Arrival

When I walked into the apartment, my first thought was, my boyfriend shouldn't be worried about me leaving him and falling for a matador--he should be worried about me never coming home because I have fallen for Spain. Our apartment is beautiful. I live with two other girls from my program and we each have our own room. On the sixth floor, my bedroom looks out down onto the street but is high enough to be sunny for most of the day, and it is painted lavender.

As I made my way through yesterday, stupid with jet-lag and having lost a night, I ran into many unforeseen challenges and began to feel a little lonely and exhausted. I took the Metro (an underground public transportation system) to El Centro to buy an electrical adaptor and realized only after I got to the counter that I'd forgotten my debit card. The I waited for 25 minutes in line at a money exchange place to get Euros from my US dollars only to be told I could not get it without my ID, which I'd forgotten. I was on the verge of bawling, but the lady behind me did the exchange for me and I bought the adaptor.

So many things are different here, little things, but important none the less. Some are delightful, like the yogurt I bought at the airport--which was the delicious flavor of tapioca pudding, not the texture--being served in a clay pot not unlike a flower-pot. Others are just a pain in the ass, like the electric differences. Not only does one need an adaptor for american appliances because the outlets are different, but the wattage is really strong here, which I found out by ruining my dryer and blowing a fuse trying to dry my hair this morning.

Anyways, after all that's happened so far, I still love this place. All the exploring I did yesterday and buying groceries really helped me start to learn my way around and forced me to practice my Spanish, which is, if I do say so myself, not all that bad. I bought a bottle of wine for 2.30 euro, and a wine-glass for .99 euro, and had a 10 minute discussion with a store owner about pimientón, or black peppercorn, when I accidentally asked for pimiénto, or frecsh pepper. We also discussed cayenne pepper, and then he tried to interest me in his son, who is "well educated and doesn't have a girlfriend."

I have many things I want to do here, but am also very flexible and open to what happens. There is an heladería (ice-cream shop) just beneath our apartment which I will have to try, and a panadería down the street that sells empanadas. My room-mates and I plan to visit the Catedrál eventually--a five-story high club, and I can't wait. Tomorrow our group goes to lunch for Paella, and I will visit the Park. Finally, eventually, I will do some art.