It begins!

The adventure is underway! I arrived in Spain yesterday morning.

On my flight from Newark to Madrid, I was lucky enough to sit by two very interesting characters. One was a student from the University of Kentucky. He was very obviously an inexperienced traveler. My favorite comment of his was, “Awesome. We get pillows and blankets! Do we get to keep them?” He was on his way to study in Pamplona for the month, but when I asked him if he spoke Spanish, he responded, “Muy pequeño.” The other man was also on his way to Pamplona and spoke what he labeled “Restaurant Spanish.” He has been participating in “Sanfermines” for the past 14 years, and has run with the bulls over 70 times. Perhaps I will run into them when I am there this weekend.

The last time I was in Spain, Iberia lost my luggage and didn’t get it back to me until the second-to-last day of my trip, so I was ecstatic to be reunited with my suitcase when I arrived at the airport in Madrid this time. I quickly found two women from my program by an MLSA sign (Modern Language Studies Abroad) and was surprised by the fact that they were college students. I had previously thought that the program was only for Spanish teachers, but I soon learned that the student profile ranged from high school students to retirees. There are people here who only know basic phrases as well as people who already have a master’s degree in Spanish. This made for an incredibly interesting dynamic when they gave a welcome presentation completely in Spanish today. Some of the college students couldn’t understand what was going on and consequently fell asleep in the unairconditioned auditorium. There are four different levels of study, and I will be participating in the graduate course.

I signed up for classes today. Here is a list of what I will be taking during the first two weeks of class:

Variedades Lingüísticas: la lengua española en América
La gramática pedagógica
La enseñanza del español: técnicas de composición
Literatura española del Siglo de Oro: Cervantes

I’ve also attached a picture of my dorm room. It has a twin bed, a bathroom, a desk, and an internet connection (¡Gracias a Dios!). Unlike my other dorm room experience in Spain, this one has air conditioning which is great news considering it was 100 degrees (Fahrenheit) today. Things are off to a good start!