Orientation

One week. It feels like I have been here so much longer. The days are long, and the nights are so very much longer.

It has been almost an entire week of orientation. Orientations, although arguably necessary, are tiresome and tedious. I have been shepherded, herded and clumped with primarily Americans (although here they say north Americans which is understandably more specific. My friend Deborah, who is from Puerto Rico, is always catching me when I say simply that I am American, and it struck me: there isn't even a good way of saying my nationality, a citizen of the USA. Even North American drags Canada into it and they hardly deserve the negative contain.)

We have berated with rules, regulations, advice, introductions, samplings and tours. We have been explained the culture very simplisticly and those same simple differences have been pointed out and the repeated again several times by several people. Yet, I find myself wanting to explain at least a couple of them to you so that you can know what it is like being here, despite the parrot esk nature of what I am telling you, it may help you to understand what I am experiencing. In truth I am hesitant to expose my initial reactions because when I generalize about a country I have been in for a week it is really only stereotyping, however, when I repeat generalizations that have been made by native Spaniards, and people who have lived here for 10+ years, then I am just relating so-called common knowledge.

So here is a slight orientation for all of you, on Madrid specifically, although some apply more broadly

The Day:
People live according to a schedule different to the US it includes eating a long late lunch, 1:30-4 ish and a late dinner sometime between 8 and 10. There is a breakfast too, usually light (but not with my Senora) and snacking times (I can't remember the Spanish name for them) in between around 10am and 6pm.

The Night:
People live their lives in the streets, so the saying goes. In Madrid people go out almost every night in one form or another. The evening is when everyone is out and about in the city. The streets are crowded and everyone is out and having fun. It is not merely a city that never sleeps, it is a city that is full of life at all hours. Clubbing here is not just a pastime, but a way of life. The clubs only begin to get full at 2 or 3am. It is not in the least remarkable to say out till 7 or 8 am. And it is not just the young who stay out late, when taking a cab home at 4.30am (late for me, early for the locals) there were two women who had to be at least 60 who were in the cab next to ours.

The Weather:
Madrid is located on an elevated plain that is most of the center of Spain. Because of this it gets fairly cold in the winter. Coastal Spain is much warmer in the winter. That being said, people here consider 10 degrees Celsius (around 45 degrees Fahrenheit) is considered here to be quite cold, people bundle up and describe it as "very cold." It does snow here, but only once in a couple of years. It was coldish the first few days here, but nothing of the bitter cold New England can dish out. It has been quite pleasant as of late. I find the weather here so fascinating, because rather than going to a tropical location where there will obviously be drastic differences, I am in a climate only moderately different from my own, and yet the attitude toward the weather makes it seem so unfamiliar.

The Money:
The Euro is stronger than the dollar right now, it is about 1.17 give of take. But many things here seem to be comparably priced. Most goods that I have purchased so far (soap, notebooks) seem to cost about the same as they would in the states, but eating out can easily be cheaper if you know where to go. Also activities are much cheaper, especially for students. Museums are unbelievably cheap or sometimes free for students. Public transportation costs about the same as Boston, but as the system is larger and broader you get more for your money. 1.10 euro gets you access to 13 metro lines and tons of bus lines in the city, and you can get an unlimited pass for pretty cheap if you are under 21)

The School:
I am attending Suffolk University Madrid Campus. It is rather strange to be in a foreign country and in an American University. I feel that it is not my ideal situation, yet my language level perhaps demands it, (although I cant help thinking of my mother who studied abroad without speaking the language) Being here I really wish I could take classes in Spanish, that I could have practiced and reviewed before I came so that I would be able to be more fully submerged. So far I have not enjoyed the company of my fellow Americans here. Many of them seem to have come here only to enjoy the night life and cheap drinks, and seem less concerned about the way in which they are presenting Americans. It bothers me deeply to hear them talking loudly in English about how smashed they got last night. It is not and as if they are using alcohol to meet Spaniards, many just go out and drink with friends from the university. Thus far I have much preferred the company of the non-Americans in our student body (which is much smaller than even Wheelock at 150 students).

Classes have just begun, and with them comes shock. I am here to learn in the format of classes. I have been so centered around learning the customs and the language and the metro, I had nearly forgotten. All my classes seem quite interesting, and because none of my classes here will count towards my major, I can take a variety of classes and really learn about the history and culture here. The taste I have been given for the complexities of the history and variety of life which has occurred on this Iberian peninsula has intrigued me.

Most of my classes include field trips throughout Madrid and Spain in addition to weekend trips with the school. I am deeply tempted by the astronomy class that includes two trips to the Canary Islands . . . But it costs and additional 600 Euros.

So sufficed to say I am enjoying myself thoroughly, but I have also come to realize some of the complexities of living in a foreign country, and Madrid specifically.

Until next time,
peace and clementines.

First word on Madrid

So far my trip has been great. The main highlight of the plane trip was the Greek woman I sat next to on the pane. She was a stereotypical Greek grandmother, (Erica would love her, just like the one on My Big Fat Greek Wedding) She was short and plump and had her wispy white hair held up in a bun with bobby pins and covered in a black scarf. She wore a black sweater and skirt and her socks were secured with rubber bands. We sat on the plane with a seat between us and she put her feel up on the seat, and a little later, insisted that I do. "Put your feat up." it was not an invitation but a demand. Her voice was rough and direct and I had seen her use it with the airline workers in the check-in line earlier and with the flight attendants on the plane, so when she directed me to "Relax." I did my best to oblige her but actually sitting with my feet up wasn't that comfortable.

I got to the airport and maneuvered my way through baggage claim and customs and found the representative from the University in a matter of minutes. I was so proud of myself, but then again everything was marked in English. I got a packet from her and was told to go sit down while we waited for other people. We waited for about an hour and more and more students came, they were mostly from Boston, and sitting there in the airport I wondered at the fact that we could have been in Logan. They all sat around and chatted in English about classes and how the time difference made them feel like they had pulled an all nighter and how they were "wicked tired". I have to admit I was a little disappointed at that point because I felt submerged in the culture I had just left, which is not why I came here. On the bus many of them watched Family Guy on a laptop. I mean, come on!

I was picked up by my Senora, Maria Emilia and already she is so wonderful. She said I am just what she expected, and angel. She is a excellent cook and I loved what we had for lunch. We talked, in English, about why we are vegetarians. She is from Argentina, and she too says she ate "a lot of meat in my life". I gave her a pint of maple syrup, which she had never tasted before and asked if she could drink it!! She made a cake for our arrival and is helping me find my way around the city. Patiently explaining things in her English, but as I hear more and more I remember more and more of the Spanish words I once studied. She brought me to Suffolk University Madrid this morning. I took a Spanish placement test and I was surprised by how much I remember and understand, especially reading. I asked Maria Emilia to stop speaking English with me after a week. I feel like I already remember a lot of the vocabulary, although grammar I know will be much harder.

The room I am staying is beautiful. It has two skylights, it is decorated in yellows reds and oranges and it came with a full stereo, large TV, DVD and VHS players!!! I don't think I will be spending that much time watching TV, but it certainly was much more than I expected. Maria Emilia's daughter, Laura, told me that the other girl who stayed with them was able to "steal" wireless Internet from another apartment in the building so I think I will make the laptop I have wireless and that will be very convenient to write to everyone. I listened to some music last night as I unpacked and at least half the songs were the same as I would hear on any radio in the US, uggg.

The jury is still out on my roommate. Her name is Kadija and she is from Mauritania, (I had never heard of it either, look it up) She came last night at midnight. She looks like a model and visits her sister in Paris often. She came to school this morning and wasn't very happy about how long it took to get here from the town we are staying in Majadahonda, and she was telling me she didn't want to live in a family. She seems very independent and looking to be living in a city that never sleeps, because she does not sleep much at night she told me. I don't know what she will do yet. I wouldn't complain about having the rooftop Paradise to myself...But I don't want to be too callous too soon because she just got here too and maybe is under slept or something.
My only complaint so far is the shower is tiny and there is virtually no way to take a shower without getting water all over the floor. The base of the shower is a two foot square tile floor with a 3 or 4 inch lip to keep water in, then the shower hangs from above and the curtain doesn't really close. Time for mopping is going to need to be allotted whenever I take a shower, which may be less often given my habits and the inconvenience of the process.
The transport to and from the city seems easy enough, it is slightly more to get a pass that covers both areas, (the city and suburbs) but I get a discounted one because I am under 21, so I don't think it will be too bad. They recommend that I get a cell phone here, but I am going to wait a bit and see how essential it is, because I think I would be fine without. I will be able to check email almost daily from school but not for the next few days as I will be doing orientation things off campus. It will be a bit be for I will have Internet access in my home, given that I need to get a few things.

Nothing else to report I guess. Things are going really well and I am very happy.