Bienvenidos todos a Logrono! I made it to Spain... yay!! Luckily I had no problems with the strike, as it happened on Wednesday not Thursday. Sadly I left London and headed down to the beautiful country that is Spain. I landed in Madrid and caught a cab to the hotel where my orientation was being held. Luckily I checked into the metro before I got to Madrid and realized that if I were to take the metro to the hotel with all of my stuff it would take 1 hour and 15 minutes of walking, stairs, metro, exhaustion or I could take a 20 minute cab ride for 22 euro. I bet you can't guess which option I chose?! After I checked into the hotel I went up to my room where I met my French roommate for the weekend. She was nice, but not overly nice and so luckily I met some other people in my region to hang out with during the weekend! Friday we had the day free but I was so exhausted that after I walked around for a bit and grabbed a bocadillo de queso manchego (god I missed bocadillos and the cheese!), I just went back to the hotel and took a nice long nap before dinner. As I was walking downstairs for dinner I ran into some girls who I ended up eating dinner with and who were extremely nice. I also met several girls who are also in La Rioja and Logrono specifically so it was really nice to meet people who I would interact with for the next 9 months. Orientation was all day Saturday and was kinda boring but beneficial as well. And since it was all in Spanish, I was quite tired by the end of it. Sadly I didn't see much of Madrid as I didn't go out either night, but we all decided that we will go back to Madrid for a weekend in the near future. Not only did I meet girls in Logrono, but I also met several girls who are in Segovia, and we have already planned on doing Thanksgiving together in Segovia. Everyone is super friendly and extremely nice and it's weird to think I've only known them for several days. It honestly feels like I've known them for ages and as if they've always been a part of my life. I experienced this feeling both times that I've been in Spain and I guess the whole experience, the type of people, and the fact that you spend every waking minute with each other makes for a quick building friendship. We took a 4 hour bus ride to Logrono on Saturday and checked into our residency (the other girls were able to get a room with me). Jaime, the man who runs the residency, is amazing! He clearly can tell we are American and have no idea what we are doing, seeing as we have had to call him several times for the stupidest of reasons aka when we went down to breakfast this morning it was closed, therefore we called him "Jaime, we would like to eat breakfast. Will you help us?" So of course he loves us and will bend over backwards to make our stay comfortable haha.
Saturday night we went out for some late tapas/raciones and some wine at one of the main streets in Logrono. After getting lost (not quite the best idea to make the first walk around the city at night), we ended up at a great little cafe with outdoor seating where we could people watch as we ate. We ordered tex mex (basically chicken fingers with bbq sauce), croquetas (a ham and cheese mixture that is fried... it's heaven I tell you), and patatas bravas (potatoes with a spicy mayo sauce on top... also to die for). Along with our raciones, we had a bottle of their "house wine" and let me tell you, it was just as amazing as I thought it would be! It was smooth and dry and sweet all at the same time and I was almost in tears of excitement to be sitting at an outdoor cafe in Logrono, eating tapas, sipping wine, people watching, and having a good time with new friends. It really made me happy to be back and made me realize just how much I do love Spain!
Today was more of a laid back day, as most things are closed in Spain on Sundays, however the chinos were still open and I was able to score a sweet deal on a straightener (14 euro for a good one!) and some other things. And of course some of the bars and bakeries were open, so we stopped in for some yummy, fresh out of the oven bread! But the best part about today was finding a place to live! I am amazed at how quickly I was able to find a place, but lucked out with people responding online, so am moving in tomorrow morning at 10:30! The place is in a great location and I am living with two other girls my age (who I haven't met yet but will tomorrow), one who is English and who is in my program, although I didn't meet her, and the other who is an Erasmus student who is from Belgium. The landlady is amazing and the place is really great. My room is kind of small, but the living areas are huge and I'm hoping to not spend all my time in my room. Not to mention the fact that I will be paying 170 euro total for the room and utilities a month, something that I would never be able to find in Chicago! So I will of course post pictures and such about the flat when I get in tomorrow, but I am happy to have found a place and am starting to feel like I'm settling in. And I discovered via talking with my teachers at both of my schools that not only do I, A) only teach 12 hours a week but B) I only teach Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, which means that I have not a three day weekend, but a four day weekend every week! And that's not to mention when there are puentes/long weekends (like we have next weekend... hello five day weekend who wants to come visit?!). So needless to say I am very happy, excited, thrilled about everything! It certainly is good to be back in Spain and good to be me!!
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