The First Two Days

I can't believe I have already been here for two days.

My parents dropped my off at the JFK airport in New York and I met the other students going to Spain with ASSE.  They are awesome and I think we will be good friends! There are six of us and four of us are living in or near Caceres, que suerte!  The flight was very long and cold and I didn't sleep at all.  We got to the airport in Madrid and had to wait in an extremely long line to get our passports checked.  Then we went to get our luggage.  Mine had no issues, but Lia (from Santa Barbra and now living in Valencia) lost her bags.  We waited there with her for forever but finally had to leave her because we did not want to miss our bus.  We took a taxi to the bus stop with a representative from the Spanish company who spoke English very well and liked to practice with us.  The bus ride took about four hours and I slept for almost all of it.  I met my family at the bus station in Caceres.

The first day we went to the house in Malpartida de Caceres (the suburb or puebla) and I unpacked and then we ate Spanish tortilla and it was gooooood! That evening Carmen and I went to a party in the Plaza that I think was for incoming freshmen in the university, but every teenager in the city went!  It was crazy and really eye-opening how many people drink and smoke here.  I met lots of nice people but I don't remember them all, everything was pretty overwhelming.

Today, the second day, I woke up at 11 and ate breakfast with Carmen.  Then we watched National Treasure in Spanish.  She really liked it, and it was a funny fusion between our cultures.  She had to help me with a little Spanish and I had to help her with a little bit of American history.  We got my phone working and then went to the casquo antiquo (no idea how to spell it, sorry Spanish speakers) and it was amazing.  We went into a church that was built in the 1400's.  Yeah.  That is almost twice as old as our country and about 600 times as old as me.  It was beautiful but being clumsy me I tripped over a pew and caused quite the commotion.  We continued to walk around the old part of my city and went to a bar called los siete jardines or The Seven Gardens, which had the most amazing view.  I am so lucky to be living in such a beautiful city! I am already in love with it.

For dinner Carmen and I went to her friend Ana's house.  The two of them talked so fast to each other and for a while I didn't understand a thing.  Then they included me in the conversation and talked slower. They asked about my religion and what we are all about.  They found it so weird that we don't drink alcohol, coffee, or tea, because those are kind of staple foods here.  Then we listened to music and talked movies.  Ana speaks english very well.

Tomorrow Mama Carmen wants me to talk to Carmencita in English haha and she doesn't want to.  Also I am going to introduce her to Pitch Perfect, in Spanish with English subtitles so we both can practice, but lets be real thats not going to happen.

I will update this later with pictures!

Besos
Bailey