Lunes - 20.20

*First, I switched my comments settings so that anonymous users can post, hopefully this works for those of you that were having problems!

So, I woke up early this morning because I hate being late for things. I got ready and ate breakfast, then left with my stuff. I got to the campus about an hour early. It was like a ghost town, I think I'm going to leave at the same time tomorrow but bring my camera. It's less awkward to take photos of campus if no one can see me do it haha, and I won't have random people in my photos. I had to wait about twenty minutes for Gabriela to get to campus. Then I headed in to see her. I gave her the receipt from the taxi from Monica, and then signed up for an intercambio. I also got my wifi password! So I'll have to try that out too. The only downside to Skype on campus is that I won't have a way to charge my laptop outside :/ but maybe I can Skype twice a week for a shorter time?

I headed to class after speaking with Gabriela and found out who my classmates are. There's nine of us total. Let me see if I can remember all the names. Sarah y Stephanie (roommates), Jimmy (a Delt Sig!), David (the DU from Overland Park, Kansas), Leah y Connie (roommates, Miriam (was on my team for the scavenger hunt), and Kristen. It's a small class and we're all USAC students, so I feel pretty comfortable. We did two group activities, the first was interviewing each other to present to the class. I stumbled a bit when introducing Leah, but when professor Jorge asked what my major was, I didn't hesitate before answering. It's a step! Everyone kind of laughed at my response too, "comunico entre los ingenieros y el reste del mundo." (I communicate between engineers and the rest of the world.) Turns out there are two engineers in my class. Whoops. But the class was fun, I understood about half of what professor Jorge said, which I think is pretty good. I also talked more in that one class today than about a week of classes at Tech. Go figure.

After class I came home to drop off my notebooks and grab my camera before heading out. I found my way to the bookstore easily. The door was pretty cool, it was an automatic sliding glass door. Very futuristic looking (in my opinion). I also found my books on my own (by chance, but it still counts). I was able to ask how much my textbook was (in Spanish) and pay for them all. Then I leisurely walked back to the metro, stopping in stores along the way. I found one store that I really liked, though I'm not sure of the name. I tried on a lot of clothes, but here in España I'm an XL, and they didn't have too many of those options. I bought a dress that is size L, and fit better than the XL, and I really like it! It's nice and thin too so it'll be nice in the warmer weather. I stopped into a small school supply store too, and bought a blank notebook for drawing. It was less than 1euro! Super shopper right here :)

I came right home after I got on the metro. I don't like carrying a lot of bags around. Then I put my camera down and headed to get some lunch. I ended up walking a ways away. I found a grocery store! Yay! I didn't buy anything today though. I just looked around. I headed back toward my apartment and it took a lot of mustering courage, but I finally stopped into a small place advertising churros y tapas. It turned out to be a bar, but I bought a sandwich mixto (which I think translates to mixed sandwich?). It was only 2,10euros! Score! It was delicious too, ham and cheese and fresh off the grill. I may go back for churros and chocolate, or I may wait until I can have one of my new friends go with me. It sounds delicious anyway and hey, I'm in España, I must eat some churros y chocolate.

I filled out my questionnaire from class when I got back (while eating my sandwich mixto). I only needed to look up a few words, which I thought was pretty good. I also got an email saying I have an intercambio!! Her name (I'm assuming it's a her) is Karina and she likes to dance, watch movies, travel, and meet people. Hopefully we get along well. Maybe I'll be able to get churros y chocolate with her! Or some typical Spanish food at a local restaurant? I'm hoping to meet up with her a lot, provided that she's not too busy, of course.

After this excitement, I will admit, I took a nap. It's so much walking here and so hot! By the end of the summer, I may even fit into a size M... I'm home alone, so I took some photos of the apartment and now I am awaiting la cena (dinner). I believe I am going to start reading, or maybe drawing. We'll see where the night takes me. Tomorrow I want to go to El Parque Retiro again. I actually just looked at a map and it turns out I'm way closer than I expected. I can walk there! That's way better than taking the metro. Sounds like tomorrow is going to be a photograph type of day :)