Salamanca!

We finally met our host mom. She also has a husband! They just showed us the picture of her because this is her job, and not his. This taking us in buisness. She only speaks Spanish and she has been taking in foreign students for 25 years! Wow! She has 3 kids that are out of the house, but no grandchildren to our knowledge. We have our own little wing of the apartment, which overlooks el Parque de Pablo Picasso. We had a orientation today and a walking tour of Salamanca. Classes start tomorrow at 9am. We walk about 20 mintues to school, uphill in the snow, both ways. Just kidding! We actually have to speak Spanish, but Michelle is mostly quiet with the host mom because she is scared. We eat breakfast at 8, then go to school at 8:30 for class at 9. After class we are freeeeeeeeeee til lunch at 2. Then we siesta! Then we are free again until dinner at 9. Our host mom feeds us! 

We expect to eat many different types of food. So far we have had paella, sandwiches con jamon y tomate, Manchego (queso de la Mancha), and Fideua.

Today we had our first siesta. We aren't sure if they are a good thing or not, these siestas. It seems like a good idea, but about an hour after waking up from this siesta, you are tired again! It was great while we were sleeping, but it was very difficult to wake up. 

We are definately deveolping a coffee addiction. It would be rude to turn it away! Simply rude! 

Our computer lab is full of giant people-eating ants.

Hasta Luego

EuroSistersK&M

Just chillin in a cafe in Avila.

Hello! We found free WiFi! We are currently waiting to go to Salamanca. We are really hungry. Waiters take forever. We are sitting next to a Medieval city, complete with city walls! So, last night we tried to go to the museum. We got lost on the subway and by the time we got to the museum, it was closed. Oops. We found a good place to eat though and ice cream that is way better than America. This morning we went to the roof of our hotel in Madrid. It was really high and it had a beautiful view. Heading out to Salamanca soon.
Hasta Luego!!
EuroSistersK&M

Madrid!

Day 1

So we have finally made it to Spain! Yeah yeah yeah! The flight was 2 and half hours late, and Kendra found it impossible to sleep. We were fed dinner on the plane, which was decent. After sleeping/pretending to sleep, we awoke to a lovely breakfast. Two hours later, and we were in Madrid. Madrid has a really cool airport. It has a roof that is crazy curvy and colorful. It also was raining. So when you hear that the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, that is a LIE! It falls mostly on tourists students from California…. We had our T&E guide, Marta, give us a walking tour of the city. We went to La Plaza de Espana, the Royal Palace, and the Cathedral right next to it. All were ridiculously huge and awesome! We then went to eat lunch, where we ate pizza! Yes, we know, that’s not really Spanish. After lunch, we went to the Museo del Prado. We were severely rained on while we were in line. We had no umbrellas. No. Bueno. This museum is gigantic! It has many of the original Spanish Masterpieces, like paintings and sculptures from Diego Velazques. This is where our tour guide… LEFT US. We had to find the hotel (as a group), all foreign to the streets of Madrid. We proceeded to walk around in circles, until we found the hotel. Tenemos muerte de hambre and we went with our Madrid roommate, Bernice to…get ready for it… McDonalds! They are so much nicer in Spain. There is a coffee shop and a few self order kiosks. We are finally getting used to using the Euro and coming to the realization that everything is way too expensive here. Earlier in the day, while in the Puerta del Sol, we saw the protest taking place! We were able to walk through the group of tent dwelling protesters and take photos. This is history in the making! :D The protesters want democracy and more jobs.  That night, we noticed that it doesn’t get dark until 10:30, which is really weird for us.

Day 2

 Kendra talks in her sleep. Sorry Michelle. We went to this really cute café para desayuno. We had fresh orange juice and coffee and jamon y huevos (Michelle) and croissant tostada (Kendra) with our roommate Bernice. We later found out that our hotel comes with free breakfast. Awesome. We met up with our profesora Angeles and her fiancé Phillip. They took our group to Museo Reina Sofia. There, they have original works from Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. We ate lunch before we went inside, and she paid!! Yay! That was the first time we had tapas. We then went to a giant park that had a lake with boats! After, we took Madrid’s Metro (Kendra’s first time in a subway!!) It is around 8pm and we are going off by ourselves to another museo and to eat more tapas. Then we will get ice cream. Parents calm down. It is not dark outside and we have a buddy system! :D Avila y Salamanca tomorrow!

By the way, we paid 2 euro for an hour of WiFi. The things we do for you. Also, we wanted to add photos, but the internet won't let us for some reason...

Hasta Luego

Eurosisters K&M

Miami!!

WE ARE IN MIAMI!!!
Ok, so it’s not Spain, but it is one step closer.  We woke up at 4 in the morning. It was simply lovely. :/ We met a few people from the program at the airport and met more people on the flight. On the flight to Miami, we got to watch the Justin Bieber movie!!! YAY! Haha. It wasn’t too terrible. Our flight was decent, but freezing, and we are currently in Miami, at the airport, listening to the lady talk about our flight in Spanish.

People from our program!!

1 hour later…

Hey! It is about an hour since that last paragraph! How are we posting this?? Because we are awesome!Of course. Reality? We had to deplane and we are now waiting for a different plane. Ours was making a funny, burning smell right before we were supposed to take off. So now we are waiting for our real plane to Spain.

Waiting for the plane to Spain....hopefully it won't rain....haha we're funny!

Hopefully this is the last post before Spain.

Hasta España!!

EuroSistersK&M

Homestay!

We finally received news of our homestay placement! We will be roommates (which is what we hoped for) and this woman, Angela pictured above, will be our Spain family! We are very excited that she looks so nice. 

We also finally found out our flight information. We will depart from LAX at 8:40am on May 26th and will arrive in Mardrid at 9:05am May 27th. We'll have a short stop in Miami. 

Currently we both are trying to finish up with the Spring semester of school and get out of our jobs at CSUF housing. 

9 MORE DAYS!

Hasta luego!

Eurosisters K&M

13 More Days!

Kendra&Michelle during our 2nd Pre-Departure Meeting.

Hola!
We had yet another pre-departure meeting today that was full of information we have already heard. The most important thing we learned today was to avoid catching babies that are being thrown at you while taking money out of an ATM. This will result in small children taking your money while your hands are full of baby. Apparently this is a true story. We also learned about food adjustment. We plan on going on the "No Carb Left Behind Diet." It will be amazingly delicious. We were also told not to attract too much attention to ourselves in the streets. Blending in is best. Sorry Lady Gaga, we can't pack our meat dresses.

The study abroad department also gave us some pretty little passport holders!

The free CSUF passport holders we received!

Last week we also received an orientation packet from our Travel & Education program that came with a free travel pillow! It gave us more info about the city and culture. Apparently towels are very intimate items there so we need to pack our own.

We are very excited and appreciate you following our travels!
Hasta luego!
EuroSisters K&M