First few days

Hi everyone,

I arrived, safe and sound, in Madrid last Thursday after a long and tiresome overnight flight. There were several other IES kids on my plane, so we met and chatted for a while before trying to get some sleep. IES staff members greeted us at the airport and helped us catch cabs to Hotel Husa Princesa, where we spent our first night. Everyone was completely exhausted during lunch -- we tried to introduce ourselves, see where people were from, but after an hour of that we were in zombie mode, slowly eating and staring around the room with heavy eyes.

Later in the evening, several students at La Universidad Complutense de Madrid took small groups on walking tours throughout the city. I was NOT prepared for the three hour trek my group went on, and though it was nice to get aquainted with some neighborhoods, all I could think about was going to sleep. I slept like a rock and woke up the next day feeling much better.

On Friday, everyone moved into their permanent residence for the semester, some to dorms, some to homestays, and some, like me, to apartments. My apartment is great! We have a nice kitchen, a large common room with a pretty view, 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. I live in a decently sized double with Te'Niijah. Shauna and Alessandra live next door in another room, Andrea lives in the single down the hall, and our RA, Nuria, a recent graduate of Complutense, also lives next to me in a single.

Saturday was the most exciting day as of yet. Everyone met at our study center on Complutense's campus, where we boarded busses headed for Segovia, a historic town about an hour outside of Madrid. There, we explored old churches and learned about the architechture. We also saw the aquaducts and an old Spanish castle. It was very beautiful, and our enthusiastic tour guide, Mario, made it a great tour. We stopped at a beautiful and HUGE restaurant on our way home where they fed us course after course of delicious food. I took una siesta pequena when I got home--food coma.

Sunday was a day of rest, so I slept in and picked up a few groceries before heading to El Parque de Retiro, Madrid's Central Park, for a walking tour. The park is beautiful! There's a lake in the middle where you can rent row boats for relatively cheap, tons of sculptures and fountains, and a lot of people running and biking throughout. It's definitely somewhere that I hope to spend a lot of free time.

This week is the beginning of our orientation classes. We'll be placed into the appropriate Spanish class for the semester and learn about Madrid's history and culture. I'm looking forward to starting class next Monday and really settling in here, but so far, so good. I've met so many nice, fun, interesting people--I think it's going to be a great semester. I miss you all back in the states!!!

Lauren