Thursday, May 17th- El Cambio de la Identidad

Last night was our last night in Madrid so we all wanted to experience the night life. In Spain, people do not start going to the discotecas until 1-2am and they stay out until 5-6am.  That made for a rough morning since we had to be on the bus to Cadiz at 10am (which we all knew wouldn’t happen). Breakfast was equally miserable as every meal I have had thus far. Little did I know that I would have a ham and cheese sandwich for every meal today. Our bus ride was not too terrible. I slept the majority of the ride and we had wifi so everyone was on their phones playing on the internet and I got to talk to Jeff a bunch, which was nice. Driving through Spain was really pretty and the closer we got to the shore, the flatter and flatter it got. We got to Cadiz around 8pm and our host parents were all hanging out at the bus stop. It was absolutely adorable. One, because they are just cute old Spanish people and two, because they were so unbelievably excited to see us that you couldn’t help but have the biggest smile on your face. My roommate, Leanna, and I were one of the last to be paired with our new Mommy and it was funny trying to guess who it was going to be. Turns out she is the most precious Grandma ever. We did the traditional greeting “dos besos” and everyone’s biggest fear is kissing the wrong way first and accidently kissing your new mom before she even knows your name. My host Mom’s name is Nona, short for Antonia. She lives alone in an adorable apartment that opens up into a beautiful courtyard that is always full of people and dogs.  In my previous post, I talked about how people in Spain cannot pronounce my name and I have decided, after many failed attempts of trying to help them, that I will be going by a different name during my stay in Spain. My freshman year of high school, my Spanish teacher gave me the name Chala and Nona smiled when I told her she could call me that so that is what I am going to go by while I’m in Spain. It’s pretty hilarious that they cannot spell or say Blair. It normally comes out blah or blave or blat. All which are just too horrible for me to cope with considering the pride I take in my name at home. It’s going to be funny telling everyone that I’m going by Chala tomorrow morning at orientation at the University of Cadiz.  Oh! One funny thing, when we got off the bus in Cadiz, we were handed a shirt that said….. “ YO HEART HABLAR ESPANOL”….. I really hope no one wears that shirt while we here.  Now that we are here, it will be nice to settle in and find our way around the city. The beach is absolutely gorgeous and Cadiz smells exactly like Hilton Head so I felt right at home…except for the ham sandwiches.  

¡Estoy en Madrid!

Well, the flight to Spain was anything but fun. I sat next to two wonderful people who will be in Cadiz with me but unfortunately we were surrounded by horribly behaved children and parents who probably couldn't control a patch of dandelions. I slept for about an hour if you add up all the times I dozed off but once we got off the plane, I was determined not to sleep until it was time to go to bed last night. When we got to the hotel, our rooms weren’t ready yet so we just put our stuff into a couple rooms and went to explore the city. Aitor, our resident director, only speaks to us in Spanish and warned us the street we were about to be on was where all the prostitutes stand around. It was a pretty funny sight and since prostitution is legal (and acceptable) the girls had absolutely no shame in wearing practically nothing and twirling around in the streets waiting for clients. We ate breakfast (ham sandwiches?) at some little coffee shop and continued to walk around the city afterwards until our rooms were ready. A couple of us went and bought cell phones to use while we’re in Spain. They are the most basic phones and do not even have t9. I went with the purple Samsung flip phone. So far Madrid has been pretty interesting. Before the trip we were warned that Spaniards dress rather conservative… which I find to be extremely untrue. Maybe the adults do, but the teenagers/young adults definitely do not dress very conservatively. After a pretty gross dinner, I took a shower and went straight to bed. Some people went out to the clubs but they don’t open until midnight and I was way too tired for that. After sleeping 14 hours last night, we went to Starbucks this morning where the baristas instantly picked up we were American and spoke to us in English. Although my Spanish is not very good right now, it’s not going to get any better if people don’t speak to me in Spanish. Most people in Spain do not speak English though so for the most part it won’t be a problem. One thing I found hilarious was their inability to spell our names. My cup said “Blave” on it. When I handed him my card he looked at the name and gave me a big smile, said oops, and that he was sorry. It was pretty funny and I told him it was like the Blair Witch Project, which he recognized. One thing I do find extremely odd is the amount of pregnant women smoking cigarettes.  I have been to Europe before so I was not amazed by the prevalence of cigarettes but I’m pretty sure it is well established that smoking cigarettes while you’re pregnant is not acceptable.  We head to Cadiz tomorrow to meet up with our host families and start getting acclimated to our new home for the next 6 weeks. We laid out all of our plans for the trip and it’s going to be extremely busy and I’m sure we will all be taking advantage of siesta ( built in nap time- more on that later) every day. The bus ride to Cadiz is 9 hours, which is longer than our flight here. At least we’ll be on a comfortable bus ( with wifi!) and we’ll get to know each other even better. So far the group seems really fun and active and I’m excited to spend the next 6 weeks with them.

¡Adios!

On the Road Again....

   
     I guess since this is my first post, I should give you some idea of what I will be doing this summer. For those of you who know my family, we travel a lot and I am about to embark on yet another adventure abroad. My parents will tell you that it's just my siblings and I that travel a lot but they have done their fair share of traveling as well.
      In January I went back and forth debating whether or not I was going to apply to study abroad in Spain. It was quite the dilemma at the time but I'm glad I went through with it and if nothing else, I will be completely done with my Spanish minor come June 25th. My trip will consist of living with a family in Cadiz, Spain and taking classes at the University of Cadiz. This is quite nerve-racking for me since I'm not very good at speaking Spanish. I can read and write somewhat fluently but it's hard to practice speaking when the only foreign language in Athens is a southern accent. With that said, I know that it won't take me too long to jump back into the swing of speaking Spanish and in no time I will be up to par. It's the eve of my departure and like any trip I have ever been on, I have forgotten something. There are a couple things that could have prevented this, but by the time I finished my last final, I wanted nothing more than to get home and forget about school. So, tomorrow ( yes, 5 hours before I need to be at the airport) I will be driving back to Athens to pick up a couple items I managed to leave behind while I was hurrying home for a couple days of relaxing at the beach. Fingers crossed for a smooth trip to Athens in the morning!

                                                            Looks good to me!