The Beginning of Orientation

Hola Todos,

It has been a while since I have last checked in with a post so I thought it might be good to throw you a fricking bone. Well let's start with today. I rose around 12:30, better than 2, which it had been on previous days, and I immediately starting working on my first assignment for orientation, two short essays of about 150 words each! After finishing one, I thought it might be a good idea to take a shower to get my day started off on the right foot. The bathroom is directly adjacent to my room, so that makes it quite easy to go back and forth. I headed downstairs for what has become somewhat of a ritual for me here, a large midday meal around 2:30. Today, I had sopa, a plain brothy dish with noodles and pavo - turkey seared in a pan and garnished with spices. The turkey had a strong lemony flavor, and for the first time here I longed for one of American cooking, especially one my Dad's traditional barbuced chicken breasts that are a Depenbrock staple in the summer. My spanish is good, not great yet. I am able to communicate what I want to say well, but it's a manner of speaking in a fluid and natural manner that still evades me a bit. Speaking with my family is tremendous practice, and I am very happy I chose a "homestay." With every meal comes "pan" - bread, fresh everyday from a local market, very similiar to french bread in the States and agua. The water here is very good, but for my room thus far I have bought 2 5L bottles and a 1L Evian to ensure I'm always hydrated. After lunch I finished my essays upstairs and headed off to Goya - my metro stop, about a 10 minute walk from my house. From Goya I headed up to Ciudad Universitaria, where the University of Compultense is located, UCM is the equivalent of UMD at home, except Compultense has 125,000 students. The campus is huge and the building where we had orientation was a good 15 minute walk from the metro stop. After our first classes ended, I met up with my friends who live close to me (Marco, Kyla, and Christine) and we headed to Chueca, a barrio known for its restaurants and vibrant nightlife, for dinner. We ended up at a place called Lateral, a chic, modern looking restaurant that had surprisingly afforable prices. And, we engaged for my second time in a tapas experience, little dishes we all shared - turkey on top of bread with caramelized onions, fried balls of cheese with shirmp and chicken inside (alot like mozzarellla sticks, Julie you would love these), meatballs in a delicious sauce, and Iberian ham and cheese on top of pan. Quite good, and all for 10 euros. I had my first Carlsberg, a Danish beer, which was smooth and a nice combo with the meal. After dinner I took the metro home, and now I sit here in my bed, enjoying my first night of not going out, since my very first night here. The reality that I'm here for school is just starting to sink in, and it will be good to get some more sense of structure and intellectual stimulation. It seems that Comillas, my university, is much smaller that Compultense, and will present quite a challenge. Comillas professors teach in a structured manner, similar to the American way of learning, which means I could be doing quite a bit of work every week. Anyway, enough for now. Some quick highlights from the weekend.

- Super Bowl at the Irish pub, James Joyce - nice atmosphere, more laid back that I thought, Murphy's is a good beer. I left at halftime to head home at a decent hour, and I am a bit up upset I missed such a good game.

- Kapital - 7 floors, famous club at Atocha, fabolous of dancing til the early morning, occasional blasts of watery smoke, very expensive, 20 euro cover

- Ocean - first night in Madrid, bar in Tribunal, small friendly atmospher, easy to socialize and meet people, I went out with my friend Ryan. I met some native students. They were awesome, very fun. I'm going back there next Thursday.

- quite an ordeal when on my return Thursday night I proceeded to break my key in the door at 4 in the morning. After lying down on the patio for an hour in angst at what I was to do, I decided to finally ring the doorbell and wake my host mother's daughter up. She let me in, and when I tried to apologize the next day, she showered me with kisses, what a country.

- a visit from my host mother's son, Juan Miguel - a Jeremy Piven lookalike, he is an extremely talent artist who I grilled with questions while sitting down at lunch on Sunday. He's really cool and has an upcoming exhibition in Barcelona.

- a visit to Sol - the epicenter of Madrid, and one of the coolest places I have ever been. The picture of me and my friend with the pirate was there, and as was the photo of the bar where Ernest Hemingway used to come in Madrid.

The experience has been great so far, but the first week high of being here is starting to wear off. It's time to study some, and to develop some sense of order. However, that doesn't mean the fun stops jajajaja.

Hasta pronto,

Brett