We waited in the Madrid airport for three hours for Alberto to pick us up. He found us (because we were standing in the wrong side of the terminal) and he was very nice. He introduced us to Jon and Zou, two students from La Crosse University (Wisconsin) who were also in the program. For the drive from Madrid to Valladolid, I tried to stay awake to see the countryside, but I finally did let myself sleep. The country had small mountains (or big hills) with tunnels at first, then became flat yellow fields and lots of horses.
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| John and Zou's Apartment |
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| My room |
We arrived in Valladolid and the boys were dropped off at their host's place first. Valladolid has a lot of tall buildings and narrow, slanted streets. The streets don't go straight north and south or east and west. We were then taken to our apartment. In Spain, the ground floor is floor 0, and we live on floor 5, so the sixth floor in the U.S. Our host's name is Mercedes and she is very nice. She gave us a kiss on both cheeks and sat us down to eat before we even had a chance to introduce ourselves. We had pasta with tomato sauce, which I believe she called "macarones," bread (she says we don't have real bread in America), and "carne con papas fritas," or beef with french fries mixed in a sauce, which was pretty good. We also had ice cream. This meal was at about 5:00 so we figured that was our supper, but no, it was a late lunch, and our supper would be at 9:00.
It looks like every day we'll have breakfast when we wake up (around 7), lunch at 2:30, and supper at 9:00. Mercedes then walked us to the school to show us how to get there. We are the lucky students. The university is just around two corners and the walk only takes two or three minutes. It sounds like other students have much farther to go.
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| Our school, the classrooms are on the ground floor of this plaza |
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| The Beach |
She then showed us where the "playa" (beach) is, which really is a sandy beach on the river with a park and a nice walkway. Mercedes spoke only Spanish to us and we can understand her pretty well but occasionally there's some misunderstanding. She asked us if we wanted to go to the beach and we thought she meant in the future, but when we said yes she said we should go put on our suits and get our towels. So we did just that :) Even though the temperature was in the low 70s it was really warm laying out on the sand. We stayed there for about a half hour then took our iPods over to the school to sit outside and use the internet.
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| Our apartment building |
I then took a shower and knocked the whole shower curtain and rod off the wall, but I managed to put to back up without asking for help. I also assumed the wrong voltage for my flat iron but unplugged it immediately when I heard a weird sound coming from it, so no harm done.
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| Outside my window, where we hang our towels |
Tonight Spain played Italy for the final of the Eurocup, so everyone seemed to be talking about it and dressed for it. Also, many of the buildings have the Spanish flag flying out of the apartment windows. As we were sitting down for supper the game was starting. We had omelets, which she called "tortillas," salad, and banana yogurt. We agreed it would be a good idea to walk the stairs to her apartment instead of taking the elevator :)
During the game we also learned more about Mercedes. She has a son and a daughter, and a four year old granddaughter. She used to own a restaurant but sold it four years ago and still owns a clothing store just downstairs. We talked about what a shock it was to see topless people at the beach (and she just laughed and said it was normal). Also, she told us about the places we should see in Valladolid and how to get to them. While we were watching the game she told us who her favorite players were and pointed out the prince in the stands. Spain won the game 4-0. This is the first time in history they have consecutively won two Eurocups with a World Cup in between. When I went to bed, I could hear air horns, people cheering out their windows, and fireworks. I fell asleep just fine anyway.
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