't think I'm improving my spanish but trying to speak it has jogged my memory. I can understand my Senora y Senor pretty well & I have the other 3 americans to help me out also.

HASTA LUEGO..
p.s I just booked my interlaken sky diving trip! YAY

The first look at the homestay experience

Had orientation on Friday which was very helpful and we got a phone card/metro ticket and learned where our school is. I got dropped of at my apartment, I was extremely nervous but as soon as I saw my senora Rosa in a Cheetah fur jacket, I knew things would be great! She does not speak ANY english so it has been difficult to speak with her but I have been trying and getting by which is good. The husband, jorge & the son Julio, are very nice! I thought I was living with 3 other girls but when I walked in there was a guy in the hallway. I first assumed that it was my host families son but it obviously wasnt. Trent is from Nebraska and he has his friend Nick coming in a few weeks along with another girl from CEA. I am very excited to meet all these people! Next door I also have two girls who are basically my roommates because they eat lunch and dinner with us. It makes eating SO much better. Rosa, the senora, is a really good cook which is awesome but she thinks I don't like the food whenever I don't finish all of it. If I only take a few bites or don't drink all of my coffee she gets offended. We are also told to always walk around with socks on our feet because they think you will get a cold if you don't. There are some differences in the living style & the customs that they have. The lights always have to be turned off and the windows open, but I guess that is how they save a lot of energy.

Otherwise, everything has been really nice at the homestay with all the americans around and me not feeling like I am lonely. The pull out bed that I have makes it nice because I can put it away and have a much bigger room to walk around in and just be around in.

Hasta Leugo!

The arrival :) & lesson learned # 1

Arrived today in Madrid. Went to a hotel in the Goya neighborhood until we move into our homes tomorrow. It felt just like NYC so it hasn't really hit me that I am living in a different country. I met a ton of people on my program from NY, FL, & California. So far so good. There was nothing set up on our program today so a bunch of girls & the solo guy for the day decided to explore.

This is where the lesson # 1 comes in. Don't ask spainards for directions on which metro lines to take. I think they pretend to know what we are saying in English but in reality have NO idea what we are asking them. We took the metro from Goya to try to go to Plaza Mayor. FAIL. We just wanted to go get lunch & drinks because it was a girls 21st birthday today. We tried to go to sol but only saw puerta del sur( the south). We all should have known this was not the right metro line to be taking but we went along with it anyway. We ended up in the outskirts of spain but was able to ask the ticket people how to get to Sol. --THE EASIEST THING FROM GOYA, only 2 stops-- An hour & half trip could've only taken us 15 minutes. It was deffiently an adventure and now we got our first of many trips lost out of the way.

Went to dinner/ walked around with a different group of people and just explored the few streets by the hotel at night. Learning very quickly that everyone smokes. ughh. Well see what orientation has in store for us tomorrow!

& I'm off

On my way to Madrid. I'm getting nervous but very excited! I have NO idea what to expect. I've been warned about pick pocketing, i'm hoping that none of that will happen! I'm staying with a host family, we'll see how this goes!

HASTA LUEGO!