Reporting From Toledo... Spain That Is

So It's not that bad here... Reflecting on it more I realized it's hard because I've been in Madrid the last two days for orientation with my group and its been sooooooo fun cuz its only 7 of us and the group is like amazing so we got really really close because we've been together like 24/7 the last 2.5 days, so getting split up just made me feel lost, and kind of lonely. And it feels like almost all of the 150 who are studying here are doing homestays, which kind of sucks because it's great during the day, but then everyone leaves at night. And that's when I have time to think and that's when I get homesick and lonely.
I know now why college is so fun and I never got lonely because people didn't leave at night, everyone lives in the dorms somewhere on campus, so I never really had down time to get homesick. But even if I did, my family was a phone call away, whereas here the time difference is 7 hrs, and I can't just pick up the phone and call them because it's so expensive, I have to schedule a time to get on Skype that works for everyone. It's hard. And it'll take A LOT to get used to it, I don't know if I'll ever get used to it...

Yesterday I just felt like stuck when everyone left, like I started to get familiar with everything and then it just collapsed.

I'm just being more emotional because its a lot to take in. I mean once I get my classes and get a schedule/routine going it'll be fun. I just had to cry it out to my parents and I've been ok since then. I just also really miss school and home though. But it's normal, it's also just hard because I didn't expect me to break down at all and if I did I especially didn't think it would be in the 3rd day of being here. But I know that the first days are the hardest.

Today though, I'm back with my group, who are here right now because we've been taking tests and getting our classes and we went and walked around the town so that was good. It's been ok today so far, I'm not the only one that isn't too happy right now though which makes me feel better. A couple of them actually want to move back to the dorms, which I hope they do. And I went out last night to a restaurant with a group of like 10 people and we had sangria which was nice, and they were cool, but I like my group more haha. I'm trying to keep an open mind though. And I found out today that everyone lives 20 min or farther, which sucks. I don't know I'm trying to take it day by day.
But first thing we did today was take a two part test to see where our level of Spanish is. I failed. Haha I'm totally kidding. The first thing we had to do was write a letter to a penpal and they gave us some points we had to include. Simple enough. Then we got a 6-page packet with unfinished sentences and they gave us multiple choice options to choose the correct answer to complete the sentence. They told us to put an "X" on the letter that was correct, which I thought was so odd because usually we use X to cross something out as wrong... Maybe that's one of the new culture things I'll have to adjust to... Anyway, I was one of the first to finish so I had a lot of time to wait in between then and when we met with a professor to choose our classes. So we all just hung out, ate lunch. When I went in for my meeting, I found out that I did very well in both exams, and the professor told me that I didn't need to take a Spanish language class, but it's a requirement for the Arcadia program so she told me to do the Service Learning class that's new, but I just took that course at Denison last semester. So I'm in a Spanish Linguistics course that is a level lower. First day of class I found out we don't get homework. And we can use all of our notes in tests. If all of my classes are like that this will be a great semester! I'm also doing an internship, but our interviews for the internship are later in the day, so I technically don't even know if I'll get it or not until later in the day. If I don't get it, I'll have to pick up another class. I'm also taking Christian, Muslim and Jewish Art in Toledo. Which is an art history class, and probably the best one to be offered because Toledo is known as the city of three cultures. It used to be the home for Christians, Muslims and Jews where they all lived together. Also on my schedule is Society through Spanish and Latin American film. And finally, contemporary Spanish women writers, which is actually taught by Luisa Benito, who was a Spanish professor at Denison about 13 years ago. Honestly, what a small world!!
After getting my classes, we all waited for our internship interviews for the ones who applied for one. As time went on we found out that some of them were filled. And I started to get nervous and wonder what kind of process it was where the slots filled before they even interviewed everyone who applied. I started to get really nervous that mine would be filled also, and my nervousness became anger. The process wasn't fair for the students who had last names that were later in the alphabet resulting in later interview times. I soon found out that they didn't decide on the students based on that, rather they based it on when their application was sent. That isn't any better though, because I could have had a bad application but sent it in early and gotten the internship over someone who worked harder and could even be a better candidate. Regardless, I got my internship. I walked into the office and sat down with the professor and he looked at my application and said so you want to work with La Tribuna. And I said that I did, and he was like ok well this is what you'll be doing and went on to explain that I will be ON TV!!
I'm gonna be on a late night tv show as a special correspondent and I give my
point of view as a student from the U.S. studying abroad in Spain. So he told me that the
host of the show will give me a topic like a couple days or a day in advance and I'll do
research on it, and I ask other students, etc. and I report my opinion on the
show!!!!
I'm like freaking out, sooo excited and unexpected at the same time! I had NO idea that
it would be like this! So I also have a couple of DVDs with past students who have
interned so I can see examples. I'm soooo excited!!!
And the professor told me that I can also stick around and learn some of the other things that go into tv shows like the behind the scenes stuff. Because he was like it's all there and so
ask questions. So I'm glad the place is small so that I can get a whole experience with
the in front of and behind the camera stuff.
I'm sooo excited!!!
It is only a local television station, but I can't wait! I'm so nervous and excited at the same time!
I'm off to check out the examples that he gave me, but I cannot wait to see what this is like!
Until my next post,
xoxo
D