Today was another long day! After I ate breakfast with the family (same as yesterday), I met up with Lindsey, Rachel, Gwen and Kayla. We have a cute little corner where we meet in the mornings and say goodbye at night. School starts at 9:00, and luckily i live 5 minutes away maximum. We walked to school under the impression that we had to take a short placement test and would be back at the house by 11:00 the latest. Boy could we not be more wrong!! First, we took a hard written test from 9-10:00, 100 questions, all in Spanish (obviously).I had fifteen minutes left with 10 questions to go when I realized there was a written portion on the back!! After that we had an oral exam. In there she asked me about myself, what I like to do, and what I was like when I was a child. It was so nerve racking! She just looked at me like I was stupid the entire time. Then she had pictures and pointed to things asking what items were or what was taking place. She pointed to a cash register..... I have no idea how to say that in Spanish (Caja for future reference). Anyways, after that we had a break and Gwen and I went to the phone store. Somehow when we bought our phones we paid extra for unlimited calling but it was never loaded on to our phones. We went in there and told him our problem and had him fix it.... all in Spanish!! I was very proud of us. After the break, we went on a tour of the city. There was a lot of beautiful parts of the center of the city that I had not even seen yet. There were many historic buildings and places, however I could not tell you what they are because our tour guide spoke Spanish, and she spoke fast. The main building of the university is beautiful!
Also, an interesting/crazy thing in Alcalá is the massive birds and their massive nests. And when I say massive, I mean I could fit in it. They are everywhere too! On all the church tops and school buildings!
I went home and tried to take a nap before lunch (unsuccessfully, las niñas like to hang out in my room). However lunch was amazing! I was craving some normalcy and this lunch was pretty close to anything you would eat in America. It was a salad with tomato and avocado, ham and french fries (homemade I do believe), and bread. We also had gazpacho. I have heard of this before and heard it was gross. I tried it and actually really liked the flavor! I said "Me gusta!!" a little too enthusiastically though, because they filled my cup up. It tasted like liquid pico de gallo. Which I like, but not to drink and not that much. A sip or two is very refreshing though. We also had watermelon after. So much yummy fruit here! After lunch I finally got my siesta in. I was out like a light. Drooling. Only woken up by my dad trying to FaceTime with me. I really enjoy being able to do this with friends and family. Makes me less homesick.
At six a few of us met up in the plaza and decided to take the bus to the mall. Once we decided which bus took us there, it was a ten minute walk to the stop and then we waited for at least 15 minutes. Once on the bus Lindsey and I asked a women what stop we get off for the mall. Apparently we were on the right bus but on the wrong side? Maybe they only go one direction, not sure. So we immediately got off the bus in a sketchy part of town (luckily Calen was with us, one of the four boys on the trip). We got so confused that we ended up walking all the way back to the plaza. We will have to do more research next time before we leave. We had dinner and then ice cream! Every other store on La Calle Mayor is an ice cream, dessert or candy place. Needless to say, I'm in heaven! After ice cream we walked around the plaza and La Calle Mayor. This seems to be a popular trend. It is so beautiful. This is a picture of the plaza at 9:00! Look how bright it is out still! I love so much daytime!!
Also, today we met a group of fellow Americans! They are from a University in Ohio and will also be here for two months! It was funny how without hearing each other talk, we could both tell the other group was American. We stick out like sore thumbs here! Tomorrow is the first official day of class so I better get my rest! Buenas noches!
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