The Second Week

My second week has flown by. Everyday in Spain gets a little more fun and goes by a little bit more quickly. A lot of the people in my program talk about how they miss Dr. Pepper and the U.S. in general, but I don't miss anything (except the people). I think I am adapting very well since my room, my host family, and Alcalá all feel very homey already. Alcalá is a really great city. When I was looking up study abroad programs, I immediately thought I would prefer one of the big beach cities like Valencia or Barcelona, but I really love how safe and simple, yet historical and beautiful, Alcalá is.
In school, I am taking Comparison Between the U.S. and Spain and Advanced Spanish and they are both very rewarding classes. In the comparison class, I am learning a TON about the history of Spain and the U.S. (Meama will like that) and in advanced Spanish, I am with a lot of girls that I really like and we are reading a great spanish novel, Sabor a chocolate.
This week, I also finally found a great place to go climb. It took a lot of navigating maps, subways, and busses, but I now know of a small but awesome bouldering gym that has really nice locals. Hopefully now that I know some locals, I can go out and see how the outdoor climbing in Spain is!
This weekend, I had a really fun dinner with some girls from the group and then today, we went to the famous Madrid fleamarket, el rastro, and the Reina Sofia Museum of Art. At the rostro, I got a couple of gifts, and at the Reina Sofia Museum of Art, I saw some really beautiful Picasso and Salvador Dali pieces. I couldn't take any pictures of Picasso's Guernica, but it was really impressive. It is huge and much more detailed than I had previously thought. On the wall next to it, there were some photos of Guernica as it was being created, and one things that is so interesting is that Guernica actually went through multiple, radical transformations from Picasso's first drawings on the huge canvass. It was like the painting had its own life story and was the culmination of Picasso's different thoughts on the tragedy that it represents.
Next weekend, after midterms at school, hopefully, I will be able to go the Barcelona to enjoy the beach, the architecture of Gaudí, and the famous Las Ramblas Street.
More pictures are slowly but surely on their way. . .