Safe arrival

Hello, family! I am in Spain! I arrived safely and the flights were relatively painless besides the initial delay. Heathrow was a disaster and covered in snow, but my flight apparently landed in between blizzards so that worked out. And my bags were not lost, which was also a pleasant surprise.

My apartment here is very tiny but very nice and new-looking. Olga, my señora, is probably in her early forties and she has three daughters, Eva (15), Violeta (12) and Alegra (4). They are all darling and very talkative and energetic, which is really good because I can practice my Spanish! They don't even laugh at me too much when I speak. They were, however, disappointed to learn that I am not into Twilight, High School Musical or Hannah Montana. Of all parts of American pop culture, of course they've chosen those three quality programs. (Oh well, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. Or judgmental.) This morning I elected to take the Metro to campus instead of walking because of the snow, and Eva and Violeta walked me to the station and everything.

My one embarrassing moment so far has been my inability to open doors. I have four keys that all go to different locks to get me into the building (including one for the elevator?), but apparently in Spain you have to turn the key with a lot more force than you do in America. I have failed on several occasions at unlocking the door because I'm afraid of breaking the key. Luckily for me each time there has been someone home to let me in (the girls' school was canceled today because of the snow), but we'll see what happens tomorrow.

I have orientation all this week (real classes start next week). Today for three hours we reviewed such novel ideas as how to not get robbed (zip up your purse and don't leave it sitting on the ground in a sidewalk cafe), how to not offend the Spaniards (say hello), and how to not lose your passport (don't carry it around). It's not like we all haven't spent 2+ years of our lives living in New York City or anything. Sigh.

So! Here is my blog, and I will do my best to update it regularly with scenes from my daily life and recounts of my travel exploits. In reality, I will probably post a lot of mediocre photographs of really old churches and whine about the lack of peanut butter in my life, the Euro-dollar exchange rate, having to watch television streaming on megavideo in 72-minute intervals, or the fact that Madrid's subway closes at 1am (or, very likely, a winning combination of all four). If I've successfully convinced you that this atrocity is something you'll want to read on a regular basis, check back! (And feel free to send me annoyed emails if I don't update. Guilt tripping me works!)