Miercoles...un buen dia.

So, as all of you East Coasters are just waking up, I'm getting ready for lunch and a siesta. I've already had my four hours of intesivo today, which I actually like. We do stuff like putting on skits (today my group did one where a daughter brought her boyfriend over for dinner for the first time) and having Pictionary-esque contests to work on vocab. And we have discussions about current events and articles in the newspaper here too (El Pais) that also helps us work on speaking. The stuff that we focus on is also phrases and figures of speech that are actually useful - the differences between "llevar" and "traer" (to leave and to bring), idioms, etc., as opposed to when we spent like six months at SHA talking about the environment and mechanical bees, haha.

I am FINALLY going to do laundry tomorrow. As any of you who have been talking to me know, I am literally almost out of clothing to wear. But because of all the orientation activities we have scheduled, I haven't had time to take an hour or more out of my day to go to the lavanderia and figure out how stuff works there. Tomorrow we only have to register for classes (which apparently takes 10 minutes) in addition to the morning classes, so I'll have plenty of time to go and not be stressed about having to get somewhere else. I did walk down to the lavanderia earlier though, just to talk to the guy there and make sure that they're going to let me wash my clothes myself (they have this weird thing called a tintoria here where you leave your clothes and they wash and dry them for you, not quite like a dry cleaners but sort of in the middle). Hopefully all will go well with that tomorrow, or I'm going to have to start turning clothes inside out.

Last night we had a salsa dancing class as part of our orientation activities, which was muuuuy divertida (that's "very fun," Dad). Though it was a tad difficult having the guy explaining the steps in Spanish, haha - I'm rhythmically challenged enough as it is without having to translate as I go. :-P Tonight we have another class in flamenco, and then a pizza dinner / dance party sponsored by our program at one of the clubs here (though it's at 9, so it'll probably just be us haha - los salamantinos don't come out until like midnight or 1 am).

Yesterday I met one Katie Moran for a loooovely sangria and chat date near Plaza Mayor. It was wonderful to see my twinnie, and apparently she lives less than five minutes from my house, which is very exciting. Especially with the way I've been feeling lately, it's good to know there's a friendly face nearby (even though her program is so much more awesome than mine and she's traveling every single weekend from now until forever - jealous!).

So that's pretty much the practical stuff, what I've been doing and whatnot. As far as I'm concerned...the past few days have been a lot of ups and downs. I'm enjoying Spain, yes, but at the same time I've never been the kind of person who enjoys starting over and having to make first impressions all over again with a huge group of new people. I'm also not a fan of anything that can be called "orientation," but that's besides the point haha. I guess what I mean is, I realize that it's only been a week and I shouldn't expect to feel totally comfortable yet, but I hate being in that place where you're not sure who your "people" are yet, the relationships you're going to pursue and who's going to "fit" with you, you know? I suppose I'll find my niche in time.

The kids here start school next week, so I've seen a lot of moms out with their sons and daughters talking about school supply shopping (so cute to hear about "cuadernos de matematicas" and "el primer dia de clases" - I love that my comprehension is getting better so that pieces of conversation I hear are starting to make sense). I'm pretty excited to start real classes too (yeah, I've always been a dork like that), even though my schedule is pretty packed (or will be, provided I get the classes I want).

Anyway. I might actually try to run down to the lavanderia now because it's earlier than I thought it'd be after lunch. Hopefully all goes well! (Five minutes later - juuust kidding. Forgot that literally everything closes here from 2-5 for siesta. So frustrating!)