Hola pt. 1

Hi all! It's been many, many months since I last posted... Sorry about that! I honestly haven't exactly been up to anything interesting over the summer so there was nothing compelling me to make a post about my rather mundane life. But now I do have something to write about, so here it goes. 
As some of you probably already know, I'm now a freshman in college! Yup. If you think that sounds weird, think about how extraordinarily strange it feels for me. Seriously, how am I a college student? I still lowkey feel like I'm a freshman in high school... Definitely don't feel like a college student in the slightest. And yet here we are. 
Where am I going? Well, it's funny that you ask because it's a kind of complicated, long answer. The easy answer is I'm a freshman enrolled at University of Delaware.... but I'm actually writing this post from Spain so what's the deal with that? That's where the longer answer comes in. I actually got into this really unique and cool program called the World Scholars, where they send you abroad for your first semester. So the answer right now to where I'm going is Saint Louis University Madrid which is, shockingly, located in Madrid, Spain. 
So yeah, my first semester away from home is a lot more AWAY than I originally anticipated. BIG emphasis on away. Seriously, I was thinking that colleges in North Carolina were too far from home so I decided to go to Spain instead. That makes perfect sense. Anyway, as I am writing this post I believe I am still in the "honeymoon" stage of the whole process. See, I've only been here for a little over a week, which is short enough to feel like vacation or short term. I don't think it's really hit me yet that yes, I am here for a rather long time. Still, I'm really glad that I chose to participate in this program due to how truly unique it is and all the opportunities it provides me. 
The World Scholars Program is particularly unique because it's more than just a study abroad opportunity. It's a complete four year immersive commitment to teaching world stewardship and just an all around appreciation for other cultures and differences. In the first semester of freshman year, participants get to study abroad in one of four locations-- Madrid, Auckland, Rome or Athens. While abroad we're also required to take a Global Politics class to further educate us and expand our view past that of just our own home country. Though we don't study abroad our sophomore year, we are required to live in the International housing on campus, as well as take more courses and participate in other events to keep expanding our interaction and awareness of other cultures. Then junior year (jeez, that's really far away at the moment), we get to study abroad again, this time at a location of our own choosing that works best with whatever our chosen major is. And finally, senior year I believe we work with people from the Fulbright program / I'm not actually sure what goes on but it's something about Fulbright! Haha, that's so far away I'm not exactly thinking too hard about it. 
Back to me, because that's really what this blog is all about haha. So we arrived in Madrid about a little over a week ago now on Saturday Morning (August 31). It was a very long flight, which isn't usually an issue for me because I have this weird ability to fall asleep just about anywhere, especially moving things like planes, cars, trains and boats. This time not so much, I actually got sick on the plane which is not usual for me, so when we arrived in Madrid I was running on little sleep. Unfortunately since we arrived in the morning, we were encouraged to not sleep in effort to fight against the inevitable jet leg. It was actually a pretty packed day, too, so napping would've been pretty difficult anyway. We FINALLY got to find out our roommates-- due to something about Spain's privacy laws we weren't able to know who our roommates were until arrival, which was a point of anxiety and annoyance for all of us. Then we got about a hour to go up to our rooms and unpack and such before a required walk around Madrid to show us a bit of the campus and to a grocery store.
I have to say, starting off in a dorm in Spain has truly ruined American dorms for me. I might cry upon going back because these dorms are infinitely better. See, in Europe, the idea of communal bathrooms is gross, so we actually get our own little bathrooms in our rooms, complete with toilet, sink and shower. Being the germaphobe that I am, going back to America and having to use a communal bathroom is a definite nightmare. Not only that, but the dorms here are basically like staying in a hotel room, we even have little electronic keys AND once a week cleaners come in and clean for us, including giving us new sheets and towels. Ha, fun little difference-- in Spain they don't use fitted sheets. 

After the walk around the city and to the grocery store, we got lunch and got a smidgen of chill time before heading out again in groups. Each group did something different. In mine, we went to the metro and for those of us who forgot to order an unlimited metro pass ahead of time (*cough* me), we got some temporary metro cards. Then we took the metro to Puerta del Sol, which is where the first picture on this post was taken, though on a later date. There we wandered around searching for a phone store open enough for us to either get new SIM cards or new phones-- it took a few tries, though, eventually we found an Orange empty enough for our group to invade. I got a new SIM card so if you're trying to send anything to my old number I'm not ignoring you! I just am not getting any of those messages as I have a new Spanish phone number for the moment (I'll be switching back to my old number when I get back to the US.) If you want to contact me, I still have the same US phone number logged onto Whatsapp, which is actually the method most other countries use for texting as unlimited texting and calls is unusual outside of the US. So if you REALLY want to talk to me, get Whatsapp and text me, or you know, if you're someone who actually knows me well enough to really be contacting me frequently, you probably have enough information to be contacting me if you aren't already doing so. 
After going to the phone store, most groups went out for churros at Sin Gines or just back to the dorms because you know, we had just landed that day and were all exhausted. Not my group though! Instead, my group just went on a walking tour around basically the whole of Madrid and didn't get back until 8-- while all the other groups got back at like 5. It wasn't all that horrible because we got to see some really beautiful and cool places and monuments around Madrid. Like, it was actually a great experience because we got to see the city, but I was also just already exhausted and all that walking just added up. Seriously, that night my feet were throbbing so it hurt to actually just sit, and walking was beyond painful. (No, for those of you who know me and are saying it was probably the heels, I was not wearing heels. I actually wore some very practical sandals made for walking a lot.) When we got back to El Faro (the dorm), dinner had already started. It was actually pretty cute because the staff at El Faro threw a welcome BBQ for us Americans. 

In Spain, as with a lot of Europe I believe, the mealtimes are a whole lot later than us simple, hungry Americans have them. Here's the eating schedule for my dorm-- which actually starts a bit early to try and work around peoples' classes. 

Monday-Friday 
Breakfast: 7-10 AM 
Lunch: 1-4 PM 
Dinner: 8-10 PM 

Weekends & Holidays 
Breakfast: 9-11 AM 
Lunch: 2-4 PM 
Dinner: 9-10:30 PM 

So basically when you have to get up around the same time for classes, days feel a whole lot longer when you gotta wait until 8 for dinner. Then again, days here do just seem a whole lot longer, because in Spain it's more common to stay up later. Honestly, I'm not sure how much sleep most Spaniards live off of, because people really do stay out pretty late around here. 
The eating habits are also very different here than they are back home in America. While us Americans tend to eat smaller meals and just snack all day long, Spaniards seem to have three big meals and then two planned snacks-- one around noonish and then another in like the four to five time zone depending on when they eat lunch. 
Honestly, the eating habits have been one of the hardest transitions for me (have been, haha, it's definitely not past tense). In an effort to really immerse myself into Spanish culture and also because the portions here are so huge, I've been trying to balance my diet by snacking less. This is a bit of an issue because it leads to me being absolutely ravenous at meal times and scurrying down to the dining hall as soon as the meal starts. I wonder if I'll ever be able to go to meals later than the earliest possible times. Back to the issue though, I just gobble down all the food way too fast-- which is surprising because I'm the slowest eater I've ever met, but I'm pretty freaking fast during the meals. Still slower than most people around me but it's fast for me haha. Waiting for meals is pretty painful on the stomach. In America I just sorta snacked whenever I wanted, and I'm really trying not to do that here. To encourage my less snacking policy (notice I don't say no snacking because I know that isn't gonna happen), I don't let myself buy snack foods, though, I have been to the grocery a lot recently to LOOK at snack foods. All I have in the food cabinet is a giant pack of Maria digestive biscuits, a smaller back of dark chocolate dipped digestive biscuits, ORANGES and two types of cereal. (And also all the Pan de Leche I steal from the dining hall, but we're not gonna acknowledge that). So basically the idea behind this is I don't want to eat too many cookies because the freshman fifteen is real and I am very, very afraid of it. So I will occasionally nibble on a Maria, but I never chow down on them. The chocolate dipped ones are for special occasions and I haven't really touched them yet, haha. So basically the main snack I go for is the oranges, but eating too many oranges can cause you to gain weight as I found out in the 8th Grade when I did a research paper on oranges, so I limit myself to one orange a day around 4:30-5 time. The cereal is another story to be told later, haha. 
It's actually pretty interesting that we all give Americans a hard time about giant portions, but from my experience so far and my past experience in Valencia, the Spanish actually have larger portions, they just eat less between. So there's a thought. 
Anyway, this post is getting a little long so I'm thinking that I'll split it up! Who knows when or if I'll actually finish it by writing more parts we'll see haha, but I'll try, or thinking about trying. With school catching up, I'm not sure how much actual free time I have! We'll see! 
So thanks for reading, and hopefully another post about my first week in Spain will pop up eventually if not soon. 
Adios, 
​Anji