My first couple of days

Hey, guys!!
I hope all is well at home! I got here to Madrid Tues. morning. I didn´t sleep hardly at all on the plane but enjoyed the mini TV in front of me! I have never experienced jet lag so this has been interesting! I am doing better but I still feel tired. Yesterday, however, I felt like I was going to die! We were walking around and I felt like a zombie. (Spain is 8 hours ahead of Utah.) :) Besides that though yesterday was the best ¨first day in Spain¨! We walked around downtown Madrid and did a little shopping. I bought some useful books for my Spanish classes and talked a lot with the people in my group, which is made up of 2 professors from BYU and 4 of us teachers (1 from Elementary and the rest of us Secondary). 3 of the 6 in our group are native speakers (Spain, Mexico, and Colombia) so that helps me a ton! Estoy practicando mucho mi español! One of the great things about being here is that we are speaking Spanish ALL the time. This is going to help me refine my Spanish. I have learned lots of different vocab. words too! Por ejemplo...zumo=juice (pronounced "thumo"), porras=a type of Spanish churro, etc.

Probably the best experience I have had so far is last night. We went to the Plaza Mayor at about 8:30pm (close to the typical time for dinner here--most often it´s later though!) and had a nice dinner outside. The sun was setting and there were músicos (musicians) playing some romantic songs. There was a wonderful breeze as I just sat there and relaxed. I ate "croquetas," which were of ham and potato in a little ball, and a yummy salad of just green peppers, tomatoes, and cucumber in oil. We then went to a little Italian shop and got ice cream. We then got on the metro (subway) and went home. We have been safe so far but last night, getting on the metro, someone tried to pick pocket one of our professors. Luckily, he realized what was happening soon enough and they didn´t get anything. I feel blessed to have been safe. The atmosphere here at night is exciting and there are so many people outside. Many of the streets downtown are very narrow and more people just walk from store to store. It´s beautiful! Well, sorry this is long! Have a great week!

Antes del viaje

Bueno, todavía me faltan algunos días antes de irme a España. Tengo mucho que hacer antes, pero ¡estoy súper emocionada! I don´t really know what to expect there...I mean I have some ideas from the classes I am taking this week and from the españoles I have met, but that´s it. It will be such a different world! I know I will love it and I love adventures like this.