Goodbye Madrid... Hola Toledo

Well, as I said am waay behind on my posts, but I will be writing this post as if the day had just happened, since it's easier that way. Anyway, this is our last morning in Madrid, and we will be leaving for Toledo by bus which will take approximately an hour. We first had breakfast in the hotel like the other morning, and breakfast isn't a big thing here, it's funny. Spaniards don't live by the whole "you need a big breakfast to start your day off well" concept like they do in the States. They basically eat toast or a piece of a fresh baguette with jelly or cheese and coffee. Or they'll have some fruit. It's a small meal usually at around 8 or 9am but then they take a work break at around 10:30-11am and eat a larger breakfast type meal, some don't eat until that time. And then lunch is between 2-4, which is usually when the siesta or naptime is. That's when all of the stores close and everyone relaxes until about 5. Then they eat dinner between 9-11, and don't go out until after midnight. Since I'm a night person I think I'll be able to handle that, but it's hard to wait to eat what for me are such odd times. Of course it'll take some getting used to, but I'll have to rearrange my entire eating schedule because I snack like all day long and they do not do that here. I'll just have to buy a lot of gum to sustain me until the next meal.
Anyway, we all met in the lobby and walked to the taxi stop. We each had our own taxi since we all packed two bags and that was about all the trunk could fit. As Clif told the taxis where to drop us off, we each left individually. Turns out there was some kind of misunderstanding between three of the drivers and Clif because three of us ended up somewhere else. No worries though, I speak Spanish. My taxi followed the two in front of it and as they each pulled over on a corner, I didn't see any of the other people who had left before us. And the meter read 5 Euros, when Clif had told us it would be about a 10 Euro ride. Something was definitely wrong. So as the three taxi drivers and the four students walked out of the cab all in confusion, Brian pointed to me and told his taxi driver that I could speak Spanish. So the three taxi drivers came to me and asked me where we were supposed to go. After I told them that we had to go to the Plaza, one of the drivers was not too happy about being wrong and was convinced that this was where he was told to drop us off. So I explained that we had to catch a bus to go to Toledo and there was no bus stop here. As he reluctantly went back to his car, we all got back into ours and headed off.
Once I shut my door, my taxi driver told me that she didn't know that I spoke Spanish and that was why she didn't talk to me before. She asked me where I was from, and I found out that she is a big fan of Chicago and had visited years ago. We quickly got to the plaza and I was relieved to see that the rest of the group was waiting for us. We got our stuff on the bus and waited for students from other schools to get there. And we quickly added two more to our group of friends, two students from University of Minnesota, which I soon learned is "The U" here because there are so many of them studying in Toledo from there.
We soon headed off to Toledo and after we all introduced ourselves and asked the standard where are you from, what school do you go to, did you just get here, how was your flight questions there was that awkward pause where everyone's run out of things to say, so everyone either turned their iPods on, or tried to sleep or looked out the window or turned to have a one-on-one conversation with someone. I did all three. And there were still 45 min. left of the drive. So I wrote down some stuff to remind me of what we had done to be able to blog about it.
Once we finally got to Toledo, I saw the hills that it's built on and how old and dry everything looks. It's amazing. Gorgeous.
It looks like there is a lot of green, but this picture was taken from a hill that had a lot of green bushes, the actual town and center of Toledo which is what the photo is of is dry and all of it's colors are neutral so it makes it look drier. On the right is the Alcázar, which is one of the monuments that Toledo is known for. It used to be a roman palace in the 3rd century, and the Spanish king and queen would stay there. Alcázar is actually an arabic word. All Spanish words that start with an "Al" are arabic words. Like almohada (pillow), alambre (wire), etc.
Anyway, we had to take rolls our bags down a small street that cars would not fit through, and the handle of one of my wheeled bags broke! Luckily Maggie connected it to the top of her big bag and then I rolled her second one with mine. It was a difficult process and we were the last to get into the Funda (short for Fundación, which everyone says to call the school). I was sweating like an icy drink in the summer and then I had to carry my bags up the stairs to my room on the second floor. Which, by the way, is the first floor here because they start their lobby floor at zero. It was really confusing when we took the elevator in the hotel, and I definitely got off at the wrong floor a couple of times.
After dropping off my bags, we all had lunch, which offered many vegetable/vegetarian options. Yay! I'm thinking I'll like the food here. After lunch we got the tour of the school, which is ONE BUILDING. Yes, the dorms, the dining room, the classrooms, the laundry room and the computer labs are all in one building. One. Uno. I can get out of bed and walk up the stairs and go to class if I want. I didn't think it would be like that at all, I was expecting being able to go out to the library, or find a study room in a building. The library is on the second floor. And the classrooms are locked after classes are over. Never will I ever take Denison for granted. I mean can you imagine studying for midterms or finals and not having your own room or table to study in. I'm gonna have to find the town library, which I hope will be bigger and not have only two aisles with books. One which is only travel guides. I guess I will definitely NOT have to worry about missing anything when I travel on weekends...
Once our tour was over, the students doing a homestay left to meet their families, which was my whole group except for one girl and I suddenly got really overwhelmed and started to get really homesick and sad. I felt like I hadn't talked to my family in forever, and like I was all by myself now, and that everyone was doing a homestay... It's hard to be away, and I think I finally noticed that I was away from home for a whole semester. So I cried. I went to my room and grabbed my computer, my charger and plug converter, cell phone and first went upstairs to try to find an open classroom. That's when I found out they're locked when there's no class. So I went to the library. Closed. So I walked downstairs to a room full of couches and chairs, there were people there. All I wanted to do was be alone and talk to my parents and the place was so small there was nowhere I could call my own space. It felt like the school was getting smaller and smaller and I was convinced I had made the wrong decision. I didn't know where to go or what to do. My roommate was in my room, and I could feel the tears coming. So I walked down to the basement where the laundry room is and another computer lab. The computer lab was empty so I went in and set up shop. But once I got on Skype, my family wasn't on. So I wrote an e-mail to my dad and while trying to explain to him how I felt, I burst into tears. Don't worry, I brought my to go pack of tissues with me.
This is what I wrote him:
" I added you to my Skype, sorry I haven't responded we've been all over the place and
anytime we have free time I've been sleeping cuz I'm exhausted. I hate it here. I mean I
like it, but right now I don't. It's really late at home so I know you guys won't be up,
but I'd really like to talk to you soon. I'm really homesick right now. I think it has to
do with the fact that we just got to the school and have split up into our rooms and the
others who are oing homestays have split up with those not doing a homestay and from my
group me and another girl are the only ones staying in the dorms. And I think it's just
hard to finally have gotten close to a group of people and then they leave, and I don't
know how far they are from the school. The girl who is here and our rooms actually
connect and we each have a Puerto Rican roommate and they knew each other before. I'm
glad I share a bathroom with Amanda, the girl from my group but I think I just need some
alone time or something cuz I just don't want to be around her, and I feel like me
feeling like everything's all over the place I would try to hold onto someone or
something that would keep it the same, but I just can't stand her right now. I think it's
cuz she's been really clingy and needy cuz she's freaking out about not knowing Spanish
well enough, and being one of the only ones living in the dorms, etc. And I just can't
deal with that and my emotions either.
I think I'm also kind of freaking out because I didn't think that I would get very
homesick at all or "hate" the place so soon into the trip, but I wanna go home, and it's
hard and I know that it's just a phase and probably just that it's a lot of stuff to take
in in like 3 days. I think I might just go take a walk around the town and try to find a
quiet place.
The school is tiny. The dorm rooms are one the first and second floor and the classrooms
are on the second floor too. As is the library. And there's no place to just be by
yourself. It's gonna be really hard to get used to cuz at school there's tons of
classrooms in any building you can hide out in to work and stuff
We don't start classes yet tomorrow, we have to take a placement exam and an oral exam.
Then we have to interview for the internship position.
I'm kind of wishing that I did a homestay, just to be with a family and have my own room
which would be really nice, and I actually wish I had requested a single room.
Anyway, I'm calming down a little bit, but I really miss you guys. Here's my schedule for
tomorrow so that maybe you can e-mail me back a time we can skype or talk on the phone.

I actually have to go back to my room to get it so I'll send you another e-mail with it.

I miss you and love you,
Daniella"
The e-mail is very jumbly and rambles, but I was typing so fast and crying I didn't care.
Two minutes later, my dad was calling me on Skype and I don't think I've ever felt so relieved and happy before. Just hearing his voice made it seem like everything was gonna be ok. I talked everything out with my dad, then I iChated with my brother, but seeing the kitchen in the background made me homesick again. Then I got to talk to Cassie and she told me that she went through the same thing, but that it gets better, and then I talked to Caroline and she said the same thing, and then I talked to my mom who made me feel better. But I think the girl Rocio, who I found out is from Chicago, went to Jones high school and was doing a homestay but she wanted to move out and into the dorms reassured me that I definitely made the right decision living in the dorms. There are obviously pros and cons for both, but I was satisfied with staying in the dorms.
I spent about 5 hours on the computer and I think it made me feel better to be connected to something since I had NO way of contacting anyone in my group because they didn't have phones yet.
Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day. I'll at least be back with my friends...
Until my next post,
xoxo
D