So, I’ve been in Spain for approximately 36 hours at this point. I hadn’t slept for 30 hours when I got off the plane. I ended up getting a train ticket to the city center from the airport, and taking a taxi to my apartment. Except the taxi driver took me to the wrong place so I had to walk several blocks with my luggage to my apartment. I was let into my apartment and to my surprise had two more roommates then expected. Dominika had found another Slovakian couple that needed a room so they are living together in the other bedroom. The apartment is very small. I have a room that’s about 15 feet by 7 feet. It has a little twin bed, a small table and chair, a wardrobe, and a small couch. I put some photos up of my family that I brought with me.
Yesterday, I was super overwhelmed. I have realized my Spanish fluency is not nearly as good as I want it to be. Most people have to ask me to repeat or vice versa.
Some things I have learned so far:
- Grocery stores require you to bring your own reusable bags or you have to buy the plastic ones.
- Buses are the main form of transportation.
- There are no big box stores like Walmart here.
- Bathrooms have bidets. And the showerheads aren’t attached to the walls above your head. It’s the movable wands like handicap stalls in the US. So showering has proved to be a challenge thus far. I haven’t tried to attempt shaving yet.
- Food is cheap here.
- We have to manually turn on the butane to heat the hot water and turn on the stove. That’s only a lot terrifying. Because you have to remember to shut it off!
- Pandora doesn’t work here according to some copyright laws.
Today, I went to the university to find my coordinator and ask some questions. She wasn’t there but I got my questions answered anyways. The campus is huge. Like, massive. I found out how to print documents. In each faculty’s building, there’s a store where you can print and photocopy stuff. But you can’t use your computer-you need a USB drive. So I have to buy that but it was only like 6€, so it’s not a bad thing.
I rode the bus into the city center so I can go to the office of EMT, the transportation system here. I dropped quite a bit of money for my bus card, but its 27€ a month for unlimited bus rides. So I bought two months worth. I then wandered around the city center until I came to an Orange store. Orange is one of the major cellular providers here in Spain. I bought a SIM card for my phone with 2gigs of data a month. I bought four months worth. It’s 15€ a month, so not bad.
Having the SIM is nice, because, although I can read a map just fine, having Google maps to aid me has been wonderful. There are over 35 different bus routes in the city so I will continue to use a map for that. I got the EMT app on my phone so it’ll tell me when the buses are coming.
I also ate at a Burger King today since I was feeling really overwhelmed and wasn’t ready to try a tapas bar. The menu was surprisingly the same. I got some chicken and fries and outside on the sidewalk. The Fanta here tastes different, and also isn’t bright orange. Lack of chemicals, according to my mom. It’s more like sparkling water with orange flavor. I honestly liked it more then our kind.
But, lack of caffeine today (no coffeemaker in the apartment), and sleep deprivation are getting to me. It’s 9:30 here.
PS. The snapchat filters are pretty good.
Much love,
Natalie