2 weeks in...

Friday consisted of studying, eating, and trying to get Blanca (my Señora’s granddaughter) to take my language exam for me. She laughed – pretty much meaning hell no, I just got home from school so I’m going to go play with my friends. The test wasn’t took bad – at least I didn’t think it was – and since we got out early, a few of us went over to Chueca, a part of Madrid, for some tapas at El Tigre. El Tigre is an amazing place – 2 cañas of beer and a pretty large plate of tapas for only 3 euro. (and my brother called!!!) After El Tigre, Mat, John and I went over to Al Campo and we found PEANUT BUTTER!!!! So, after Mat ate some McDonald’s, the three of us made some classic PB & J’s… it was amazing! After Al Campo, we went home, ate, and got ready for the night. The five of us started the night in true style – a trip to the park – and then met up in Sol with some of the others, which consisted of having a few beers in Burger King. Yes, you can buy beer at Burger King. Afterwards, we went to Dreams, danced, and afterwards ate some pizza in the street… followed by churros!!! There were about 10 of us with some serious munchies… we did some number.

Saturday was flat out overwhelming. I woke up around 1pm in anticipation for the guests that we were having over for lunch. Con una pequeña resaca, I entered an intense situation that I was in no state to handle – Angelines and 8 other members of her family all speaking Spanish at a pace I could not even begin to comprehend. When they realized they were speaking so fast, they would slow down for me to understand but it would just happen again. With all this going on, I was a little discouraged and overwhelmed. After they all left, Mat, John and I went to the Retiro to relax since it was a beautiful day. Then as usual, dinner with my Señora and going out. However, last night was Madrid: la noche en blano, where there was art in the street, museums were open until about 3am and people were just out partying all night. Some people went out clubbing, but Alison and I met up with 3 other people from BC and we walked all around Madrid. It was really nice to see Madrid in a different light.

Sunday morning, I woke up real early and confused my Señora… I don’t think she’s even seen me up before 9:30am, especially on a weekend. I went to mass and then took a walking tour of Madrid with Ana, our BC advisor. We walked through the Retiro, where there was a concert y un pájaro hizo caca en mi brazo, por la Puerta de Alcala, la plaza de Cibeles y el Paseo de Prado. Después, volví a mi casa, comí con mi señora y a las 5:50pm, después de una conversación con mis padres, fui a los toros con los otros estudiantes de BC. I only stayed for 3 bulls because I could not handle much more. A few other people left so a bunch of us went out for tapas… I waited for my señora’s amazing cooking!!!

2 weeks in… I’m pretty settled but that will change once classes start. Tomorrow, I pick classes that seem interesting and then next week, I go and “try them out”. But….. ITALY on WEDNESDAY!!! I can’t wait!!

Monday morning, Alison and I went to Al Campo, un tienda muy cerca de la casa de Jessica! It is pretty much the Spanish equivalent of Wal-Mart or Target. Anything you want, you could buy at Al Campo… including vodka and absinth. Lunch with Angelines y su nietos and language classes. However, 5 friends and I participated in our first botellon. It brought back memories from high school… try to figure it out.

Tuesday was Sam’s 21^st birthday so we tried to make her feel as at home as possible. We went to the open bar at Casa de la Cerveza and had the bartenders play “Happy Birthday” at 12am. As always, it was a good time. The people that already started their University classes we there too so it was nice to see everyone.

Waking up Wednesday morning made me remember why I didn’t want to go out at first on Tuesday night. Meeting Mat at the Metro stop, who was probably still drunk, headaches, and everyone just feeling like crap. However, I took the advice of my Señora – take advantage of the fact that you don’t have class yet! 9:30am alarm, hot, crowded Metro ride with Mat, and tour of UCM – University of Complutense, Madrid. The school is huge with about 110,000 students and its beauty is nowhere near even comparable to BC – Ana and Pilar warned us that UCM is a very ugly school. After the tour, a bunch of us went out to lunch and then hung out in the Retiro before language classes. After language classes was the greatest thing ever – every day we pass by this amazing ice cream place but we never go in. Today, we did and the ice cream was absolutely amazing!!!! I kind of want some more now… I wasn’t planning on going out… I was talking to my Señora about school, life, other things but then I was “convinced” to go out to dinner for Sam’s birthday (don’t worry – we’re not going out afterwards.) So I told my Señora I was going out but I’d be home early… let’s just say that she laughed at me and told me that I’d be home late and that as long as I had 8 hours to recuperate, then I’d be fine. Sooo… we went to a cute little Mexican restaurant for dinner… and of course, we went out afterwards to Chesterfields – a club that reminds me of Jess!!!

Thursday morning I woke up at 12, showered and had some lunch. I told my Señora that she was right… I went out early and I came home late. Once again, she laughed and said that as long as I had a good time then there was nothing wrong with it. Then I went to class early to use the internet and catch up on some e-mails. Class was pretty boring, as usual, but it ends tomorrow. Walked home as usual, ate some dinner, and studied for my exam tomorrow! Now, I’m watching a movie with my Señora.

I finally figured out how to post pictures on my blog – some are of Madrid and others are of Salamanca! I miss you all a lot and I wish that I had internet all the time to keep in touch more!

Besos y abrazos!

There’s nothing like having the final category of Final Jeopardy being “sexo” – me encanta Madrid! Hahaha

Thursday night was a lot of fun – partying at an open bar with all the other international students at Sampere and with the teachers. Best part was that we didn’t even have to pay to get in… now we know where all our money is going to pay for these classes! And the weekly Monday night drinks after class. After the open bar, a bunch of us went out in la puerta del Sol.

Friday morning I woke up just in time for lunch with Angelines, Miky and her two kids. I had an amazing lunch – I don’t really know what it was but it was sort of like lasagna, but one had spinach and the other had meat. Nonetheless, it was reallllly good. Then we had cake for Iñaki’s 15^th birthday (el nieto de Angelines). Class was boring, as usual, and the hangovers that both the teachers and the students had were not helping. After class, the Moroccan exchange man came and tried to sell us all a trip to Morocco. On the way home, we stopped at a little café, had some tapas and some drinks and then stayed in the rest of the night porque tuve que levantarme a las 7:45 en la manana para el viaje a Salamanca.

Saturday consisted of waking up way too early, sleeping for 2 hours on the bus to Salamanca, and then spending the day in Salamanca, which has the oldest university in Spain. The buildings are gorgeous – we saw the university, ate lunch in la Plaza Mayor, and walked through a market. After lunch, we saw la catedral viejo y la catedral nueva. Both were very impressive. When the outside of the new cathedral was restrored, the workers carved an astronaut, an ice cream cone and a shrimp. I’m trying to figure out how to put pictures up on the blog so that you can see Salamanca. We’ll see. Saturday night, we went out, got a little lost on the way to meeting everyone, but after drinking a little in Chueca, we ended up in Sol. We tried to stay out for churros at 6 in the morning, but we ended up walking home because we couldn’t find a cab. The 24 hour deli-type store we found made up for the lack of churros. Bed at 6:30am…

When I woke up at 1:30pm, I decided that I should probably get up because Miky, the kids, and her husband were coming over for lunch at 2:30pm. When they offered me a beer at lunch, I declined which was received with… “ooooo Resaca!!!! Jajaja” After some lunch, we watched some soft of car race, talked about the Madrid basketball game, and I started watching a movie with Angelines. I didn’t know it was possible, but I think there are more commercials on TV in Madrid than there are in the states. When I lost interest in the movie, I called my friend John and we went to the Retiro and read since it was a nice afternoon. I came home, ate some dinner, and fell asleep on the couch when Angelines was at her daughter’s house watching the basketball game.

My first trip is planned!!!! On September 26, Mat, Alison and I are flying to Rome, staying with some of Mat’s friends, then going to Florence, and ending up in Pisa on the last day for our flight home (October 1) ! I am so excited!! Next week, we pick our classes and then classes start on October 2. I’m excited to get into a schedule but I am still nervous for classes.

And, not having internet todo el tiempo is really, really weird…

almost a week in...

My past few days in Madrid have been amazing – but they have definitely been filled with their ups and downs. Me encanta mi señora, se llama Angelines! ( I love my homestay – her name is Angelines.) She is a cute elderly woman who loves to cook, laughs at me when I try to wash my own dishes, and the other day when I half – ass made my bed, she finished making it. She has a very large apartment, where I have my own room and practically my own bathroom. I live right off an amazing street to shop on, which may become a problem. J Angelines is an amazing cook – pollo, tortilla patatas, sopa, (chicken, potato tortillas, soup) and she always tells me that I don’t eat enough. Ella siempre dice “Tu comes pequeno” y “Puedes comer toda la comida que tu quieres!” (She always say “You eat so little” and “you can eat all the food that you want”.) Today I learned that she is an amazing artist and almost all the pictures on her walls are her own work. She is definitely better than Miro, who has an exhibit en el mueso de Reina Sofia (where we went today with class). We watch movies together, game shows and telenovelas.

Classes haven’t really started – I just have to go to language classes at Sampere but they do not start until 3:30 pm. When we got to Sampere on Monday, we took a placement test, and then started with our culture classes. After class, all of the international students at Sampere went to the bar down the street and had some drinks. Every night, my senora asks me if I’m going out and once when I said I think so but I’m not sure, she sort of laughed and said that I better take advantage of it before I have to start waking up early. I leave relatively close to my friends Alison and Mat, and 2 other kids that we’re friends with which is really good when we go out or when we walk to class. On Monday night, I thought it would be nice if I asked my señora if I had to be home by a certain time. She pretty much laughed in my face, asked me if I had the key, and then told me that I could come home whenever I wanted as long as I have the key. Monday night, we went to the Puerta del Sol, went to a club and then made some new friends en la fuente – literally. We saw some people jumping in the fountain – some girls from Argentina and some guys from Italy. After the adventure in the fountain, the five of us stayed and talked with the Italian guys.

Tuesday was my first up and down day – I slept late, had an amazing lunch with my senora y su nieta, watched “The Simpsons” en español, and had a nice walk to class. Class was okay – grammar was boring but culture was a little more interesting. After those classes, all of the students attending my university stayed for a meeting with Ana, our advisor, and she spoke about classes. That was when my little downfall started. When I got home, I ate dinner with my señora, she gave me a vocab lession in the kitchen of all the food words I did not know, and she showed me pictures of her family. A bunch of students from BC decided to go to la casa de cerveza donde podíamos beber todas las bebidas que queríamos y solamente necesitaba pagar 12 euro. The deal ended at 1:30am but it was still a good time. However, when getting ready to go out, I blew a fuse in the apartment and I think I broke my hair straightener and one of my converters, adding to my breakdown. However, the night made up for the break down though – it was nice to just go out with everyone.

Today I took a nice walk down my street and to Ross’ office so that I could pick up Jess’ cell phone charger. Afterward, the class went on a tour of el museo de Reina Sofia where we saw works from Dali, Miro and Picasso. I learned a lot about the artists and it was actually not a painful trip to a museum. When we were in the museum, Mat said that he saw our Italian friends from the other night. Later on, when Alison and I were walking from the bathroom, we saw them too and we all went and got lunch before our language classes. After class, a bunch of us walked back together and then Alison, Mat and 2 of our other friends stopped for a drink and some tapas before returning home. It was nice to just relax. I came home, ate dinner and read in the living room with my senora. When I finished my book, leí un periodico espanol, se llama Hola! I didn’t understand everything that I was reading but I understood more than I thought I would. I just need to work on my speaking.

I miss my baseball and my football but Madrid is great – I don’t really want classes to start!! haha

mis primeros dias en madrid!

i´m here!!
it´s so weird! haha but i´m having a great time. my flight was delayed a little at JFk but overall the flight wasnt bad at all.
Saturday - we took a walking tour of old Madrid which ill put pictures up of when i get the chance. the city is beautiful - more beautiful than i can rememeber. i took a lot of pictures, no surprise there and i even remembered a lot of the places thanks to my amazing tour guide jess last summer! saturday night we all went out to a traditional paella dinner and it was once again, amazing.
Sunday - sunday was more of an orientation day and we just walked around during our free time, tired and possibly a little hungover.... alison mat and i went out for some tapas for lunch while the others decided that they wanted to go to burger king.... yeahhhh

today we take our spanish placement exam for our intensive spainsh class that starts tomorrow!!! but until then, im going to walk around a little and then eat lunch with my amazing senora! she is tooo cute!

miss you all but having a great time!

can't believe it... it's finally here!

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go... 'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane

so could i have started off with anything cheesier that that? i don't think so!

but honestly, they are and now i'm just waiting to leave for the airport. i've said all my good byes and reality really hasn't hit yet. Sure, im getting on a plane in a few hours, i'm going to Madrid, no biggie. The fact that it's the place i'm going to call my home for the next 4 1/2 months hasn't settled yet.

I'm going to miss you all so much but I know that i'm going to have the time of my life and I am soooo excited for that!

i'll try to keep you all posted on my adventures as much as i can and e-mail me whenever you get the chance!
michele.naclerio.1@bc.edu or mnaclerio@gmail.com

adios!