That Time I Forgot to Charge My Camera.

I have come to the conclusion that I will only be able to make one or two posts a week due to excitement, adventure and um...hard work? That's a thing, right? So for my two readers, look for updates on Saturdays or Sundays.

This past week was the real start of classes, as I had more than one day of class. I am officially
 taking five classes: Grammar, Spanish Conversations, Great Painters of Spain, Culture and Jewish, Muslim and Christian art in Toledo. Which seems like an awful lot of learning so thankfully I've got naptime built into my schedule. Whoever created siestas was a genius.

School here is basically the same as school back home. Differences: small classes, Spanish and relatively cheap textbooks. We get to take field trips too, to museums and other cities. For instance, I went to a mosque/church Thursday for one of my art classes. It was pretty fantastic, and I WISH I REMEMBERED MY CAMERA. Sigh. Next time, my friends, next time.

This weekend we also went for a short jaunt (A+ for vocab) to Madrid. Friday the entire program took a bus there and had a tour of the historic-y part of the city. And wouldn't you know it, but my camera died there. Le sigh. The city is impressively huge so it was a good thing we were in a group, as I'm going to have a minor in Getting Lost by the time this trip is over. After the bus tour, we went to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace for you Spanish n00bs) and I now know where I want to live in the future. The place is huge and absolutely beautiful. And shnazzy. We, unfortunately, weren't allowed to bring cameras inside, so alas for there will be no pictures of the inside of the palace, which leaves me to describe it as best I can. The Spaniards clearly believed in a lot of gold. And crystal. And fanciness. My roommate summed it up best by saying, "Hola, peasants," as she descended down the extra-fancy stairs.

After the tour, we went to El Museo de Jamones (the museum of ham) where we, contrary to the name, did not have ham for lunch. We did, however, get ice cream, which is probably more important. A group of seven of us decided to stay in a hostel in Madrid overnight to take in more of the city. When you're wandering around, it becomes really clear the scale of the place; we were not in Kansas anymore. We went out to eat and spent the night out, going to a few bars. At night, everyone in Madrid is trying to get you to come to their discoteca (club) and they all offer you free shots, or Mojitos or whatever. Thanks, but no thanks. After a long day, we called it quits and headed back to the hostel.


Saturday we did a little shopping and traveled back to Toledo. Getting back was a little tricky and involved some subways and buses and walking uphill for far to long but we made it back fairly easily.

And it was a balmy 60 degrees outside here, Minnesotans. Lo siento no lo siento. (I'm sorry I'm not sorry.)

Ciao for now.

Also, shout out to Mr. Boatz who may or may not be reading this (Best math teacher ever, much?)

Adventure Is Out There!

For those of you who didn't know, I am currently in Toledo, Spain! And if you didn't know, you probably haven't been talking to my mom. In like a year and a half. (Sorry, mom, you just tell everyone. EVERYONE).

First thing: It's pronounced "Toe-lay-doe." Jokes about me going to Ohio will result in severe eye-rolling. (Dad.)

My flight here went relatively well, despite the fact that I couldn't sleep for the eight-hour trip over the ocean. Foolishly, I was under the impression that I could sleep anywhere. NOT accurate. And apparently plane seats have been cursed by some black magic because they shrink as time goes on. So it goes.

I've been here for a(n eventful) week, so I'll try to get everyone caught up.

Day 1: Extreme jet-lag. And time-disorientation (It's a real thing. Don't question it). We explored the Toledo and got quite lost. The streets here don't believe in being normal so they're all really skinny and long and curvy. If a kid scribbled on a sheet of paper, you would have the layout of the city. No joke. We wandered around the Fund (La Fundacion Ortega y Gasset) for an hour before we actually found it again. I'm so glad the city is so beautiful otherwise my sleep-deprived brain would've had a breakdown.

Day 2: We had a few placement tests and an interview to sign up for classes. I really don't remember much about this day to be honest. I think we walked around the city some more with slightly more success in Not Getting Lost.

Day 3: Bus tour of the city! Our bus took us around some of the outer roads of the city and the hill-mountain things across the river. We got off the bus and walked back to the Fund. It was really cold outside (by Spain standards. I'm becoming a pathetic Minnesotan). I only understood about 30 percent of the Spanish being spoken because my brain was broken that day. Whatevs whatevs.

Day 4: Class started and MY 21ST BIRTHDAY. Lucky for me classes are on the same floor that I live on. 30 second commute? *rubs hands together like evil mastermind and cackles* Excellent. I had 2 classes, one that's a Spanish history-geography-economy-crash course type of class and an art class about the mixture of Jewish, Muslim and Christian cultures. Both seem like they'll be pretty interesting. On to the good stuff. A lot of students went out later in the night and we went to a bar with hams hanging from the ceiling. Tons and tons of hams. I had a delicious Sangria, and then we went out to a club. Spaniards must not believe in sleep because they start coming out at 3am, when we start going in. I don't even know. Either way, the celebrating was fantastic and I can't believe how great the people I've just met are.

Day 5-6: Recovery. Jet-lag and staying out too late having resulted in the need to recharge. Last night we had a movie night and today we've just been hanging out at the Fund.

Next time on the Emily O'Brien Show: Pictures and a better description of the program and where I'm living and whatever else seems interesting.

Peace out.