wake me up, before you go go

Random title I know, but that´s the song that´s playing here in the little internet access place around the corner from our piso. You´d be surprised at just how much music in English is played here-- especially 80's music!
OMG SYDNEY no joke, ¨Piano Man¨ in Spanish JUST STARTED PLAYING THIS VERY SECOND-- hahahahahahha.

Anyway, today we had our first official day of classes, which wasn´t too bad. Uneventful, really. The place we have classes is really cool though.

I don´t like the Metro here as much as I liked the subway in New York. I know I mentioned that before, but it´s like a maze, and we have to go up and down 5 or 6 sets of escalators almost every time between stops in the stations. However, it´s the best mode of travel to the hub of the city- la estación del Sol.

Last night Maví´s oldest daughter, Elena, came and had dinner with us. She was very nice, (and smelled good! haha) and was the first person to give Ashley and I the traditional cheek kisses as a greeting (you´re supposed to do that every time you meet someone or encounter a friend, etc. it´s like a handshake in America.)
It was a great opportunity to carry on conversation, and Maví y Elena are both so patient with us, and very energetic and excited to help us understand, so that has really been a blessing.

We went to a candy store this morning during our break between classes, and the names of the products here are hilarious. I purchased a Twix-like candy bar called "Hurry Up!" -mostly because I thought it was funny. We made the mistake of trying to go to a restaurant across the street to get tapas, but we found out a bit too late that it was actually a very nice restaurant, and we were in street clothes, and only ordered a plate of Queso Frito. Oops! Next time we´ll know better. We had a better experience last night at the (VERY TOURISTY) Plaza Mayor, where several of us in the program met up to enjoy some sangría and people watching on one of the terrazas (terraces- basically just open air cafes).

Tonight I am not sure what we are doing after dinner, I know Audrey and Colin wanted to try out a discoteca, but most of those have dress codes so we will probably have to change clothes. As soon as I leave here I will probably try and take una siesta, because even early nights in Spain are pretty late (12 or 1 in the morning) and we have to meet at the big Atocha train station in the morning at 9am to take a bus to Segovia! Maví mentioned having a mountain house as well, so I think either this Saturday or next Saturday we will go up there and see what it´s like. Too bad we´ll miss Condoleeza Rice in Madrid tomorrow, haha. Oh well. Segovia is where the Roman aqueducts are, so that´s relatively exciting (at least I think so.)

Everyone´s allergies here are terrible, a few people have even gotten pretty sick because of how severe the allergy season in Spain is. I just hope I will not be one of them, although I have been pretty sneezy lately and woke up with a scratchy throat. Ew.

Okay, my 30 minutos are almost up at the computer and I don´t have any more change with me right now to pay for overages, so I will wrap this up. I hope you all are doing well! Feel free to e-mail me :)

Un abrazo,
Erin