First day in Valladolid

Early day! Our mama walked us to the Student Center where we had to take our Spanish placement test. It was fun seeing everyone with their Mamas.... it felt like it had been so long since I'd seen everyone! When we were all catching up, I realized that everyone had had very overwhelming first days with their families, which was comforting.

I didn't do very well on the Spanish placement test... I forgot the majority of the Spanish I learned in high school, so I will probably be relearning a lot. This will actually be good though, because I need to be refreshed. Spain Spanish is also very different from Mexico Spanish, so it will be good to learn the language the way it is spoken here, which is true Castilian Spanish.

We got a "survival" tour of the city - basically all of the things we will need to know in the city. My favorite is the Facultad de Derecho, which is the University of Valladolid Law School, where we will be taking our Cal Poly classes. It is a really old building from the outside, but the interior is completely modern. Though it does have some gorgeous stained glass windows that I think were apart of the original building before it belonged to the University. We get Wi-Fi (which Spaniards pronounce "wee-fee") at the University, which everyone is happy about, since I am one of the lucky few who gets internet at my house.

After the tour, our Mama met us at Plaza Mayor (pronounced like "platha" - working on my lisp), and we went home for a delicious lunch! Chicken filet with veggies... the chicken was so amazing! No sauce, but pounded thin and so much flavor!

Maria told us it is her birthday tomorrow, so Emily and I are going to pick up flowers on our way home from Spanish class. She has a huge garden on her porch, we we're hoping that's a good choice.

I'm slowly adjusting. I definitely get stared at a lot... I'm pretty sure people can just tell that I am American from the way I look and dress. And our meals are at such odd times. We have lunch at 2:30, and dinner around 10. This is going to take some getting used to. I am looking forward to starting our Spanish and Cal Poly classes though, so we will actually have a schedule and routine.

Hasta mañana!