Ana(s)

Oops. Looks like I'm not off to a good start with updating my blog. I guess I should anyone who doesn't know, that I indeed made it to Santander! My flights over here were actually not too bad, shout out to mi madre for putting me in the bulk head seat (extra leg room) for my flight from DFW to Madrid. That was fantastic. However, I did not sleep as much as I would have liked, only about an hour and 45 minutes, but I'm functioning so that's a good sign. Upon arriving in Madrid, several other UT students were on a flight leaving in 2 hours while myself and a new friend I made were not leaving until 4 hours later. That time passed quickly though because after exiting the plane, we had to walk all the way down the airport to go through passport control, then security again, then take a train across to the other terminal, and then our gate was of course at the very end. Who knew and airport could be that long though? It was insane. Most importantly, we sat next to an outlet and used our 15 minutes of free wifi to chat with some folks (so Texan I know) back home. Eventually it was time to move towards the gate to board. I learned very quickly what Spanish time means. Usually boarding is about 40 minutes prior to scheduled take-off, but we boarded at the scheduled time for take-off because the plan was late. Then we adventured down the jetway to the plane. Plot twist, we left the jetway and walked on the tarmac to board our little plane. It was very 1950's style boarding and exiting that plane as we walked up the steps onto the plane. Anyways, I passed out on that short 45 minute flight and was ready to go upon arriving in Santander!

Enough about flying, after I arrived at the Hotel for our first night in Santander, I relaxed  with the window open listening to the waves crash right outside my room, took a small nap, and then enjoyed a great dinner (already starting off the trip with 9pm dinner) with the rest of my group. It was so exciting to meet everyone and then we were given our to-go flip phones from 2007 and I think I almost lost my mind I was so happy to have a flip-phone again. I mean come on, you have to agree that flip phones were awesome right? Not too long after, I went to sleep only to wake up an hour later and not fall asleep again until an hour after that so that was fun. The hotel provided us with a fantastic breakfast, I was most excited for the huge assortment of fruits (Rebecca Teng would have been jealous of that). We then had an orientation and then were introduced to our host families! My Spanish mom is Ana and she lives with her two children, Ana is 21 and Javier is 24 or 25 I think. Not going to lie, I'm confused as to if mom and daughter have the same name or not, but I think that's right. Javier also doesn't really speak to me or anyone for that matter, but that's ago because host mom chats with me a lot. I was even complemented on my Spanish so we are going places. Lunch was a big meal, but was very rich and I felt bad I couldn't eat it all but my body is still adjusting to the differences. Then my Spanish mom and I met up with two other mom/students pairs to walk to the university. Yay for having morning walking buddies! I thought the hills in Austin were bad, but the hills here in Santander are so big that they installed outdoor elevators, escalators, and moving sidewalks in the city! Our two college guides, Gabriel and Paula, gave us a tour of campus and then of the city. We were then turned loose and a group of us bought bus cards, then walked around a bit and discovered an orchestra playing live music in the plaza. Before I knew it, it was time to head back for dinner, so my two walking buddies and I made our way back to our homes.

When I arrived home, my mom and sister were watching a Spanish gameshow that I was intrigued by. Then Family Guy came on. Fun fact, they really like Family Guy and the Simpsons over here. For dinner we had Spanish tortilla which is a thick tortilla thing with potatoes inside. We had fun dinner conversation, yes it's all in Spanish, ALL, about how Americans don't use the metric system and me explaining how inches and feet and yards compare, and then explaining that "no, Texans don't all have horses and wear the cowboy getup everyday." That seemed to make them laugh. After dinner, I watched the Mel Gibson movie, Get the Gringo, with my family. Kind of ironic. It was a weird movie, but hey it's just one more way to learn Spanish. I realized how tired I was again, and got ready for bed. The shower however doesn't have a curtain or glass. It's just a tub and it has a hand-held shower thing so that will be an interesting adventure for 6 weeks. This morning, I slept in a bit and then had typical breakfast that you might enjoy of toast and coffee, and FRESH SQUEEZED ORANGE JUICE. I chatted with my Spanish mom about what travels I've done, how my real mom uses lots of spices in her food unlike in Spain (something I'm still getting used to), and how the United States really is a mixture of so many cultures in one place.

Sorry that was so many words, but as you can see I'm already gaining a lot out of this experience! As weird as it sounds, I 'm looking forward to class starting up on Monday because then I will be able to have a daily routine and I think that will help me adjust a little better to eating and sleeping. Check back tomorrow because for anyone that cares about soccer, or understands how big a deal it is in the rest of the world besides the US, the Champions League final is today (Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid) so basically all of Spain is pumped for that and I hope to watch it today with the rest of Santander!

Spanish word of the day: Vale--okay. Almost every other word used is vale. It is usually thrown in at the end of a phrase as "vale?" to make sure you understand what they are trying to say.