Adjusting

March 27 – 2:22 p.m.

Well, I’m adjusting to Spain a little better now. I’m still incredibly homesick, but much less alone. Last night our entire group had a meeting over tapas, and we were able to meet each other, find out who lived near us, and enjoy the company of people who made us feel a little closer to home.

Sara and I found several people who live in our part of town, so we gained some more people to walk to and from places with. After our group dinner, we attempted to get home “quickly” (one person in the group swore up and down that the route they took to dinner was 10 minutes, opposed to our 45, event though we live in the same part of town). We got a little bit turned around and ended up taking 45 minutes to get home once again, walking somewhat aimlessly through the streets of Santander. Most of the streets aren’t straight, so we ended up backtracking without meaning to several times. Our walk even took us through a tunnel that took 8 minutes and 40 seconds to walk through. I definitely never want to do that again!

After we all went home to check in with our host families, almost the entire group met up at a plaza near the center of downtown to go out for the evening. It’s weird to be able to go anywhere in the city – I’m not 21, so in the United States my “going out” is limited. I don’t really like to drink, and I definitely don’t want to be in a foreign country where I get lost daily and be drinking…so when the group decided to go to a few bars, I went along but didn’t drink.

A few of us grew tired of standing around watching everyone drink (we found an empty bar and it was immediately taken over by us 28 Americans), so we went home for jackets (it got extremely windy last night) then wandered the streets people watching for a while. It’s so strange to see so many teenagers (high school age) out and about at night, clearly intoxicated…it’s also strange when they recognize us as Americans and try to impress us with their English skills (so far we have heard “You have nice boobies,” and “Oh shit!”…it’s funny that those are the phrases they know!).

After we grew tired (we do so much walking here! At least six hours yesterday), we parted ways for the evening. I went home and attempted to access the internet but had no luck…sometimes I get lucky, and I’m hoping to have more consistent access once at school. It’s really hard to not be able to contact anyone (including people here), so I feel like having the internet would be a good tool. Additionally, when I get home around 1:00 a.m., it’s a decent hour for me to get in contact with people back home.

After not having luck with the internet or the phone I bought over here (I have to figure out to put minutes on it, which I should be able to do on Monday), I wrote e-mails to send this morning as soon as I could find internet somewhere then read a little Harry Potter before I went to bed.

I got to experience my second daylight saving’s time of 2011, which was kind of a bummer considering how all this walking is catching up to me.

This morning I met up with Sara and some of our new friends to find the university so we don’t get miserably lost on Monday. It’s a good thing we did because we definitely took a route that was not practical. There were way too many stairs, and we ended up walking back and forth for way too long. After we finally found the school, we wandered the streets again before heading home for lunch.

Right now I should be taking a nap, but I’d rather be taking advantage of this internet I’ve come across!

I’ll try to post photos as soon as I start taking them…I’ve been really terrible about it because I’m trying not to look too touristy, but I’m pretty sure in groups of Americans I’d look like a tourist anyway.

I’ve been getting a little more comfortable speaking Spanish with my host mom, and I’m starting to understand how things work around the house (like the windows and the locks and the light switches). Hopefully things continue to improve like they have been! Thank you all for your love and support.

Hasta luego!

♥ abigail