Week 22: And we’re off!

Starting my second week here in Toledo has been a little rough… I’ve actually had to get back into the rhythm of classes, and it’s different than even last semester; these classes are actually adapted to American students, which means the workload is consistent with an American university, not a Spanish one… and so I have to get used to writing papers again. (Not the worst thing in the world, just a little overwhelming for the moment, haha.) But in spite of that, this week altogether has been ramping up the pace of my lifestyle here in Toledo, and it’s been interesting.

Monday, I didn’t have anything school-related to do, so I accidentally slept in until noon, and then stumbled down to the living room to watch some TV with my host sister Teresa. During that time, I messaged some of my friends to see if they were doing anything, and one of them, Allison, didn’t have anything to do until later, and so we ended up meeting up and exploring Toledo a bit. We went to the supermarket, grabbed some snacks and essential items, and then showed each other around our host family’s houses. It was cool to already see the differences in people’s host families, even within the first week of being there. We ended up eating lunch at a little café, and then chilling for a while and just chatting, before getting to the Fund to get our bus cards. We also signed up for some of the excursions the Fund will be offering, including one to Madrid this weekend and others in the future! Before I made it home, I stopped at the post office to get all my postcards mailed (as I had tried to buy stamps in a tobacco store as is customary in Spain, but the lady there had told me that the stamps for America had just changed). When I finally returned home, little Javier was there! Javier is my host mom’s first grandchild, and he comes over every Monday during the evening so his parents can take English classes in Toledo. He is the most adorable thing, and he’s just barely starting to speak! So I definitely spent a while playing around, along with Mamen and all my host siblings. What an adorable little guy! I then had dinner with my host family, and made it into bed a little late for my first day of classes the next day.

Tuesday was my first day of classes! It was exhilarating to start taking classes in Spanish again. (I had had one class, South American Civilization, in Spanish in spring last year, but that was the last time I had heard so much Spanish, at least used in an academic setting.) I woke up once at 6:30 and once at 7:00, and from then on it was go-go-go. I took a shower, had a quick breakfast, and off to classes I went. At 8:40 I had my Internship class, which is an extension of the work we do at our internship sites. This class seems interesting, because it appears as though it’s not just going to be a reflection class, but also a kind of general Spanish culture class. Then came Spanish Golden Age Theater, and after that, the Art of Reading Literary Texts. I have the same professor for those two classes apparently, and he seems to be nice enough. Only time will tell how I get on in these classes, and how the professors really turn out to be at teaching. After these three classes, I made it home for lunch, and a quiet night in was in order. I made sure I had all my materials organized for the next day. Classes here happen twice a week instead of once a week as it was in Lille, and so it’s already more similar to the American system than the direct exchange program I participated in last semester in Lille.

On Wednesday, I had one class two times: Theology of Spanish Mysticism. This class is interesting to me, because the professor is quite the character, and also because I took Saint Teresa of Avila’s name in the sacrament of Confirmation, and we will be studying one of her works in-depth. In between the morning class and the afternoon class, I went with Miguel, the internships coordinator, to my internship site, IES Sefarad, and we talked about when exactly I could come and help out. We cemented a schedule: 9am-3pm on Mondays (as I have no class), and 12:30-2:30pm on Wednesdays (in between Theology class). Finally, I went home, worked a little bit on my blog, and then got a little organized before getting some sleep for the next day, which would be my most difficult day.

I have four classes on Thursdays: Theater, Spain Since 1936, Lit, and the same history class - another class with two separate meeting times in one day. I actually accidentally skipped Lit, because I had forgotten which time was the second meeting of the week, but I ended up spending the time relaxing in a café with friends, so it was alright. I ended up staying at the Fund for both lunch and then dinner as well, as we had been invited to a cena rompehielos - a getting-to-know-you dinner, where we had the chance to meet Spanish natives. What we didn’t know was the surprise the coordinators had in store for us!

After enjoying some pizza and talking to more than a few people (and even exchanging contact details with some), a troop of classically dressed Spanish singers entered the room! I’m not sure if this kind of thing actually has a name, but it was certainly a great experience! These men played guitar and sang in great harmonies, even involving the crowd at certain times! It was a fantastic night of singing and dancing, and then before I knew it, we headed to Enebros, a local bar, to enjoy some tinto de verano, a drink made with red wine and Fanta lemon. After this very long day, I made my way home, chatted with my host mom for a little while (which is always my favorite part of the day!), and then went to sleep.

Tinto de verano at Enebro's!

Fridays are amazing in general, because since the coordinators of the program know that we’ve crossed an ocean and are making the effort to learn Spanish in Spain, and with the rest of Europe within arm’s reach we’ll want to travel, we actually get every single Friday off - nobody has any classes! (There are some perks to having a tailor-made American-dominated program, rather than the direct exchange I had last semester, haha.) This particular Friday, there was an excursion to Madrid, hosted by the Fund! We all piled in the bus and made our way to Spain’s capital city, where we ended up having a blast!

The first thing we did with the Fund was to take a tour in the same bus we had been in from Toledo of lots of different parts of Madrid, where we learned about what kinds of neighborhoods they are, and the history behind lots of major monuments and sights. We then got off the bus to tour the Palacio Real, which ended up being an amazing experience! I was so interested in all the tiny little details and historic nuances our personal tour guide was telling us as we made our way through the many amazing rooms.

The Palacio Real in Madrid. What a treat it was!

After this neat tour, we were basically done with the planned excursion part of the trip, as the coordinators from the Fund would be going back in the evening. However, many of us students from the Fund had already planned on staying the weekend (I had actually decided quite late), and so we all headed to our hostels to check in. I had fun showing my American friends how the metro system worked (although getting off to a little bit of a rough start by mistaking a parking garage for a metro stop, haha). We made it to our hostel, checked in, and then we headed out around town to explore. We definitely did some shopping, as we’re currently in the period of rebajas or sales in Spain, France and lots of Western Europe. (It’s like a two-month-long Black Friday!) After stopping for some lovely churros and chocolate, and then dinner in a Mexican restaurant at midnight, we headed out to party the night away!

Dinner with friends at a Mexican restaurant!

Saturday would have been a fun day, except for the fact that I had to spend all day getting my computer fixed. I of course am unendingly grateful that it now works, especially to the Apple Genius who fixed it, for sure; it had been running ridiculously slow, and I couldn’t even use most of even the basic functions on it anymore. So, after some shopping in the mall where the Apple Store was located, and even finding some Flunch in the mall, I packed everything up and made my way back to Madrid itself, to meet up with my friends at our hostel. Luckily, my friends had had th chance to visit some places definitely more interesting than the Apple Store, such as the Prado museum, and then we all got together in the hostel to get ready for going out. We then ended up having an excellent time that evening, including going to a famous nightclub called El Teatro Kapital! There were 7 floors with different themes and different music, and we ended up visiting all of them. We had an absolutely fabulous night, and before we knew it, it was time to head back to our hostel and sleep a while.

El Teatro Kapital, a huge nightclub in Madrid. We had lots of fun!

Sunday has been a fairly tame day. We packed up our stuff and checked out of our hostel, and then we attempted to make our way to the famous Parque del Retiro, one of the most iconic and representative sights in Madrid. Sadly, we didn’t quite have the motivation to make it there, and so we ended up catching the metro to the bus station and plopping down on the bus back to Toledo early in the afternoon. It was good to get to know the bus route from Madrid to Toledo, as I will be needing it in the future to get back from my international adventures.

I still cannot wait to see what this semester brings! So far, getting to know my host family has been going very well, and we certainly click, which helps a lot! My classes, although I’ve only had a week of them, have been interesting so far, and they at least sound like they’re going to help me with different areas of Spanish, which I’m definitely looking forward to. The transition from France to Spain was a little rough in the first day or two (although I imagine not as rough as some of my classmates’, coming from the U.S. with such a time difference and all), but I’m slowly starting to grow into life here in Toledo. We’ll see what happens next… until then, ¡hasta pronto!