Blame It on the Jetlag

Guadalquivir River: 5 mins from my homestay

CIEE’s Orientation is finally over and I’m currently in my homestay. What?? I’m hoping the rest of the year doesn’t pass this quickly!

Time to backtrack.  No need to bore you with general flight details other than I had a pleasant conversation with the man sitting next to me on the way to JFK about the C.S Lewis book I was reading and general life things. JFK was flavored with lots of colorful people and I had the whole “I’m not in Kansas anymore” feeling. However arriving at the gate for my flight to Madrid shocked me with the reality of my move when I saw a sea of fashionable homogeneity. I mean I know it’s just a stereotype but, seriously. 

Madrid Airport

 I met up with some other participants at our gate, one of which I ended up sitting next to on the plane making the 7 hour flight more bearable, at least for me. As a rule, long flights generally don’t go over too well due to my incapability of sleeping on planes, and I had no exceptions here either. The girls caught an earlier flight to Sevilla than I did so I wandered about for a bit, eventually managed to get some short naps during the 5 hour layover.

CIEE met us with signs and shuttled us off to Hotel Hesperia. My room was a relief with touch of swank. It had been a good 24 hours since I had soundly slept so I rested until the welcome session at 7pm. Dinner was at 9 and I met the other auxiliaries that would be teaching in Granada. We ventured out for a short exploration jaunt around the neighborhood, bought some face wash, and found Zara, a clothing store everyone raves about.  By the time I got back to the room I had acquired a roommate, who I found out will be also teaching in Santa Fe!

Hotel Room

The next morning I woke up at the unfortunate hour of 3am, but that’s life.  My sleep slowly adjusted to the hours of 1am-6 or 7am and for that I’m thankful. Orientation lasted each day from 9-1:30pm at a University down the street.  They covered tons of info about how to get phones, opening bank accounts, health & safety, where and how to travel around Spain, culture differences, school info, Spanish language reviews; all relevant though somewhat  overwhelming.

After the info sessions lunch was served in the canteen and siesta followed until 5ish, which I normally took full advantage of besides the second day when I got lost looking for Corte Ingles and walked for most of the siesta in the blazing heat.  Que horror!

Alcazar

In the evenings we had tours of the centro, the barrios we’d live in for 2 weeks, the Real Alcazar which is very similar to the Alhambra, and the center where our Spanish lessons will take place. I also saw a stupendous Flamenco show, so legitttt.  Around 830 or 9 we’d have dinner/tapas. (you order drinks and lots of small portions of food.) I generally got back to the hotel between 11:30pm- 1am, and that was early. I am not a night owl and my introverted tendencies tend to grow tired of the loud and crowded atmosphere quicker here, but then again I’m just tired, all the time, so I could just blame it on jet lag. 

The rest of the weekend is free before I start classes on Monday! So I think I might get lost a little and explore all the streets I can before my feet fall off. 

Sorry that this post was more of a list, I'll write some actual stories soon enough. In the mean time feel free to comment or send emails; I love hearing back from home :)

La Plaza de Virgenes del Reyes