I AM ALIVE

Hola amigos!

Okay so I haven't had any wifi (pronounced here as wee-fee) until now and I only have 30 minutes so I'm like MUST SKYPE MUST FACEBOOK MUST TWEET but I have too much to say for 160 characters and it's like midnight here so this is whatcha get.
I HAVE MET THE MOST STUPENDOUS FRIENDS. However, we must say ciao tomorrow because this is only the orientation phase. Um okay so everyone speaks Spanish here.....QUE?! Haha no I'm actually doing pretty good. Like I've learned so far from new girlfriend Maddie from Maryland that you have to stop focusing on translating the whole entire sentence and try to let the gist of what people are saying just sink into your brain. Talking is mas dificil until you really get going, then I swear everything just rolls off your tongue.
Sooooo like we talk Spanish in long intense bursts but then when our leaders are off having a life we bond as a super American group. The seven of us have now officially ordered dinner in Spanish twice now! It's much easier with combined brain power. We have been let alone twice in the city but we never wander too far from the hotel or talk to strangers (I promise.) Our leaders are really interesting and surprisingly organized people and much kinder and more open than I ever expected.

Tonight we finished being "orientated" and Alvaro (our hip tutor who handles everything and wears brightly colored clothing) dropped us off at the hotel around 8. We are trying to get used to eating late so we waited until about 9:30 to venture out. I brought my guitar this time and we went to Madrid's version of Central Park which is huge and green and beautiful and I can't wait to instagram photos of it. We settled by a big pond thing under a street lamp and I played 'Mr. Brightside' by the killers and just as I was rocking out to the "I never"'s a cute spanish boy rode his little Spanish bike past me and gave me a huge smile. Eeeeep.
Then we went to dinner and dined on tapas and one of the girls staying in a different room informed me that there is 30 free minutes of weefee in the lobby so here I am at 1:03am.
I MEET MY HOST FAMILY TOMORROW OMG.
I am taking a train with another girl going to Porrino who is named Olivia. When I first met her I was totally intimidated by her and I wasn't quite sure of her but I smiled and stayed super nice (not fake nice, do not picture fake nice) and just open to her and I learned more about her story when we both woke up in the middle of the night because we can hardly adjust to the time difference and I admire her a lot and I'm so glad to have her in Porrino. We both know not to cling to each other but we predict we will be in the same general friend group which will be great. And we will only speak Spanish together and whatnot. I can tell there are some stressful times ahead of me though and I'm so relieved that I'll have her to sort of fall back on.
I talked to my host mother on the phone today! It was hard to understand on the phone....I feel it will be much easier to understand her in person because our other tutors (Virgina and Ana) speak Spanish with a very heavy accent and say many words I don't understand but I can still comprehend what they are saying to me enough to formulate a response just from watching them.
However, I keep being told by Alvaro that school will be really hard and that it's totally normal for me to fail...like really truly fail which I have never really significantly known before. Their schools here are very different than our American ones. For example, our schedule changes dramatically each day. And we don't eat lunch. We just go home at 14:30 (2:30) and eat lunch then. Hmm. Also, our core classes will be with all the same people. And everything is a lecture. Every hour unless it's gym or music. Yikes!
I feel strangely okay about this because Alvaro also keeps reminding me that it's more about the experience and I'm going to take so much away from this. I think mythology and English will be passable though.
Okay I've really got to go...sorry about the choppy post, the others will be better and more detailed. Madrid is beautiful, I can't wait to see Vigo.
Okay bye! I miss you all. I will get to more wifi asap, but that could be until I'm all settled in at home tomorrow which could be very late here.