I'm here! In Madrid! Yesterday and today I had (useless) orientation in the hotel where we stayed last night. I still haven't seen any of Madrid at all, but I suppose that will change tomorrow when we have a tour of parts of the city and see El Retiro park. Yesterday we had a lot of eating crappy food and then waiting around jetlagged in between meals... and then today we had some info sessions about random things. The good news is that even though I'm a little disappointed with the orientation so far, the staff is super adorable and helpful. They have a bunch of kids from Autonoma (the university where I'll be studying) helping out with the program, which is great. One of them studies psychology and was super enthusiastic about helping me pick my classes in the department and get through the semester in general. I'm looking forward to meeting more Spaniards in classes too. Unlike in Paris, I feel a lot more comfortable right from the get-go meeting natives because I can actually express my personality. My Spanish has returned! Not 100% yet at all but enough to feel like I can be myself and enough for people to ask me if I have family in Latin America. Guess I gotta work on my Spanish lisp...!
I like the people on my program a lot and it's super different since they're all from Tufts (or Skidmore, which seems to have a similar student profile). I'm glad to have more like-minded people around me. An immediate difference I noticed was that when the program staff recommended we speak Spanish together, everyone actually did it! There was still some English in the room, but the fact that people were even trying EVER was so different than with CIEE. My roommate last night was a friend of mine from freshman year, which was great because I got to catch up with her and have a familiar face when I felt a little out of sorts. I'm excited to make some lasting friendships here, especially since my return to Tufts will be a bit challenging after a year abroad.
At 4 today, all of our host families picked us up from the hotel and brought us to their respective homes to move in. I LOVE my host family. Seriously, couldn't be happier about them right now. From maps I can tell I'm a little far from the center of Madrid and from the university, so we'll see how much of a pain that becomes. And there isn't a ton in my neighborhood because it's very residential and socioeconomically diverse. My host family is wonderful, though, and they're doing so much to make me feel comfortable. Eva, my host mother works at an insurance company. She's feisty, youthful and warm and has a really great relationship with her daughters, one that reminds me a lot of my relationship with my own mom. They tease each other and hang out together and seem to talk about everything. Rebecca, my older host sister is very laid-back and sweet. She's not quite a tomboy, but she's very casual and hard to understand with her thick madrileño accent and her usage of a lot of slang. Carlota, my younger host sister is adorable and a total teenager without the attitude. She loves shopping and texting and her mom and sister make fun of her constantly for how much of a girly-girl she is. I just got in bed a few minutes ago after spending hours with them over dinner and then just hanging out and talking and laughing. I'm so glad I requested having more than one person in the house because it's great to see all their interactions and be a part of their jokes and whatnot. There's also no lack of conversation and they do a good job of including me, even if I'm just soaking in the language instead of participating. It's great to already feel so comfortable here with them, especially because for the next 4 and a half months, I'll be spending a ton of time with them. They made me their version of Mexican food for dinner (hilariously enough, Doritos with a tiny bit of melted cheese on them) plus some chicken and salad. My host mom has been very clear with me that I should tell her when I like or don't like something and that it's no problem at all for her to cook me chicken or fish whenever they eat meats I don't eat. Also, they like spicy food, especially pimientos de padrón :))))))))
Already the differences between Spain and France are too great to count. From the policy of leaving doors open to the custom of wearing slippers in the house to the warmth that the Spanish people I've met so far exude from the first minute of meeting them, I can tell this experience will be very different. Not necessarily better, because I miss Paris a lot and I grew to really love the culture there, but a nice change of pace a the same time. It also feels phenomenal to speak Spanish. I don't know if it's because it's my first language love or if it's actually because of the language itself but I just love the way it feels in my mouth and I truly enjoy speaking it. I'm excited at the prospect of becoming fluent this semester. I just hope I don't lose my French now in the process!
Okay I should sleep now. Tomorrow we are having breakfast all together with the program students, staff and all the host families. The rest of the day will be spent finally exploring the city. I'll continue updating and hopefully remember to take some photos...
Besos,
Anjuli
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