and so it begins...

Alright people don't get used to this daily updating business. I just figure since today was the first day in España, I should probably write something about it so I remember! Where should I start?? Well, our flight left Dallas last night around 6 and we arrived in Madrid this morning at around 10:30 local time. The Madrid airport is like a big modern puzzle so good thing I was with two other people that I could just follow around to catch the shuttle. We got to the Plaza Cervantes in Alcalá where we met our new madre! Her name's Pilar Zaldivar. She drove me and Jane to her house where we found our rooms and our two new pet huskies, Duke (pronounced dookie) and Neva (after some Russian person-didn't quite understand the story behind that one). Sadly, we don't get to meet papa Federico until Wednesday because he's in Germany on business. Oh, and we learned that not only do we have a sister, Irene, we have a brother, who she didn't mention in the family background letter.. interesting.. Both of them don't live here because they're older which is kind of sad because little spanish kids are the cutest!! I think it's annoying in America when kids are yelling in malls and airports but when kids yell spanish words its just the cutest thing. Love that. So aanyways, we have our own rooms and they're very nice! Mine's got blue walls, blue drapes, a blue bedspread, a blue ceiling. A whole lot of blue. Everything in Jane's room is yellow. THere's Jesus pictures EVERYWHERE. He's calming the storm right above my bed and knocking on someone's door above Jane Anne's bed. At first I thought it was cool and then I saw a menorah and was like huh? So they're Jewish. Oh and then I saw the Book of Mormon on my shelf and then she told us she belongs to the church of latter-day saints and now I'm confused. We told her we were Protestant and I don't know what she thought about that. I guess we've got a whole semester to figure out what Mormons believe and how its different from us; religious conversations in Spanish are confusing as if regular conversations in Spanish aren't confusing enough. We kind of freaked out thinking oh shoot maybe she hosts exchange students so she can convert them! No thanks, Pilar. Don't get me wrong, though, she's a great host. Me and Jane share a bathroom separate from the padres, which is nice. But I need to make sure I use the hand towel when drying my face off, not the body towel. Pilar didn't like that. Oh, and she's kinda went a-wall on jane for turning the light on in her room. Good call on that flashlight, mom. We were staaaarrrrving by the time we moved all our junk into our rooms so she told us she would prepare some macarones. I wasn't sure what it would be but it was just like noodles with cheese and some different types of mystery meat. I gotta study my food vocab so I actually know what I'm eating here. Table talk was pretty good.. except for when she told us we were without a doubt going to gain weight like all the other students she hosted. And we were like uh lets hope not. They have a piano!!! It's in the basement so maybe I can practice and it won't be too loud and bother them. Hope they like the little drummer boy. Maybe if Jane brought her harmonica we can form a band and learn some Spanish songs. At first in the house we were a little freaked out I think just because living in someone else's home is such a different experience! But once we got out of the house and explored Alcalá we were all hyped up again. We bought some slippers, because madre told us we had to have them around the house.. and some coffee because madre barely drinks it, and when she does, it's decaf!!! Can you believe that?? She don't know what she's missing. Well, I better go get ready to head to Madrid to watch the National Championship with all the Auburn folks! It doesn't start until 2:30 AM and we have orientation tomorrow at 9.. Sleeeeeep deprivationnnnn up in this natiooonnn we goin to da train stationnnnn