Tres

¡Buenas noches! 

It is 11 p.m. here in Alcalá and the weekend is wrapping itself up. In a few short minutes I will have successfully completed my first full week in Spain. The thought is so surreal. One part of me finds myself thinking that each day goes by so slowly, but the other part wonders where all the time has gone. Regardless, all my time here has been well spent thus far. I feel well-acquainted with the town and can walk to all the key places, like the train station, without getting lost...a much different reality than last weekend ;) Although my American roots make me stick out like a sore thumb sometimes, I kind of feel like a local now after one short week...it's pretty cool. I walk to school every morning, order tapas/dinner in Spanish, meet friends at the plaza, ride the train, and pay for everything in euros. Now, my Spanish still isn't where it needs to be, but I can definitely survive with what I do have right now. One day this week a waiter even complimented Maddie and me with a nice "muy bien" when we ordered lunch (it's all about the baby steps). It is definitely encouraging to experience the benefits of studying a foreign language firsthand. 

For everyone who read my last blog post, I have some very good news about my foot. Brian (my teacher) took me to a walk-in clinic after school Wednesday. The lady was so nice and checked out my foot free of charge. She told me I have "plantar fasciitis" which is basically a painful inflammatory process in my foot (thank you Wikipedia). I left the doctor with some anti-inflammotory medicine and a much more positive prospective about my situation. The very next day I felt 10x better and was able to walk around Madrid that evening with little to no problem. My foot still feels sore at times and needs a little rest, but the Lord has allowed me to experience a great recovery in such a short time period. Thank you for all the prayers, I truly felt them this week. 

On a much more exciting note, we have been on several new adventures since my last blog post. A big group of MSU students took another trip to Madrid together Thursday after class. We spent most of our time on Gran Vía browsing through shops, eating icecream, walking around, and eating dinner at a really yummy restaurant. We had the pleasure of celebrating Anna's birthday with her and she definitely enjoyed her Spain-filled, special day. We had a minor issue with transportation when we tried to go back to Alcalá, but we eventually got on a train and headed home. Maddie and I made it back to our house well past 1 a.m., but we did make it home safe and sound. Friday was our designated "rest day" after a long first week at school and late night out in Madrid. We went to school, took a siesta, and just spent a relaxed evening in Alcalá.

In addition, some of the Mississippi State group traveled to Valencia for the weekend, but another group of us chose to take a day trip to Toledo on Saturday instead. We left home about 9 a.m. yesterday morning and got to Toledo around 1 p.m. We fell behind schedule a little bit because of our train ticket situation once we made it to Madrid, but everything ended up working out. While this was not in our plan, we ended up having to purchase our train tickets in person from a Spanish-speaking train station worker. We waited in line, bought our tickets, communicated in Spanish, and finally hopped on the 12:20 p.m. high speed train for Toledo. Our little group was excited about visiting the city, but we really didn't have high expectations. When we got there, however, we were so incredibly surprised by its beauty. The Toledo I experienced was not the way I perceived Spain. Our day trip totally blew me out of the water and I had such a great time. We spent majority of our afternoon sight seeing and walking around. We didn't go inside any museums, cathedrals, or the big fort, but we did get a feel for the city and its history. It is the neatest site I've seen in Spain up to this point and would love to go back before I leave.

Confession time: While I have loved Spain along with its language and culture, I had to take a break today. Maddie and I had a very "American Sunday" and enjoyed every minute of it. We slept in for the first time this morning until about 10 a.m., had a devotional time together, watched Father of the Bride Part II, ate Sour Patch Kids, and just relaxed. I even got a bottle of Coca-Cola for dinner. It was awesome. With a little breather and lots of rest, I am now ready to take on week two of my journey in Spain. I am excited to see what this school week holds and am hoping to improve my Spanish even more. I am also looking forward to our afternoon trip to Segovia Wednesday as well (I will write blog post about it, promise).

Just like last time, I am going to end my post with lot of pictures from my Spain travels. Hopefully they will bring my words to life and give you a taste of this unique country. Here you go! 

 A really neat wall in Madrid.

 Street performers. This was too cool to not take a picture.

 Frank with his new obsession: Fanta naranja. 

 Some of the girls with Anna on her birthday!

 What a great group :)

 My train buddy to Toledo.

 The Alcazar of Toledo...it was huge! 

 First group picture of the day.

The clouds were absolutely beautiful.

 A lot of streets had really neat walkways.

Great view of the city...how cool is that?

 The best roommate. Love you Maddie!

 Boys pic with a great view of Toledo in the background.

 I <3 Toledo.

 Our boy Frank.

 Fun group picture by the bridge.

 One of the most beautiful views of the day.

Successful day in Toledo. I got the Alcazar in the background too ;) 

Again, thank you for all of your time, interest, and investment into my study abroad experience. Y'all are the best. I will write again very soon! 

God bless, 

Bethany 

Dos

Hola mis amigos...

It is Day 4 here in Alcalá de Henares and so much has happened since our arrival. I wish I would have written a post Saturday night to solely explain the series of events Maddie and I underwent our first day in Spain. When I say it was THE stereotypical American lost in a foreign country situation, I am not kidding. We fit the role perfectly, haha. Let me give you a quick recap: 

We landed in Madrid around 8:00 a.m., give or take, and made it to Alcalá about 10 a.m. Our first destination was the Plaza Cervantes, the main plaza in town, where we met our host mothers. Our host mom greeted Maddie and me with a kiss and lots of enthusiasm. She is awesome...she is so animated, energetic, and uses sounds to describe what she is trying to say whenever our limited Spanish fails us. From the plaza, we walked to our home (about a 20 minute walk from the plaza and school) and got acquainted with our new family. We took a nap, ate lunch, and then explored the town. We felt fairly confident with our memory and sense of direction, but we got pretty turned around...several times. After asking for directions, we made it to Plaza Cervantes and just took in its beauty. The plaza has beautiful architecture, lots of flowers, shops/food stands, and sitting areas. After that, we attempted to go back home, but we couldn't find the right path. We retreated back to the plaza after searching for about an hour and just happened to see our teacher! After chatting and hanging out with him, he helped us find our way home. It was quite an afternoon. I forgot to mention the fact that I attempted to get money out of the ATM multiple times and I couldn't seem to get it to work. Foreign country problem right there. AND the best one of the day was when Maddie and I had a freak out moment about our adapter/converter/outlet situation. There was a point in time that night when I thought the only thing I could charge was my phone (maybe)...it was "tragic". Of course, after a good night's sleep and some sense talked into us, we resolved our issue and have access to the electronics/technology we need the most. 

Side note: That particular instance most definitely taught me a lesson. The Lord showed me that I heavily rely on technology and prioritize it way too much. People have lived (and have enjoyed life!) without a phone, computer, camera, whatever for thousands of years...who says I can't either? It was a learning experience for sure, but one of which I am very grateful. 

Moving on to Sunday: Our entire Mississippi State study abroad group (there's 14 students, 1 teacher) took a day trip to Madrid. We left Alcalá about 10 a.m. and got back about 9:30 p.m. that evening. We packed a lot into our day and walked what felt like everywhere! During our time in the big city, we visited several plazas like Plaza Mayor and Plaza del Sol, walked through a very pretty park, ate lunch together, went to "El Prado" museum, and just enjoyed ourselves. Anna Trundle and I even got icecream....muy delicioso! Although we were all exhausted, it was a great day. I cannot wait to go venture back out to Madrid soon. 

One thing I failed to mention about our day trip to Madrid is my foot situation. I am still not sure what caused it to happen, but towards the end of our day, my right foot began to give me trouble. I could walk fine at the beginning, but I was having more difficulty when we headed back to Alcalá. I ended up taking a taxi home Sunday night and soaked my foot in hot water. Since then, I have been taking ibuprofen and elevating my leg, but it still hurts. Brian, our teacher, is taking me to a clinic tomorrow for a little check-up. It is nothing major at all, but I just want to be on the safe side of things. All of this to say, if you could keep me (and my foot) in your prayers then I would greatly appreciate it. Y'all are the best :) 

Okay, back to the Spain adventures. We started school Monday morning at 9 a.m. We took a placement test in the morning and then went on a short tour of the city with a professor. The placement test consisted of 100 multiple choice, a writing section, and an oral examination. They used our scores to place us in our class for the rest of the month. Once the school day ended, we grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant and a small group of us ventured out to another part of Alcalá. We searched for and finally found the local mall ("el centro comercial")...I even bought a sweater! For those of you that know me really well know I am not a big spender, but the ever-changing weather inclined me to get one. The mornings here in June are fairly cold and people tend to wear jackets and blue jeans. As the day progresses and afternoon hits, it is very sunny and feels great. There are hardly any clouds and no humidity...and no bugs! It's great. However, a sweater was greatly needed for my long walks to school. After the mall, we went back home and just hung out for the night. 

Today, we went to school and found out which classes we got placed in. We have two classes total, one from 9-11 a.m. and the other from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. with one break in the middle. There are two other Mississippi State students, Matthew and Allison, and about 7 or 8 Chinese students in my class. My teachers are also really nice. One big rule: "no se puede hablar inglés". Basically, no English is allowed...only Spanish. Although very difficult at times, this rule will help and refine my Spanish in the long run. I am really excited to see how these classes will benefit both in the immediate and distant future. 

One last thing: the food. "La comida" en Spain is pretty standard. They eat a lot of potatoes, meat, eggs, and fruit, just cooked and prepared in different ways than the United States. Two of my favorite Spanish dishes are "patatas bravas" and "tortilla española". They also have a lot of "tapas" in Alcalá and Madrid, which are kind of like mini-restaurants that serve smaller portions of food (like à la carte) with a drink. Their drinks like Coke and Fanta taste the exact same here...again, very pleasantly surprised! Another characteristic of their food is their meal times. Breakfast is served at a fairly normal time (we eat at 8 a.m. before school), but lunch and dinner are much later in the day. I will usually eat lunch, "la comida", around 2 or 3 p.m. and will eat dinner, "la cena", anywhere from 8 to 10 p.m. The sun goes down very late here and Spaniards take afternoon naps, "siestas", pushing the day's schedule back a couple of hours as a result. My body has adjusted to these changes fairly easily which is a blessing and I kind of like the concept of a "siesta"...it's a nice little break! But back to the food...I have liked almost everything I have tried so far. I know there are a lot more dishes out there to try and I hope to stay open-minded about it. If I am feeling homesick, it is nice to know that hamburgers can be found here as well. ;) 

All in all, the beginning of this journey has been wonderful. There have been moments of stress, anxiety, and worry, but the fun, adventure, and newness of this country have ultimately drowned out the bad. I look forward to the rest of this week, as well as the weeks ahead. Our weekends are open for travel and we have been planning out different weekend excursions...super excited about those! I have also enjoyed getting to know the people in my MSU study abroad group, as well as other international students at school. And I cannot leave out my wonderful family. Maddie and I are so fortunate to have been placed in this home. My hope and prayer is that we can become very close with each and every one of them during our stay. 

I want to leave y'all with some pictures. I have taken these over the course of my trip thus far and plan to post even more with each new blog post. They are mostly of the Plaza Cervantes and different sites in Madrid. Enjoy! 

 Dinner on the plane...it actually wasn't that bad! Oh, and it is an 8-hour plane ride from Chicago to Madrid, I forgot to mention that earlier. 

 View of Plaza Cervantes from our table. Muy bonita. 

 There are so many roses in the middle of the plaza. The next several pictures show the different colored flowers. 

I thought about my mom and dad when I took this. They would love these at our house.

Multi-colored. God is so creative with his creation.

Me, Anna, and Haylee in Madrid!

Okay...I forgot to talk about this earlier in the blog post. So, Maddie, Haylee, and I were trying to meet up with our group in one of Madrid's parks and we saw this street entertainer along the way. We were just simply watching in the background when he called me out of the crowd all of a sudden. I said "no no" and signaled that I didn't want to participate, but he pulled me into the middle of the circle anyway. About ten minutes later, the rest of the MSU group found us and had the pleasure of watching me embarrass myself in a foreign country. It was actually hilarious. I will definitely remember that for the rest of my life. 

Photo courtesy of Maddie Covert :) 

Lots of "calles" (streets) look like this in Alcalá and Madrid. I think the architecture is awesome.

El Plaza Mayor.

And of course, a taste of America in España: "Dunkin' Coffee" and "Starbucks".

I hope you enjoyed my first blog post from Spain. I will probably post again after this weekend. Thank you for reading and especially for your prayers. Y'all are the greatest. :) 

Until next time...

Bethany  

Uno

 

¡Hola amigos!

The time has finally arrived...I am going to Spain! Can you believe it? This month-long adventure has snuck up on me faster than I can even fathom. In just a few short days I will be on a plane with Madrid as my destination. I cannot wait to arrive and see what the Lord has in store for me, as well as the rest of the Mississippi State crew studying abroad. My intent is to keep each and every one of you updated with my academic, cultural, and travel experiences (and then some!) on a weekly basis. Hopefully I can post at least twice a week...y'all will have to keep me accountable :) Regardless of the amount, my goal is to illustrate "my world in Spain" (hence the title) through this blog. Please feel free to email me while I am abroad, I would love that! And of course, enjoy the blog!!

¡Hasta luego!

Bethany