Jan 8th – Day of Starting Orientation

I wake up to hearing Ana ask me if I am awake. Lol, obviously I am now. I get dressed and come downstairs to find Ana waiting for me to make me breakfast. After eating, we walk to the bus stop and she explains to me that the bus is the best way to get to the university and is very cheap and safe. To go to school I should only get on the number two or three bus and only red buses. Then she shows me where the bus will drop me off after I return from school. Once the bus arrives, we get on and she enters in a ticket to a machine that beeps and lets us on. While we are on the bus, I look around at the buildings downtown and see busy shops and lots of people everywhere. Shops where they have fish meat out on tables and people are touching them and asking for cuts, meat shops where huge circular thighs of some animal hang in the window with other cuts of meat; Fruit shops that have a huge variety of bright colors as well as shops with different kinds of clothes. Finally we get to turn the corner into the main plaza of Alcala which I found out is called Plaza de Cervantes. I was told why Cervantes was so revered but I soon forgot. In the plaza there is a giant Christmas tree decorated with ornaments and lights, and it is as big as the trees they have downtown in Chicago. The trees in the plaza have lights in them and a sculpture of angels made from Christmas lights is in the gallery. When we get off the bus, Ana walks me to the University building where I need to go which looks like a very old church. I find out later that the buildings that the university is housed in are from an old convent that was later used as a military infirmary base during the war. It was beautiful and old with lots of character, I felt like it was almost too pristine to be used as a university. Once Ana helps me find where I need to go she leaves me, to which I find myself panicked. In a country where I knew no one and nothing, Ana was my only guide even though I only spoke pieces of her language. It felt like the first day of school back when I was in elementary. Strange feeling. One of the directors led me downstairs to where my group was (what luck, I did have a group…and all this time I thought I was alone) after introducing himself. His name is Carlos and he is dressed in a navy blue suit and reminds me of a moody rocker guy that is dressed to introduce the latest performer on MTV Music Awards. Entering the room, I find fourteen others sitting in here, one I had met before, by chance, back at OU that was going to the same program. Smiling at me, letting me know she recognized me too, I sat next to her and we all introduced ourselves. In our group there were people from Oklahoma (OU), Florida, Missouri, Tennessee and Pennsylvania (Slippery Rock). I liked my group, they were friendly, fun and we all seemed to click instantly, especially myself and the kids from Slippery Rock. They reminded me of my friends back home or people I would befriend. Then our director for our group entered the room introducing himself as Ernesto. He would be as he put it our ‘Spanish dad’ while we were here in Spain. If there was anything we needed day or night, we could call anytime. Ernesto was funny and light-hearted and very easy to relate to. Ernesto had above all the cutest sense of fashion I had ever seen, and the girls I became closer friends with and myself would later decide that he was our man-crush. Much like the girl-crush if that rings any bells. If not, ask me and I can explain. Basically means that we don’t like him like that, he’s just adorable and we crush on him. But it’s platonic. He explains to us all the information we are receiving and tells us the schedule for the week. Then he tells us we are to now take our placement test to test how our Spanish is, but it is purely a guide because they do know that we are extremely jetlagged and tired. During this time, I’m not nervous but something doesn’t feel right. I feel jittery and I hold out my hand in the air to confirm why; my hand was shaking horribly and I could barely write a word without it affecting my handwriting. I hadn’t felt the shakes this bad since middle school. But I figured it was because I was still exhausted and kept pushing on through the test. Then my body decided that I was not getting the picture of what was wrong and sent a message that was VERY clear. I asked where the bathroom was where I ran in and threw up my breakfast. Feeling much better, I had cleared out my mouth with water, straightened myself and went back to finish the test. Afterward, Ernesto went to go grade them and we stayed in the room to hang and interact. I started talking more with the kids from Slippery Rock and they were becoming more and more familiar. While we were talking Victoria offered me some of her Clementine and I sipped on my juice that my host mom packed in a sack lunch for me. Feeling tired again I layed my head down and then my body sent me the message again. I ran out to the bathroom and repeated the same as before. Something was definitely wrong, but I would tough it out until we were done for the day in an hour. Once we were finished, I went by the Tobacco store to buy a bus pass (they explained it earlier to our group how to do it and what it was) and then went to the bus stop. finally I got to my stop and started walking home. Earlier Ana gave me a set of keys, one for the gate and one for the door. When I came to the gate I tried my key and it wouldn’t work. I must have tried ten times and by then I felt more tired and decided to call Ana for help. She was on her way and would help me as soon as she got there. I found out why I didn’t get in, I hadn’t turned the key far enough to unlatch the door. As always, I am humbled. Then I go inside and to my room to put on pajamas. Ana comes to me and asks how everything went and if I was hungry. I then told her what happened and she told me she would bring me tea to help settle the stomach. I was fine for a bit and then my stomach sent the message again. I tried medicine the doctors advised for upset stomach abroad with water (which I was extremely thirsty), that didn’t work long, I tried bread and no again. I wanted to sleep and I couldn’t. how rude. My body and I were at odds and it was winning. I spent the rest of the say like this and dad tried researching what I could do with what I had or didn’t have with me and found that Dramamine helps sometimes. Finally we found something that helps at 1am my time.