A Look Back at Orientation

Today was the last day of orientation, and I surprisingly enjoyed 95% of it. I say that because orientation activities normally make me want to tear my hair out. Most of the people on the trip are easy to get along with which makes things easier. I'm going to try my best to not repeat things from previous posts in my general summary of the last week or so. Also, I can once again take no credit for any pictures in this post, this time because I don't bring my camera when we go out.

Anyway, Monday and Tuesday we had dancing lessons. I think I learned basic steps for 5 different kind of dances, and have no clue which belong to which. I unfortunately missed the inauguration broadcast because of the lessons, but I got to see it online later. They ended up being pretty fun even though I wouldn't think that I'd like it. On Monday we went to a bar called the Irish Rover with all the students and faculty of IES for a pizza party and a Spanish band called a "Tuna" came to play. They're basically a student group that plays random string instruments and most closely resemble a mariachi band probably. Here's a picture from inside the bar, I'm the one furthest back in the picture.


Here's a picture of the band. They were absurd looking, but put on a good show.


Wednesday I officially signed up for my classes and got everything that I was hoping to get. We did karaoke as a group on Thursday afternoon. That was probably the dull point of orientation, but still alright. I actually did it! With a group, but still, a big step for me... Then on Friday we went to a mall on the other side of the river. Actually, that was probably the dull point. If I had a ton of money to just throw around, I would have enjoyed it more as I like the clothing here a little too much, but it ended up being a lot of walking around. I saw Seven Pounds at the movie theater there which was really sad, but good. It was really confusing at the beginning though which was either the nature of the movie or because I had difficulty understanding the dubbed over version of Will Smith. Saturday we went to Zamora and Toro as I have already written about. Oh, and today we went to Valor and got chocolate con churros. It's things like that that I already know I'm going to miss when I go back home. What it is is basically melted, delicous chocolate in a cup served with sticks of fried dough to dip in it. Soooo amazing. It's more of an old lady thing to eat, but I really don't care, they taste way too good.

Outside of orientation acitivites, things are going pretty well as well. Monday night, a bunch of us stayed after the pizza party to hang out at the Irish Rover. It is the most American place ever. Only American Top 40 music and pictures of American icons all over the walls. It has a nice atmosphere, but not a place to go if you want to be Spanish. This is a picture of the two student orientation staff people who both are in the Facultad de Transducción. Saida is on the left and Mari is on the right.
I'm starting to get a hang of Spanish life a little bit more. A couple night ago we did tapa bar hopping for dinner. A group of 6 of us went and bought big plates of various tapas, including amazing chorizo, calamari, asparagus, and potato things. Overall it cost everyone like 15 euros which was a pretty good deal considering how much food and drink we got overall.

Last night, we went out again. Left the residencias at about 12:30 and got back at about 5. So late, but getting used to it. Its still unsettling to hear the birds singing on your way home. Here are some random pictures from people at different bars/discotecas. Anyone thats up close in the pictures is from my program. I admitedly look unnecessarily sketchy in the last one, but I thought I'd include it because its one of the few pictures with me in it.

So yes. Very good two weeks so far. Classes start tomorrow! Ahhh! I have both of my classes that I will be taking at the actual university tomorrow and I dont get home til 9 PM, but dont start til 1, so I'm okay with that. Wish me luck! I'll update soon about how my classes are going.