¡Mi Vida Nueva!

One week ago I boarded a plane by myself and headed off to Madrid, Spain. I do not speak fluent Spanish and have never traveled to a foreign country without anyone that I know, so I felt sure that this was going to be an adventure. But I was ready. I was excited to leave the snowy tundra of Provo behind and discover the exotic wonders of España!

When I arrived in Spain I met up with the rest of the BYU students, and we took a bus to La Plaza de Cervantes where we met our host families. The whole process was very confusing and comical. Basically, our group of very American college students (who already stuck out like sore thumbs) wandered around the plaza saying our own names until we ran into a family who was looking for students with those names. What a splendid system; everyone in the plaza stopped what they were doing to watch us, the traveling circus act:) Finally my roommate, Rebecca, and I found our mamasita, Juana, and we loaded our luggage into a taxi, which took us to Calle Violeta 21 Chalet 7.

Our home here is a cute little condo in what would be considered a gated community. Don't be fooled though; this is no Tapestry Canyon or Eagle Ridge, but it makes us feel a lot safer in our ghetto part of the city. Everything in the house is tiny (our room is about half the size of the those in the dorms), but that totally fits the lifestyle here. Instead of inviting people over and hangin out in the house people here actually leave their houses and socialize outside. I love watching the old couples walk down the street, arm in arm, bundled up in their coats, to meet their other old couple friends. It isn't, however, just the old couples that like to walk around outside and chat. As we discovered last night, the plaza de cervantes and la calle mayor are the place to be en los fines de semanas. We could hardly get by people who, for no particular reason, ambled, wandered, and meandered around the town center with their little posses. In Spain walking es la vida! Even Juana walks a few miles down by the river every day just for the sake of walking. Oh my goodness, I need to tell you about Juana!

Nuestras Habitacion Pequeño

 La Plaza de Cervantes

My family here consists of my mamasita, Juana, her sons, Guille and Dani who are both in university here in Alcala as well, and my amazing roommate Rebecca. Juana is the greatest. Enough said. She has an impeccable sense of humor that even I, with my limited Spanish knowledge, can pick up on. Juana is always right, especially when Guille and Dani think otherwise, and she will tell you that it is just her opinion in a way that makes it impossible to disagree. She loves her kids (and her host kids), and always has their backs. Don't even try leaving the house without a coat on! Her concina is to die for. She started us out with pretty international type foods like beans, pasta, and soup, but my favorite meal thus far was the traditional paella. Paella originated in Spain and has different variations depending on what region you are in. Juana's paella (paella mixta) had chicken, pork, shrimp, squid, and muscles, and she said it was better than anything you can get in a restaurant. I believe it! My other new love is torejas, which are basically the only sweets we have had since we have been here. Usually these little delights can only be found during la semana santa (holy week), but Guille and Dani like them so much that Juana makes them a couple times a year.  They are kind of like little mini french toasts but a million times better. We cross our fingers after every meal that the plate of Torejas is not yet empty:) Other than that, our family only has dulces on special occasions porque es mas bueno por la slaud (and Juana is all about health).
Guille and Dani are hilarious and love making fun of us and our attempts to communicate effectively. I am sure I will have many chistes about them in the future.   For now I will leave it at: the family dynamic in our house is far from aburrido.

 Juana

¡Que Bonita!

I am also so lucky to have Rebecca as my roommate; we get along perfectly and have so much in common. We already have an awesome, instinctive routine where she remembers to bring the keys and I translate at the dinner table. She turns off the lights when I forget and I remember to bring the bus map. And we get lost together and help each other with our compulsive shopping tendencies. What a beautiful friendship:)

Rebecca, Emily, y yo nos divertimos 

Alcala is like the Provo of Madrid (except much much cooler and much much older). Drawing life from the universities, it has a distinct small town, relaxed feel. Alcala's claim to fame is Miguel Cervantes (hence la plaza de cervantes). For those of you who have no idea who that is, does Don Quixote ring a bell? Yes, that is the guy from the book with the windmills :) We are pretty proud of that "little" accomplishment here. La Universidad de Alcala has been around since the 1200's (yes that is very old), and it still amazes me that I have the opportunity to study here. At one point the university was closed by los reyes de España, and the buildings were sold privately. It was reestablished in the 1800's, but the buildings had to be bought again, so now the university is scattered all around the central part of the city. Our classes are in an old edificio behind a magnificent brown oak door. On our first day in Alcala, Guille took us on a walking tour of the city and identified many of the important landmarks, including the supposed location of our classes. Well, on the first day of classes we went to the the supposed location, and asked the front desk:
"donde estan los clases de los estudiantes de BYU?"
man at front desk: "de que?"
me (more timidly): "de BYU"
man (with wrinkled brow): "creo cu tu estas confudido"
me (really embarassed): "oh....gracias por tu tiempo"
SO...either Guille really had no idea where we went to school OR he thought it would be funny to trick the two naive American girls. BUT we eventually found where we were really supposed to be (which was about ten minutes away from our original location) and all was well.

Miguel Cervantes y Don Quixote

La Universidad de Alcala

La Plaza en el dia

Well, this is just the basic outline of my new life here on Calle Violeta in Alcala. Sorry if I am scattered (there is a lot to take in) and if there is a bit of spanglish going on in here. I have many more fun stories and experiences to share; this is just the start of one grand adventure. ¡Hasta Luego!

Te Amo de España,
Brooke