Today was our first day of classes in Spain. We didn't have our first class until 1:30 in the afternoon. Neither one of us has started a school day that late. We got up, walked over to our favorite cafe and got some cafe con leche, a loaf of bread, and four eclaires. At home we made scrambled eggs with onions and ate them with our delicious bread. We each tried a small piece of each eclaire. There was chocolate, vanilla, caramel and cappuccino. They were very delicious. After we got ready we got on the bus and headed to school. We first went to the USAC office to give our director our phone number, and ask where our classes were. After that we signed up to teach English in a local school and got our bus pass form.
Our first class was a conversation class. There are five of us in the class, three girls and two boys. Our teachers name is Inaki. He doesn't speak any English. Basically we just talk the entire time. We don't really have to take notes or anything, just try and speak Spanish as best we can. He was really nice and funny and the class is going to help our Spanish so much.
Our second class is about a 7 or 8 minute walk away from our first class, but we only have 5 minutes. Our teacher was waiting for us outside and she gave us a speech about being on time to class. When we told her our situation she understood and said we could have five more minutes. She is really energetic and nice. She told us that since we are roommates we cannot sit together in class. Imagine if she knew we have been bestfriends for forever...
Her name is Mari Mar and she doesn't speak English either. She says her English is horrible but she says most words she knows pretty well. This class is three hours long every single day. Throughout the semester we are taking 12 credits with her. Each class is about a month long so every two weeks we have a midterm or a final. She says we will be fluent by May! Today we didn't have homework, she said today was free time but tomorrow we will have a lot, and everyday after that.
School was great and we are super excited to improve our Spanish speaking skills.
On a side note, textbooks here are way cheaper than in the U.S. We each got 7 books for less than 100 euros. Yay!
Today marks our one week anniversary in Spain. It doesn't seem like we have been here that long but then again it feels like we have done so much. Something we have learned in this short time is that smiling is not something you want to do here. It is kind of like a sexual advance. If you know us, you know that we smile...a lot. So it has definitely been hard. One time at the supermarket we smiled at an old lady and she look horrified and turned to her friend and started freaking out in Spanish. This is definitely something we are working on. So if we come home looking grumpy all the time, it is just because we learned not to be creepy here.
Hasta pronto!
Tara and Taryn
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