This is home now...

Since I have last posted, it has been quite an eventful few days. On Thursday, Maria and I had our first class. After five and a half years of spanish each, we had felt pretty confident about class. Well, let's just say it was a learning experience. :) It was much harder than expected, because the professor talked so fast!! But she told us that we should be much better within three weeks. And once she found out that we had only been here for two days, she was very understanding of the fact that our spanish isn't great. However, day by day it gets easier to speak and understand. Already, I feel much more comfortable speaking in public. It is amazing the wonders of complete immersion. Also on Thursday, the school set up a tour for the study abroad students to the old part of Pamplona. It was amazing! We got to see the bull fighting ring, as well as where the actually Running of the Bulls (Encierro) takes place during the festival of San Fermin. The old part of the city is absolutely gorgeous. The buildings are exactly how I expected, with beautiful architecture and many colors.. just like in postcards! The town plazas are so pretty. It is such a nice place to hang out during the day and during the night. Don't worry, I took some pictures! At the end of the tour, on our walk to the bus.. we came across a strike parade! The townspeople were striking against their pensions. It was crazy and loud! The mixture of yelling, whistles, sirens, and chanting made for an interesting experience. The streets were closed and packed with people. And there were tons of police, even with those guns that shoot beanbags!! :) It was unexpectedly fun. Here in Pamplona, the nighttime is when the city really comes alive. It is amazing how many people are out on the street at night. Not even for bars or clubs either.. the people in Spain simply stay out later than in the United States. Dinner isn't even usually until 9 or 10pm. This has a lot to do with the fact that Spain takes advantage of the "siesta", which is basically a 3 to 4hr rest time in the middle of the day. It is usually from about 1 or 2pm until 5pm. It seems crazy to us because that would be the time when a lot our shopping and regular activities are done. However, it is nice to take part in the rest!! :) But it will definitely take some getting used to. The following day, Friday, we went out for the first time. We started the night with some super yummy nachos. I think they probably tasted so good because, with all the hustle and bustle and moving around, we really haven't been eating very much at all. And we walk A LOT! So hopefully we're losing some weight, haha. :) After the delicious nachos, the four of us girls hung out with about 10 local students from Pamplona until 3am! It is was really fun getting to know some natives and speaking spanish in such a laid back setting. We had so much fun. We actually left for home around 2:45am, and the locals were so surprised that we were leaving so "early"! They usually stay out until 7 or 8am and sleep the next day!! Crazy, I know. :) But, that's just the way it's done here in Spain. The nightlife is crazy, as there are so many places to go on every street and they are open so late!! The next morning, we moved into our apartment at noon!!! Maria and I are living with two other Americans named Megan and Candy. The apartment is old, but nice. And it is definitely sufficient for the 4 months we are here. We got a pretty good deal too. It is so nice to finally be settled in one place and actually move our stuff in. I got some pictures of the apartment as well. We each have our own bedroom, which is nice. The first night there was fun. We stayed in and enjoyed a relaxing night in our new "home". :) We made dinner and made travel plans! Yay! Although to travel as much as we want, we have to keep our expenses here at a minimum. So, we are keeping our heat really low... lots of clothes and blankets! And we are eating cheap... things like cheap pasta and bread. When we were talking about expenses, Maria even said, "I would like some vegetables, but they're not mandatory." Haha! :) It was so funny. Of course we will eat some vegetables though!! After travel planning, we decided to tackle a load of laundry.. a TINY load of laundry, as our washer is super small! And we have to hang to dry, which was a whole other adventure after finally getting the washing machine to work. We have a little balcony with clothes lines above it. We are all very undomestic! But we will learn. :) Today we are resting, and using internet at the school, as we don't have internet in our apartment yet. Tomorrow we have classes again and have lots of apartment and food shopping to do. And we have to buy internet! So tomorrow we be a big day yet again. Hopefully I will be able to post again soon. :)

Missing everyone at home!! Hope you all are doing well! :)

We've Arrived!!

After a 7 hour flight, a 3 hour train ride, and two taxis...we have finally arrived! Maria and I are now settled safely into tiny little nooks at Los Abedules, the residence hall here at La Universidad Publica de Navarra. When I say tiny, I mean tiiinnnyyy. :) But we're lucky to have the 4 nights free here, in order to look for an apartment in the city. The past two days have been quite a whirlwind, which is why I didn't post on the first day. The arrival was a huge adjustment. The mixture of jet lag, exhaustion, and the culture shock of a totally different county did not make for the best mood. But we made the best of it and explored the town a little, once we had finally gotten settled into our rooms. After much walking, we came upon a grocery store to buy a few things to hold us over for our few nights in the dorm. However, by the time we found the grocery store, we had completely lost track of our whereabouts. We did find our way back though, after trekking through what seemed like miles of city roads. We finally broke down and asked a native what direction the university was in. She responded with the equivalent of "You're standing right next to it!" I guess our sense of direction wasn't so bad after all. It was simply a view of the university we had not seen yet. :) Then, following a less than satisfying dinner, we headed back to the dorm to catch up on some much need conversation with home and SLEEP.  The second day was much better though!! :) Sleep definitely does the trick. Today we found the mall, bought cell phones to use here, looked at an apartment, and had dinner in town. And this was all following our orientation this morning. Needless to say, it's been a long day, but a good day. I believe some classes start tomorrow, but its kind of hard to tell, as everything here is super confusing and all the directions are VERY vague. Well, another adventure it will be. Oh and for everyone who is wondering.. almost NO ONE speaks English here. We have only come across one person thus far, other than the other study abroad students of course, and he was just a random guy on the bus. So, it's been very challenging and sometimes draining. But it is so worth it, because I think our Spanish skills will increase immensely in our time here in Spain. There is not really much of a choice actually :) but that's what full immersion is all about!!!

Love you and miss you all back home! :) Hasta!

B.T.W. Pictures are hopefully coming soon. With all the hustle and bustle, taking pics hasn't been a top priority. But I promise to get on it!!