Salamanca/ Segovia/ Kapital and Joy

Well it’s been a while since my last blog so I have a lot to tell everyone! Last week was a normal week of SLU classes and our first week of labs for nursing! YEA!!  The Labs were great. It was nice throwing on a pair of scrubs and a lab coat to wear to class.  Last Wednesday the 18^th, Corinne, Emily, and I went down to Sol to watch Madrid play Barcelona. This soccer (or futbol) game is known as the Clasico. It was great to be a part of their futbol atmosphere. I’d have to compare the atmosphere to being surrounded by the St. Louis Cardinals fans during the playoffs... Oh how I miss my Cardinals.

 Last Thursday was Nursing night out once again! We all went to Kapital. This Discoteca was absolutely amazing. It was 7 stories tall. Each floor had something different on it.  I’d say my favorite floor was the top one. It had a bunch of lounge chairs to sit in. In the summer when its warm out, they actually retract the roof. After partying till 4:30, it was time to head home.  On Friday Corinne and I woke up around 12 and met Emily at a Chinese Restaurant. It was amazing!!! After partying all night and a full stomach, it was time for a nap. 

After a long nap I went for a run.  I don’t know what it is about Spain and working out, but you never see any one running and they are all so skinny.  So of course me and my blonde hair, running on the street do take in a few stares, but I don’t mind. I’m just so happy to be getting a work out! After my run it was time for bed. 

On Saturday we had a day trip to the town of Salamanca. Salamanca was gorgeous. We were able to go inside and climb an old Cathedral. Most places in Spain you are not allowed to take pictures inside, but here at this Cathedral we were allowed to use cameras. We climbed up to the very top balcony in the Cathedral and were able to take pictures. The view was stunning.  After our long day at Salamanca, we all slept the whole way back to Madrid. After our 2 hour nap/ bus ride we decided that we were energized enough to go out.

 We headed to Star Studio. Star Studio is also located in Sol. It was another great night.  A big group of people ended up meeting us there. We wound up not even leaving until around 4 AM… and we had to be up at 7AM. After sleeping for an hour, we were up and on our way to the town of Segovia.

 This trip was probably the best town we have visited so far.  Of course, due to lack of sleep  we were all slap happy.  I think it made the trip even better.  We wandered around the gorgeous town and made our way to the castle Alcatraz. It was just unbelievably beautiful. We were able to walk through and tour the castle. After touring the castle we headed to a local restaurant. Then it was time to get some espresso and head back to the bus.  After being up for almost 36 hours straight we all passed out on the bus. When we got home Corinne and I took a 2 hour nap and then ate dinner, and then went to bed. (All of this traveling and nightlife is exhausting!!)

Last night we headed down to Sol for another night of partying. We ended up at Joy again. We paid 12 euros for 3 drinks. This deal was only open to those with student ID's. Thanks goodness I had mine. We went out with another large group of girls and met so many people. We ended up hanging out with people from Germany, Holland, and Spain. As the night was coming to a close, we ran into some other SLU students. We finished the night partying with them and it was a blast. Its always nice to meet new people from SLU, because we will all be back at the same school  in the fall. I'd say it was one of the best nights to far. Too many embarrassing stories to post. 

School is going really well. It is a really hard semester, but the nursing labs are actually fun. Today we learned how to do vital signs. Yes, I actually got the blood pressure correct on the first time! During the week we don’t go out as much. We have classes most of the day and then we study at night. I have worked out a routine where I can fit in a run about 5 days a week! I actually wore sweat pants for the first time to class today. Sweat pants aren’t socially acceptable here, but after 16 straight days of dressing up, it was time for a break. Tomorrow it’s off to class in my scrubs! My first class isn’t till 12:30 and then lab at 6:20. Nothing planned for this weekend, but next weekend it’s off to Lisbon, Portugal.

I also have been experiencing severe Wisdom tooth pain from two of my wisdom teeth for over a week.  I had to go see a Dentist here, who was trained in London, and thankfully spoke English.  I am on an antibiotic and an antibiotic mouth rinse, and have another appointment tomorrow.  Hopefully the pain and swelling will subside soon.  Otherwise I hope he will pull it!

Thanks for reading!!!

Brooke

Discoteca/ El escorial/Toledo

     Well Thursday was the last day of classes for the week for all 40 of us nursing students. We were to be at class at 10am for a mandatory nursing meeting. After our meeting we all headed to the cafeteria to get coffee. After some coffee it was time to do some Spanish homework. Lets just say Spanish is not my strong suit. So, after trying to do the homework for 45 minutes, I gave up. I still have the weekend to do it, right? Our next class was Pharmacology, and it started at 12:45. I was dreading an hour and a half class, especially Pharm. Well my view changed when our Professor introduced herself. She was from Ireland. I was pleasantly distracted by her accent the entire lecture. This might take some adjusting. After Pharm we headed off to lunch. We found a great sandwich place. The best part about this restaurant...the

server could speak English! Wow, an English person is hard to come by when you're not on campus. After that, Corinne and I headed back to our apartment. We took a long nap to prepare ourselves for our first night at the discoteca!

     After our nap we ate dinner and then got ready for our night out. We headed to Vips, a local grocery store, and bought 2 bottles of wine. Then we headed up to a friends apartment to meet up before heading to Sol. It was a great time. Most of the nursing girls were there as well as some of our guy friends. We ended up going to Joy, another club. It was great! Some of us did have a little too much to drink, but we did all have a blast. It was so much fun, that we didn't end up leaving until around 5 AM. Wow, I've never been out that late. Once we got back home around 6:30, Corinne and I passed out until 2pm. After that, we just chilled the rest of the day. Our first night at the discoteca was a success!

Yesterday we ventured to El Escorial Monasterio for a day trip. It was great. We walked around the monastery and ventured around the gardens. We arrived around at 10 and didn't leave till 4:45. Needless to say we were all exhausted. After taking in the history of the monastery and walking for 5 hours, we were ready to sleep. At 4:30 we boarded the bus. As soon as we pulled out of the parking lot we were all asleep.

Today we ventured to Toledo. It was an absolutely stunning city with 100's of old stone buildings. The city has a coexistence of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish cultures. Toledo is about an hour southwest of Madrid. It is a must see destination in Spain! Next week we will be heading to Salamanca and Segovia. 

First Day of Classes

     Well today nothing exciting happened. It was the first day of classes. Corinne and I started off the morning with our first nursing lab. It only took about 20 minutes. We were introduced to our professor and told to wear our lab coats on lab days. She told us that scrubs were optional for now. I will definitely being wearing scrubs to class. I mean scrubs to class, need I say more? It's like wearing sweatpants to class, which is not culturally acceptable here. After lab, Corinne and I headed to the cafeteria. I got some coffee and then we went back outside to the courtyard. Here we just went through our syllabi and wrote down our exams. After that we headed to Pathophysiology. Patho was pretty boring. We actually did work today. We took notes for 2 hours straight. All of it was review, which was a good thing. After Patho it was time for lunch. We went to a great cafe. I got a ham, cheese, and egg sandwich. After we ate we went in search of school supplies. It was a success. We found a wonderful store full of binders and folders. Well, I was going to buy 4 binders, but there binders had 2 holes. That wouldn't work with all the dividers and paper I had brought from the U.S. After deciding on some folders we went to school and printed off all of our lectures. Then it was off to Spanish for nursing. This class was absolutely horrible. The professor ONLY spoke Spanish and some girls had never had spanish before. After a frustrating Spanish class, it was time to head home for dinner. We had pizza for dinner. La pizza estaba deliciosa.  That's it for today!

Lost in Sol

    
Our first night out in Madrid was a success! We started off the night by meeting up with a group of SLU students who live a block away. We ventured our way toward the metro that would take us to Sol. After a 15 minute ride we had arrived in Sol (the city). Here we met up with about 100 other SLU- students. Corinne, Emily, Tom, and I headed for a bar. We ended up at an American sports bar and had a couple beers. From there we went to the Dubliner. Lets just say it was Saint Louis relocated. The night was great. We all had a blast meeting new people. We left the bar around 3AM. The only problem about leaving the bar at 3am... the metro is closed. So we ventured off with Tom and 7 other girls. Our first plan was to drop Emily off at her host family. This didn't exactly turn out as planned. See Tom who speaks fluent Spanish, had one too many beers, and Emily had no idea how to get home. So we wandered around for a while. Tom, being oh so coordinated, began talking about the Saint Louis Ark (he meant arch), and ran smack into a tree. One of the many highlights of the night. After a an hour of wandering around the ghetto of Sol we eventually made it to her host family. Then we were off to Nuevos Ministerios. Tom told us it was only an hour walk. Well Nuevos Ministerios is 10 miles away. That didn't sound like an hour walk. With everyones feet hurting and sleep setting in, we decided to take a taxi and split the fare. We arrived home safe and sound and went right to bed! Successful first night!

     Today I woke up around 10:30, took a shower, and ate breakfast. The breakfast was delicious. Here breakfast consists of cereal and hot milk, as well as chocolate and cookies. Wow, I could get used to this. After eating breakfast Corinne and I headed off to SLU. Once we arrived at SLU we bought our phones and waited around for our tour of an old palace. All new students and study abroad students hopped on the bus and headed off. The palace was gorgeous! After walking around and taking pictures we were taken to a restaurant. Here we had the famous churros and chocolate.  Los churros son muy deliciosas. After our wonderful snack it was back to campus and then we headed home. After a long day we were greeted by Senora Angeles. She provided us with a wonderful dinner consisting of chicken and rice.  Tomorrow is the first day of classes. Hopefully they are manageable!

nuestra primera noche fuera!

WE MADE IT!!

Estoy Aqui! We made it!

     After leaving Dallas, we thought we were Madrid bound. We were wrong. Our flight path had us head up towards New York and then across the Atlantic to Spain. We were 40 minutes outside of JFK when we got some bad news. A passenger needed medical attention. Well, when you have an aircraft making an international destination you need a lot of fuel. We were 20,000 lbs over weight in fuel to land at JFK. To decrease the fuel we flew in the flight path for 2 hours until the weight had decreased enough to land. After landing we then had to weight an hour to refuel the plane. After the plane was refueled we were Madrid bound.
     We arrived in Madrid at 1:15 (6:15 STL). After breezing through customs, it was off to our host family. With the help of a wonderful SLU student, Tom, we made it to our host family 2 hours later. Well why did it take 2 hours to get to out host family you might ask? Well let me tell you. After customs we headed to baggage claim with Tom. He had studied abroad for a year and was back for another semester. He was quite familiar with the airport, and even better, fluent in espanol. To save 60 euros on a cab, he showed us how to navigate the subway. So with 6 suitcases between the 2 of us, we headed for the metro. Well its not a proper start to the day without and embarrassing moment or two or three... As we were descending the elevator, my luggage slipped out of my hands and went soaring down the escalator and nailing Tom. It then nailed Tom and Corrine's luggage and mine began piling up. With some stares, we laughed the moment off, due to how slap happy we were without sleep. As we got all the luggage we noticed something, we had just missed the metro. Great start, I know. After hopping on the metro we were Nuevos Ministerios bound. Once off the metro Corrine, Tom, and I lugged the luggage about a half mile to our host family. Tom being so very generous, carried my luggage the whole way. After ringing the door bell we were greated with our host Senora Angeles! She is very sweet and only speaks spanish. Tom definitely eased the transition on our arrival. He began translating everything for us. Once Corinne and I were settled, Tom headed off to his apartment and Corinne and I passed out till dinner. With our Senora only speaking espanol, it makes it difficult to communicate. Luckily Corinne and I know some Spanish. It's weird how fast we are catching on! Im so proud of ourselves. After dinner, we headed off to bed.
     This morning we woke up at 8:30 and got ready for orientation! We headed out to navigate our way to the SLU campus. Luckily we navigated the subway and the streets to SLU in one try! Yay! Orientation was pretty boring, but it was great meeting new people. After orientation a huge group of nursing students got together and we headed out to explore Madrid. After walking a while, we stumbled back to our host family. Come to find out, we live across the street from our nursing group of friends. A little later on we navigated to Starbucks. This was our first legitimate time using Spanish to order and purchase something. I ordered a caffe americano with ice. Well I new how to say everything but ice. They were very nice and understood. They told me to say frio, which meant ice. After Starbucks we headed to the subway to show one of our friends how to navigate back to her place. After we showed her,  Corinne and I hopped back on the metro to Neuvos Ministerios. Well, not knowing that there are 8 locations to come out of the subway, we got lost. It actually turned out to be a great time! We were smart and used a map to navigate our way back to our host family 2 hours later. We are both sitting in our room and catching up with people. We have dinner at 8 and then we are heading to Sol with one big group. Sol is the city. We are excited to experience our first night out in the city!

Ps- Funny story. Corinne, not knowing that the converter for her laptop only took 2 whole prongs, she inserted hers that had 3. What happened? One might guess... A loud pop, then smoke. Luckily no fire! The moment doesn't sound funny, but when you have had no sleep in 30 hours, everything is 10 times as funny.
Hasta Luego!

And We're Off!

Today's the day!

The morning was an early one. I didn't get much sleep last night. I was feeling a little nervous about being gone for 5 months, but also excited as hell. After saying a hard goodbye to my dog Jasmine, I was off to the airport! Once at the airport I checked my bags and headed down to security. After taking multiple pictures with my Mom, Dad, sister Allie, and fellow roommate Corinne, it was time to say our goodbyes. Saying goodbye to family and friends for 5 months isn't an easy thing to do, but I know this is a once and a lifetime opportunity. As soon as we said our goodbyes, it was off to security, which is always a pain in the a$$. As I rounded the corner I gave one last wave goodbye. A new chapter in my life started today.
     After a short flight to Dallas, Corinne and I were in search of food. Well, we were in luck. Corinne's roommate from SLU and her boyfriend came to pick us up. They took us to Dallas for the day were we had some great Mexican food. We also drove by Southern Methodist University. Needless to say it was gorgeous. After spending most of the day in Dallas we headed back to the airport where we met up with 20 other SLU students who are on the same flight.  Our flight leaves at 5:45 for Madrid! We will be arriving at 10am (3am in STL). Everyone here is extremely excited. With all of my nursing friends here at the airport my nerves have been settled, well that is until I have to get on the plane again.

Next stop Madrid!
Brooke

4 more days!

Hello!
So now that I am only four days away from leaving, I am just beginning to realize how much stuff I still need, and how much I need to pack. I'm nervous to be gone for 5 months, but I am so excited to be given this once in a lifetime opportunity. To help me with the transition will be my fellow nursing friends. We are all traveling together and quite a few of us are on the same flight over. One of my best friends at SLU will be living with me. We will be living about 20 minutes away from SLU-Madrid with a host family. Thank goodness they speak English. As for school, well nervous might be an understatement. This will be the hardest semester for us nursing students. With pharmacology and pathophysiology, we also have 2 clinical nursing classes. All I can say is I am ready to travel and meet new people. Hopefully I can manage the school work!
I'll keep everyone updated. T-minus 4 days!