I'm in Spain!!

Ok, since this is my first post from Spain forgive me if I sound over-eager and completely in love with where I am. Right now I'm probably just on a high from the fact that I have spoken Spanish with someone who speaks no English and we understood eachother! AH! But back to the beginning...

I'm going to skip the part where I had a 10 hour layover in New Jersey because although I was with my Emily (my current roommate) we pretty much just sat around and read or texted people the entire time. The flight itself wasn't bad. They gave us dinner and there were movies to watch; I ended up falling asleep. About midway over the Atlantic we had some intense turbulance, but I thought that was exciting.

Arriving in Madrid was way less stressful than I anticipated. There was no customs, the lines moved quickly, and Emily and I found our bags right away. My first impressions of Spain were created by the sight of the mountains to one side of the airport with some tallish looking buildings on the other side, and the smell of old smoke hanging in the air. Seriously, this is how I imagined Europe. What I hadn't imagined was all the families! It was so weird seeing people going about their daily lives in such a different setting than what I'm used to.

Emily and I knew when we got to our senora's apartment because we had Google Earthed the neighborhood. "Nena" met us at the door. She is a cute little Spanish grandma who just talks and talks in Spanish and seems to really love cooking. She is sooooo sweet, we're so lucky to be living with her. Also, we have another roommate!! Tracy is studying at a sister school to Duke here in Madrid and also speaks Spanish. The apartment itself is small but homey and adorable. The window in my room looks out onto a river with a bridge going over it that dates back to Roman times. Beyond that is a foresty park with the Royal Palace and a cathedral rising behind it. It's snowing right now (not typcial for Madrid), so the park and the path along the river look like a winter wonderland.





[Ok, I wrote this post last night-- my first night in Madrid. After orientation today I'm still optimistic, although I need to make an effort to speak more Spanish! Madrid feels natural, I really like it. My love to you all!!]