Aly's Spain Adventure

Read about what I'm doing while in Spain so you can keep up with me!

Name:
Location: Des Moines, Iowa, United States

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Day 9
Cool this was yesterday! Almost caught up, but I wont be because I wont have the internet tonight to put in today but I can type it up on my computer and put it online later which I think I will do. So on day 9, Saturday, I slept in really late. There was a trip to Segovia with the school to see the aqueducts but it was 30€ and we are going to get a few of us together to go at a different time for much much cheaper. So I got up around 1pm and walked around the neighborhood trying to find a super market that is closer and cheaper than Corte Ingles (Corte Ingles is great for finding stuff but kind of expensive). I also looked for a closer metro stop and found absolutely nothing. Oh well, Ive been walking so much lately that I dont care anymore. Around 3pm Emily came over and we made some really good salad that we had some bread with and then went swimming for a bit but it was starting to storm so we went inside. Then I was trying to get on the hunt for internet, so I went with Emily to the metro stop (which is actually inside a centro commercial-mall) and we looked for telefonica which we did not find but we did find H&M which is a very cheap clothing store. I bought a very cute shirt for 3€ and a cute skirt for 5€. Since we found out there was not a telefonica in the mall, I took the metro to Plaza de Espana (plazas are always full of shopping centers and stuff). On my way I got a text message from Erika that you can maybe get internet at Corte Ingles so I went to see. I talked with a lady-I did very good with my spanish but I wanted to make sure that we didnt need a contract so she told me one more time in English. We didnt need a contract, we just have to buy a router for either 40€ or 80€ and the more expensive has wireless. It would then be about 36€ a month for the fastest internet. I took this information with me back home and told my roommates who were all for it so we went back to Corte Ingles and bought the router. We then had to call the company-Wanadoo-and set up our internet. I called and asked if there were any english speakers and of course there wasnt and unfortunately its hard to just wing it when it comes to money so Erika had the idea to go talk to a guy she knew who works in the bar downstairs and get him to help us. He wasnt there so she asked another girl who actually agreed to help us (she said in Holland thats normal to ask anyone for help and they will help you). I know in a bar in the US they would tell you to get the hell out. She didnt even accept a tip. These people are very nice. So she was talking on the phone for us and then explaining things back to us in more simple spanish. We discovered that we have to have a phone line in our flat which we do not!!! We were so very very sad. So we kind of gave up for then and I actually had plans to meet up with Linda and Alcyn and some of their friends as well as Joanna. Erika came with me (we were meeting at 1130pm) and Joanna brought her roommate from France. We never saw Alcyn or Linda and they werent answering their phones so we decided to make our own plans. In the mean time Erika got a text from her friend saying they had the same problem with internet and that they called telefonica and it was 80€ to set up and then about 15€ a month (5€ each) so that wasnt too bad. However everything in spain takes forever so it will take a week to get a phone line and then 2 weeks to a month to get internet. Im still so so so sad. Maybe there will be a miracle and it will happen sooner. Who knows. Anyway we walked all over the place and finally went to Sol (the center of Madrid which is very far from where we started). We went to the first 'bar' and got a glass of beer for each of us and then shared a pitcher of Sangria which was good but still not as good as the first one I had (Sanabresas). They were closing down so then we looked for another place and finally found something that was closing soon but would let us get a little food and a drink before they closed. We got a tapa which looks sooooo disgusting but actually tasted pretty good-jamon iberica. It was slices of some cheese, and meat, but not ordinary meat like ours, it looked like they just had killed it and sliced it and gave it to us. I will post the picture of it later. It actually tasted pretty good. Before we got to this bar I forgot to mention we had wanted to go to McDonalds which ended up being closed. However a funny fact is that Emmanuel (the guy from france) told me in france they had for a while megamacs and gigamacs (kind of like the BK Stackers). I just thought the names were hilarious. There was also another great moment (all these people speak english but their native language is not english). Emmanuel was asking us girls if we had to go to the bathroom before we left the 2nd bar but he asked us if we had to 'go take a leak.' It was very funny since girls dont really use that term when they go to the bathroom, so I explained that to him. Its interesting when people know 'slang' but it doesnt get used correctly. I made sure to tell him I wasnt laughing at him but with it as we are all learning a language. So all the bars were pretty much closing and only clubs were open and as no one felt like clubbing we all found a night bus to take home. It was still about 4am so it was a pretty okay night. Well Ive got to get going so Ill try and post more as soon as I can. You all should leave me comments and send me emails telling me you love me. O a personal P.S. Mom can you give this website to Grandma and Grandpa so they can read it too. Love you all!

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