2 Weeks In

I've been in Spain a little over 2 weeks, and I'm just now starting to feel settled. I am moved into my piso, have Internet and dishes and sheets and everything I need. I've been to my school and somewhat know my schedule. So in two weeks, I've been able to accomplish pretty much starting my life all over again in a new country. And let me tell you, it hasn't been easy.

This past week, I've been moved in but really had nothing to do since work hasn't started yet. Needless to say, I've sat around my piso thinking about how much I miss home and how long 10 months of this is going to be. I thought time after time about giving up and coming home, but just had to keep telling myself that this is a tough transition that takes time. I guess I just expected to come here, be settled, and have an amazing time. I think that's going to happen, just not in two weeks. This is my first time abroad for this long, so I guess I need to cut myself some slack snd realize I'm going to feel uncomfortable for a while. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I can't give up on just because of a couple of bad days early on. With that said, I tried my best to live the Spanish life full of adventures.

Getting Internet in my piso was an adventure in itself. First, the lady at the store put the wrong address in the system for us, even after I wrote down our address on a piece of paper for her. So when we got the call that they were at our house, it was in a completely different part of Madrid. Instead of correcting the problem, the technician just marked off that he went to our house and moved on. I had to go back to the store, again showing them the right address, and they were supposed to then come on Monday. But when they called on Monday, they had the wrong house number on our street and wouldn't come unless it was right. So I went back to the Telefonica store for the third time, told them the right number, and again waited for Internet. Finally, the guy showed up to hook it up (1 hour late, of course). He got it all working on my computer, but Miguel's computer still wouldn't work with the Internet. We tried to call them back to get the technician back here to fix it, but couldn't. The Internet was installed on Wednesday. Then Thursday morning they call and say they will be here Friday morning to hook up the Internet. I tell them we already have it, but they don't seem to understand what I'm talking about. So I just said okay, and they showed up again on Friday to try to hook up a second router. When they got here and saw we already had it, they were not so happy. Their mistake, I guess.

So there's our fun time with the Internet.

A picture of our kitchen area. It's small, but now we have a George Foreman.

Our living room, with the couch that anyone who comes to visit can sleep on!

Thursday was my birthday, and it was better than I expected. I didn't know how it would be having my b-day at the beginning of the program, in a new country. But the day was great. I walked around with another Fulbrighter and saw some sights (even though it was rainy), then relaxed all afternoon. At night, about 20 people crammed into our tiny piso to hang out before going out to a Brazilian bar down the street from us. We were the only people in the bar, but it was a lot of fun. It was a great night overall.

Part of the group in our piso.

Another part of our crowded piso.

Most of the group at the Brazilian bar.

Vicki, Miguel (my roommate), Becca, and Me

On Friday I went to my school for the first time and got to meet some of the professors and administrators. They were extremely nice, and have me very excited to start working. Our coordinator is great and the other professors have all been very friendly. One even invited me and Katica (the other Fulbrighter at my school) up to her vacation home in Austurias. We're definitely going to take her up on that offer. A lot of them also wanted us to tutor their kids afterschool. They would feed us, and pay us... 20 euros an hour! That's like $30 to sit and speak English with a kid for an hour. Not bad money at all.

Well, that has been my past week in a nutshell. Not too exciting still, but hopefully some real adventures will start soon. And I know this homesick feeling will go away, even though I do miss you all back home! Expect some postcards soon!