Becoming a Real Nurse

For the past 3 weeks I have been going to nursing clinical! The very first week I was assigned to the Urgencia Pediatria, or Pediatric Emergency area of the hospital. It was SO boring!! There were no patients... well four kids came in to the urgencia, but we just took their temperature and sent them to the doctor... that was it. I basically sat on coffee break for 5 hours. For the last hour though I got to move to the adult emergency and watch a couple of people get an electrocardiogram. As bored as I was, it was interesting to still see how the hospital works and how it is different than American health care. For example, I did not wash my hands a single time while at the hospital. In class we learn to wash our hands ALL THE TIME!!! In the Spanish hospital they rarely wash their hands, just switch gloves between patients. They also do not wear gloves for a lot of things we would wear gloves for. 

The following week I got to go to Residencia. Residencias are long term facilities for older people, basically a nursing home. At the Residencia I passed out hundreds of medications at breakfast time. I was really amazed at the amount of drugs one person would take. It's interesting though being in pharmacology this semester and understanding what the drugs do for a person. The nurse I followed would mention some of the drugs and I actually knew what they were! After breakfast we went up to the floor of the nurse and started changing pressure wounds. I've never changed a wound, but my nurse just told me to start doing it on the first patient! I had no idea what to do, but the nurse was able to talk me through it, so by the second or third patient I was pretty comfortable with it! Then the doctor came and let me watch him insert an IV on a patient. Then I watched him do a sterile cleaning of a stage 4 pressure ulcer. WARNING, graphic sentence coming up! The pressure ulcer was so deep the doctor could fit his entire fist into it!! You could literally see organs and muscle. The doctor just stuck his hand in and dug around cleaning it out. I almost passed out seeing him dig into teh wound like that... but I didn't. It was neat seeing the sterile procedure after practicing it in labs. He had to put on sterile gloves and had us open sterile packaging of gauze for him to grab. Then I prepared a few tube feeding, pulled out an iv, got some coffee and croissants and left! I really enjoyed the long term facility

This week was my favorite so far! I went back to the Urgencia Adulto, adult emergency, and followed a nurse. People will literally come in to the emergency room for nothing. There were several people that just felt a little dizzy and they were coming to the ER. It is free for them so they come for anything! My nurse was very willing to let me do things which was nice. She told me to watch first and then next time do! So I was able to put in an IV!! I didn't do it perfectly, but I hit the vein easily, I just didn't stop the flow of blood well so it gushed all over my hand... but besides that it was pretty good! I witnessed my nurse do so much more than I had previously. I also got to prepare a few iv lines with medication and witness a catheter. I would have been able to do the catheter... but I kind of chickened out, I kind of just wanted to see it done on a real person instead of a mannequin before doing it myself. Next time though! I'm really glad this week at the hospital was better than my first because it makes me excited to back one more time! I still have not given a shot, so I'm looking forward to that! I finally feel like a real nurse!!

Que?

Que? is a a question I ask A LOT here in Spain. It means "what?".  I often have absolutely no idea what a person is saying to me. It is very frustrating and confusing trying to order, or ask directions, or just ask a question with a language barrier. I probably should have learned more spanish before living in Spain for a semester, but I've gotten by so far. I just had this crazy thought about what it will be like going home and not having a language barrier anymore. I've noticed on weekend trips that I often add in Spanish phrases that have become natural for me, like "por favor" and "gracias" even in countries where they don't speak Spanish. I realized that when I'm back to a country where they speak English it's going to be difficult to speak. Yes I speak english here with everyone I can, but sometimes when I'm speaking to a stranger I speak very slowly even if they speak perfect English. It's weird to think about going somewhere and being able to ask questions and understand the answer! I have definitely taken for granted the ability to communicate! I never knew it was such a privilege, but I am really glad I am able to communicate in America.  For now though I'm doing alright and it's become normal not to understand what anyone is saying on the metro, or in stores or restaurants. I've gotten really good at tuning voices out because I can't understand them anyway... Eavesdropping on the metro would probably be really entertaining, but here it's all jibberish to me!

When in Rome!

Well I went to Rome again a few weeks ago! Friends and I went for our winter break. We had Thursday and Friday off and spent it eating gelato, pasta, and pizza! It was our first RyanAir flight and we survived! RyanAir is so interesting... no assigned seats so it's a free for all when they start boarding. They also make tons of announcements the entire flight and sell things from a trolley that are really overpriced, I guess they have to make money somehow since they're flights are so cheap. We arrived in Rome in the afternoon and got settled into our hotel. We were within walking distance of the Coliseum so we just strolled on over to have a look at it! We tried to go in the Roman Forum but it was closing for the day. We then just wandered around and found some nice churches and a park to explore and our first gelato.  Then we wanted to see the church of Paul in Chains, where the chains of St. Paul are kept. I was able to get us back to the church after only being there once 2 years before when I was in Rome with our youth group. I'm pretty proud of my abilities to go anywhere once and get there for the rest of my life.

oh hey, there's the coliseum... no big deal

For the rest of the evening we explored more of Rome. We went to the Spanish steps where we saw a group of Spaniards dancing and singing the Macarana. Then we hit up a classy McCafe for the bathroom and some coffee and headed to Trevi Fountain.  On the way we shopped! When we got to Trevi we all through in some coins and made our wishes! We also met up with the friend of a friend that is studying in Rome. She took us to one of her favorite gelato places for gelato #2!

after we all made our wish into the fountain

THe next morning we woke up really early and hit up the Vatican Museum. We basically sprinted through it and made through in about 3-4 hours. That's an accomplishment. We spent the rest of the day in the Vatican! We walked through St. Peter's and went up in the cupula! We climbed 538 stairs approximately to make it to the top and climbed all of them back down.  Next we met up with a priest friend and he gave us a tour of the Jewish neighborhood. I had never seen that area before so it was really neat to see it. We sat down with him for a nice pasta dinner (i had penne arrabiatta!! my favorite) and then went and got gelato #3. My feet have never hurt so badly in my entire life, but the day was so worth it!

the stairs were definitely worth it to see the Vatican from the top of St. Peter's

Saturday we went church hopping! Meaghan and I woke up earlier than the others to move our luggage to another hostel since ours had no room for saturday night. We then visited my favorite church ever! The Church of the Holy Cross. It has relics of the Holy Cross and a copy of the shroud of Turin. When I was there two years ago I lit a votive candle for my sister and her husband to receive the gift of a child and have patience in their wait. Two years later I was celebrating my niece's 1st birthday shortly after re-visiting this church. Then we met up with the rest of the group at the church of the Pope- St. John Lateran's Basilica! There happened to mass starting in a side chapel of the church, so I stepped in to the Italian mass (I have now been to mass in French, Spanish, Latin, and Italian). Then there happened to be confession and adoration going on also, so I hit the trifecta at the basilica of the pope! It was so amazing to be in such a place receiving so many graces! Then we hit up Mary Major's Basilica which is where a relic of the manger Jesus was born in is kept. I lit another votive candle for other little niece and sister under a statue of Our Lady to be healthy through the pregnancy. I thought it was fitting to pray for the birth of my niece where the relic of where Jesus was born is kept.  It is so amazing to see so many special pieces of Christ's life and saint's lives.  I especially love to see the respect given to them by everyone there to visit. It amazes me how many people travel so many miles to visit these religious sites. Then we got lunch and gelato #4 while waiting to see the bones of the Cappuchin Monks. The bones are displayed as artwork to reverence the monks that have been buried there. I still don't know the whole backstory of the crypt, but it was an intense site to visit. Thousands and thousands of bones all around of men who have died, it was a really intense few minutes walking through. Then we visited St. Ignatius Loyola church and the Agony of St. Anne church. Then we saw the Pantheon. We also stopped at a place for gelato #5, but I did not actually partake in the gelato, which is unfortunate because it was the best gelato place we went to... oh well. We went to Trevi Fountain for one last wish and headed to dinner. We went to a fancy dinner and headed to our hostel for a quick 2 hour nap before heading to the airport for our early flight.

St. John Lateran basilica

It was a fantastic weekend in Rome, and I'm so glad I made the decision to go. I almost didn't go because it was "too expensive" but I've learned here in Spain that sometimes the experience is worth way more than the price to pay for it. Yes I can't just spend my money however I want pretending it won't run out (trust me it's close to running out...) but sometimes it's more worth it for the experience than to miss out on some of the best memories I will ever have! I may never have these opportunities again!

Chocolate and Alps

So about a month ago I went to Geneva, Switzerland! I absolutely love Switzerland! The alps are the most beautiful landscape on this earth in my opinion.  I went with two friends and we traveled SwissAir and stayed in a nice hotel for 2 days in Geneva.  If you ever have the chance, travel SwissAir. My flights to and from were truly the best flights of my life (minus a little hiccup on the way home which I'll talk about later)! They provided us with a wonderful meal both ways- the way there a yummy pizza hot pocket thing, and the way back a great chocolate filled breakfast croissant. They then came around with Swiss chocolate for everyone! It was a very smooth and enjoyable flight!

this is the view from the cable car on our way up the mountain

i got hot walking up the mountain in the snow... i'm my dad's daughter! the view from the top was unbelievable beautiful and we just got to hang out in the snow and enjoy!

We arrived late in Geneva, and were welcomed nicely by the people at the airport. We got free transportation to our hotel and got a good night's sleep! Our hotel was quite fancy (expensive, but the cheapest option in Geneva). It was so nice to be in a comfy quiet hotel rather than a hostel for the trip. Everything was so expensive in Geneva, luckily we knew that before going so we came prepared. We packed a lot of fruit and packaged croissants to eat throughout the day, and allowed ourselves one meal out each day. We paid 30 Euro for one meal! Crazy! We had planned on going night sledding with fondue while in Switzerland, but we found out the place was actually 6 hours away from Geneva, so we had to change our plans. We decided to climb a mountain in Geneva instead! We took a cable car up to the top of Mont Saleve. We hiked through a path and found a lovely field full of snow where we sat and ate some fruit and enjoyed the nature. we then slid back down the trail back to the cable car.

Next we walked around Geneva and TONS of chocolate. You can't even imagine the deliciousness of Swiss dark chocolate and their truffles!! My boots were sopping wet from walking through the snow so I had to by a new pair of of expensive boots taht were on sale for 10 Euro... oh darn! We found an amazing toy story and literally walked through it playing with toys for at least an hour! My favorite was the Bop-It in French! Then we went to dinner and more shopping. We planned on walking around more, but everything closed at 8pm! so we bought a deck of cards, a bottle of wine, and headed back to our hotel for a relaxing evening. We actually just ended up watching a movie.

Bop-it  in French... High "hi!" (hope my family gets the joke:))

the awesome famous fountain in Geneva

The next day we wandered around some more and spent a lot of time at the giant famous fountain! We also went to teh Patek Phillipe museum. Patek Phillipe is a watchmaker, so we learned all about watches and saw thousands of the most beautiful jewels and watches of famous people! Then we rode the public bus for over an hour because we were tired... It was actually a good way to sight see! Then we met up with a couple people and had a nice dinner! We of course also ate a lot more chocolate and bought Swiss Army Knives and my friend bought a Swiss watch!

Now for the little hiccup of the trip. We slept in the airport which was fine for me because I sleep anywhere. As we were checking in to our flight I wasn't able to print my boarding pass for some reason. The attendant was also having issues. We finally figured out I was a dumbass and booked my return flight for March instead of February... Tickets are way more expensive the day of the flight... So after a hysterical phone call to my parents and major freaking out, I finally caved and spent the money to return on the same flight as my friends. The alternative was to wait in the airport for a day by myself and fly back to Madrid Monday morning for half the price. Moral of the story is don't be a dumbass like me and waste hundreds of dollars by booking your flight for the wrong day. It's finally been long enough that I can make fun of myself for my stupidity... kind of... After the most wonderful sunrise I've ever seen on the flight we arrived back in Madrid safely! I slept all day and returned to normal life here in Madrid! It was a fabulous weekend and just enhanced my love for Switzerland even more!!

Ash Wednesday

So Ash Wednesday was last week  as pretty much everyone knows. Fat Tuesday came around and I began trying to figure out where/when I could go to mass on Wednesday. The school mass was during a time that I had class and the other masses seemed to be at times that I would still be at school. I decided to double check if Ash Wednesday was a holy day of obligation because I wasn't sure, and I found out that it is not! That was a relief because I was not finding any options for mass. I thought this would be my first Ash Wednesday ever that I didn't go to mass. I decided to double check my new church close to home on my way home from school and there was mass starting!! apparently they still went by the daily mass schedule instead of the Sunday schedule like I thought they would on a feast day. I was so excited for the opportunity to go to mass!
After mass I thought I did not have any ashes because I did not feel the priest touch my forehead. There were no ashes on my forehead and i was a little disappointed. I noticed that most people in church did not have ashes on the their foreheads either. Later that night though I found the ashes!! The priest had put them on the top of my head, on my hair, instead of on my forehead!! I was brushing my hair and saw a lot of gray, I was quite confused because I didn't think I had gray hair, and then I realized it was my ashes! Spaniards do some crazy things! I'm so glad I was able to celebrate mass on Ash Wednesday to begin my Lent though!

Goodness Me oH my!

I realized I have been here a month already and only posted maybe two times... I sincerely apologize for my lack of priorities! Studying abroad is absolutely unreal, and yet it has finally sunk in that it is my reality. I have already done more than I ever expected to do by my age and I still have so much to look forward to in the next couple of months. I have booked flights by myself, searched for the cheapest deals, booked hostels and hotels, figured out how to live life in the big city commuting on the metro every day, got my watch fixed only speaking Spanish to the employee, overcome language barriers, gotten lost and found my way, slept in an airport, and traveled to Portugal. That's just a quick recap of everything I've already accomplished. It's a really great feeling finally realizing that I can do things on my own. It definitely makes me appreciate everything my parents and family and others have helped me with and done for me throughout my life. I've learned that it takes a lot more to take care of yourself than just asking your parents what's going on. I feel very independent here and realize that it's ok to get lost, ask for directions, make mistakes, because eventually it all works out. Anyway that's just my reflections on feeling so grown up and capable of conquering the world!

So about that conquering the world thing... I definitely have no desire to actually conquer the world, but I am working on exploring the world (aka Europe) right now. This past weekend I spent an unbelievably amazing trip in Lisbon, Portugal. My friends and I slept in the Madrid airport Thursday night to catch our early flight to Lisbon. I slept totally fine of course, I wrapped up myself and all my stuff in my slanket and had a good sleep! My friends didn't sleep quite as well... I'm so thankful for my gift of sleeping anytime, anywhere! Then we woke up early to go through security, and had some breakfast. I asked for pancakes and they asked me something about chocolate, so I said "yes" not knowing what I was agreeing to. I thought maybe it was hot chocolate, but then they asked me if I wanted a cappuccino, so then I said "yes" and was even more confused.... Turns out I got pancakes with chocolate syrup on them and a cappuccino. It was a breakfast of champions for sure! Our flight was delayed a little, but still good. I saw the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen in my life! Then we arrived in Lisbon!

We stayed at Yes! Hostel for the weekend. It was a very nice hostel! We met people from all over the world, some Slovenians, Australians, Brits, and Brazilians. Besides taking a frigid cold shower, it was a great experience! After we checked into the hostel we went to the Oceanarium! It is one of Europe's largest aquarium's and it was so fabulous!! There were so many fish, and sharks, and stingrays, and turtles. I absolutely loved it! We had to walk through a mall to get to the metro on our way home, so we shopped a little. I got a really cute dress and skirt for a great deal! Since no one slept a ton Thursday night we went back to our hostel, ate dinner, and called it a night.

Saturday was a great day. We did the I Hate Tourism Tour in Lisbon. They took us to a place called Sintra where we ate a delicious cream pastry thing, a cherry liquor shot in a chocolate shot glass, and toured a cool garden. By garden I mean medieval castle type forest... There were underground tunnels, castle turrets, and a couple of giant wells.  I got to be Rapunzel. Then we had a traditional Portugese lunch of chorizo. It was bread with pepperoni like meat baked inside of it. We ate near a little outdoor market so we all bought some fresh fruit to go with lunch. Next we went to the western most point of Europe! I was as close to home as I can get for the next three months (besides having my mom's brownies and Jif peanut butter in my closet right now). The coast was beautiful!  The point was on a cliff that dropped off to the ocean. The giant waves hitting the rocks was such a cool thing to see.  It was so peaceful and calm and beautiful there. I could have sat there with the sun burning my face for hours! Then we went to the beach! We got to see real surfers catching some waves (I should mention it was the coldest weekend of the year, only about 40 degrees, and they were in the water!). We all rolled up our pants and walked to the edge of the water. It was absolutely frigid!! but the sand and sun was so great and so much fun... until the waves almost carried my shoes away... thanks to my friend for sacrificing her camera to save my shoes!! (the camera is finally feeling better after that experience though) Then after some incredible ice cream we went to a monument commemorating explorers. There was a band doing a street performance of traditional Portugese music and cool tamborine throwing. The tour guides gave us these undescribably magnificent pastries to end our excursion. They are from a place that only 2 or 3 people total know the actual recipe. It's the only place in Portugal where the authentic pastry is sold, there are plenty of copies, but none are as delicious as the original! The line is always at least a 30 minute wait out the door to get one. It was heavenly! Then our tour ended.

On our way back to the hostel we happened across a basilica! We went inside just to look around, and it happened to have an adoration chapel! I think my absolute favorite part of the trip was the next hour and half that I spent by myself. I stayed in adoration for a while and then decided to walk back to the hostel. The sun was just setting so I walked a block further than the hostel to coast. I sat on the pier and watched an unbelievably gorgeous sunset.  It was nice to have a while to myself and sit and reflect on what has been going on in the past month.  I realized I haven't really talked to anyone from home besides my parents, I should really be better about communication. I miss my friends and family so much, but after seeing how quickly this month has gone by, I realize I'll be home in no time. I am really taking advantage of my time here in Europe. I have a trip to Switzerland planned for two weeks from now, and in the process of planning more. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have been given and can't even describe how happy I am. I realized that these opportunities don't come to everyone and I really need to enjoy the time I have. I have been more stressed than I've ever been in my life with school, but I'm in Madrid so I should probably suck it up. I could be this stressed in St. Louis, but instead I get to travel the world in between exams. Sometimes it's overwhelming being so stressed and homesick all at the same time, but I really am having the time of my life.

This week and next are going to be the hardest weeks of the semester, so I'd appreciate some prayers. I have a couple of test out's for my clinical labs, and four other tests next week, in addition to the regular amounts of work I always have to do.  There's more pressure on me this semester because of unfortunate circumstances. I HAVE to do well on EVERY test, and every assignment, and of course it's our hardest semester yet in the School of Nursing. It's also a new curriculum so the teacher's are still getting organized and figuring everything out, not to mention I'm in a foreign country trying to accomplish what seems to be impossible. Like I said though, I'd rather be here abroad stressing out than in good ole St. Louis. Once all these tests coming up are over though, I get to relax for a weekend in Geneva, Switzerland! and by relax I mean have a crazy amazing weekend full of adventure! St. Joseph Cupertino, Pray for me!

I promise I'll start posting more often...

woah where has the time gone!

Time just flies by so quickly here! I didn't even realize it has been so long since my last post. Since then I have had a full week of classes! I had my two nursing labs this week. It was four hours on Tuesday of lab, but it was really easy stuff! In the first lab we learned how to wash our hands and put on and remove gloves. You would never imagine how thorough hand washing can be! The next lab we practiced taking a patient's health history. Doing a full history takes a long time, but I guess it's better to be thorough than leave something out! So far I am really enjoying my classes. THey are all really interesting topics, I just wish some of them were a little shorter. By the second half of class I'm on the verge of sleep and can't pay attention well. If only there was a 5 minute break or shorter class period or something to keep me awake the entire time. Despite being long, the classes are good! It's finally practical nursing skills, not just pre requisite stuff. We found out that we will be starting clinicals in the hospitals in March!! They said we will get to do as much as we possibly can in the hospitals depending on our language level. This means I really need to learn my Spanish so I can do more things at clinicals. They obviously don't want a nursing student helping a patient if they can't understand the patient or the doctor... I really don't want to just observe the whole time, I'm anxious to actually take vital signs and all on a real patient so I'm definitely studying my Spanish medical terms!  I really enjoy my Spanish class though! We just do exercises to practice the vocab in class, and so far it's pretty easy vocab! I'm practicing a lot thought!

I really love our campus. It consists of three buildings all in a row.  I have all, but my spanish class and labs in the same room of one building. Then there's a library/cafeteria building, and then the final building is our spanish and labs. The view from the top of the first building is absolutely incredible!! You can see so much of the city and snow-capped mountains in the background. I promise I'll take pictures soon! I keep forgetting to bring my camera to school!! There's a nice patio area to eat or hang out between classes, and I love it especially when the sun is shining and I can find a nice sun spot to soak in!

I LOVE the metro here in Spain. It's so nice and clean and easy to figure out!! There are so many escalators and I really love escalators! The 30 minute metro ride on the way to and from school is just so nice to sit and relax (or people watch:)).  I've gotten into the habit of reading while I'm on the metro. Usually I read the morning/evening prayers in my Magnificat, but there's always extra time, so I'm going to start bringing my kindle and reading for a little bit every day.  I get kind of sick of the commute sometimes, just because I've never had to travel so much just to get to class, but I really do like it!!

Last night some friends and I decided to go to Lisbon, Portugal the first weekend in February!! It was kind of spur of the moment, but some other friends told us they were going and invited us to go. So we booked flights and a hostel for two nights!! It was all a really good price for a three day trip, so I'm extremely excited about it! We also decided this afternoon to go to Toledo, SPain tomorrow! We're taking a high speed train and staying in Toledo for the entire day! Then on Saturday we're going to Salamanca, Spain with SLU for the day! We also discussed other trips for the entire semester that might include Rome, Barcelona, Majorca Island, and Austria!! I really want to go to London... but my friends might be going over spring break, which I'm already going to Grenada and Sevilla with my parents!! So London might not happen:( but oh well, I've already been there! My friends also might go to Paris for our winter break (we get Thurs and Fri off at the end of February), but I can't go that weekend because of nursing exams the next week, so I might go to Barcelona then for a couple days with some other nurses! That way we can spend 2 days traveling and 2 days studying on our winter break weekend! I'll of course keep you updated on my travel plans and adventures though!

Anyways, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SISTER!!! She's getting so old, graduated, married, a baby on the way, but yet only 23 years old today!! She's accomplished so much and I couldn't be more thankful to have her to look up to! I really miss her and the rest of my family, but I'm there with her in spirit today celebrating!!

first weekend in Madrid

This weekend was full of fun stuff! Friday I slept all day... woops... but then SLU had a Tapas night! We met at the school and then went to a Tapas restaurant with other students. I shared some tapas with a friend. They were so delicious!!! We also met someone who gave us all the in's and out's of life in Madrid and where to travel while we're here. I'm so excited about all the information she gave us!!

Retiro Park... definitely not ugly like my host mom said...

Saturday my friends and I actually woke up at a decent hour. We went out to lunch and then traveled through Retiro Park. The park is absolutely beautiful! Our host mom keeps telling us the park is ugly right now because everything is dead, but I still thought it was fantastic. We walked through the park on our way to the Prado Museum, but when we got there a sign said the museum was closed... then we found out later that night it was actually the wrong building... We'll try again soon to see the Prado. We then wandered around Sol! There were tons of street performers around the plaza. Sol is a great place to just walk around and shop. I bought a pair of boots for really cheap! I kind of have buyer's regret, but they're growing on me a little. After lots of walking we went to Reina Sofia, an art museum with a ton of Picaso artwork. After dinner my friend and I tried to find a jazz club. We walked up and down the street it was supposed to be on for well over an hour and finally gave up finding it. We decided to go to the Hollywood American Restaurant and get dessert instead. I got the most fabulous skillet cookie ever! So our first Saturday night in Madrid we ended up getting ice cream at the American restaurant... good thing that's what I do every weekend in America... We found out when we got home that the jazz club actually closed a while ago and doesn't exist... woops

Sunday was another chill day. We walked around an open air market. It was so crowded, but really cool. A couple of us went to Mass at school in the evening and then out for coffee with the other people at mass afterwards.  We came home for dinner, which was lasagna, and went to bed (after doing some homework). It was a really great, relaxing weekend. I love how interesting the city is.  You can just walk around or take the metro anywhere and not get bored. There's so much to see and enjoy!!

All around Madrid there are these work out areas outside where adults can just work out. They have elliptical type things, stationary bikes, and other things. It's so weird to walk through the park and see people working out outside. It totally makes sense now why everyone here is so healthy and fit though! We walk everywhere!!! My legs have been burning since I arrived here. They also eat a lot healthier. We have toast and some type of cake for breakfast every morning.  A sandwich in the afternoon for lunch. Then soup and another meat or entree for dinner. I really like having soup every night! I never knew there were so many different kinds of soup, but we've had a different one every night. Then there's usually a packaged dessert, like a pudding cup. The food is fabulous, and I'm getting used to the later meal times. Most people actually eat a large lunch and then just a snack in the evening, but since dinner is our provided meal by our host mom and lunch is on ourselves, dinner is our big meal of the day. I have loved every meal I've eaten here so far!! (I do have to say I prefer my mom's lasagna though:)) I think my favorite food so far has been the tortilla de Espana. We had one that was potatoes and onion. It was so good!!

Today is apparently Blue Monday- the most depressing day of the year. It's right after the holidays, no holidays to look forward to soon, half a month until payday for Europeans, and the nights are long and the days are short. It's also really gloomy and rainy here today:( it's the only bad weather we've had since we've been here though, so I can't complain too much! Hope everyone else has a good Monday!

First day of class! First day of class!

Yesterday was our first day of class! I was definitely not ready for classes to begin yesterday.  It felt like Christmas break should have lasted another couple weeks. I made it to my first class on time and without getting lost at all. I've got this metro commute down! I had pathophysiology in teh morning, and then a 4 hour break until my spanish for nursing class in teh evening.  During the break we got to know campus, figured out how to print things at teh library, and sat around for a long time! Our spanish class was extremely intimidating.  The teacher spoke very fast and only in spanish. The entire syllabus was in spanish, and I was one of the "victimos" that had to read the largest paragraph to the class. I can speak and read Spanish really well, I just don't know what words to say usually... I need to learn some more vocab for sure! We had to take a test during class that will determine which section of the class we are in. I'm guessing I passed in to the lower level section... that's fine with me though! I'm very motivated and excited to learn more Spanish while I'm here! I'm hoping I will be somewhat fluent by the end of the 4 months here, and definitely fluent in the medical terms. It was a good first day of classes!

After class we got home in time for dinner, which was a chicken broth with macaroni noodle soup, chicken with a garlic type of sauce, mashed potatoes, and chocolate mousse! Esta muy delicioso!! We then gave some gifts to our host mom since Taylor's luggage finally came! We talked to her and her friend Juan Carlos for a long time. They told us about some of the cities in Spain that we should travel to- Toledo is a must! They told us how grateful they are that we are nice houseguests, but we can't imagine doing anything to disrespect their hospitality. It is so great to feel so at home here in a foreign country. We all really appreciate our home away from home! They have helped us a lot with our Spanish, and are grateful that we can teach each other our languages. Juan Carlos made us all say "Hablo Espanol" and told me I said it the best! Too bad I can speak it but don't know how to say anything... I'm learning a lot though!!

This morning all teh nursing students had an orientation to meet our director and one of the teachers in charge here. They informed us a little how it works here in Madrid.  It was really intimidating hearing how much work it is going to be, and how much more studying we have to do than the other students here, but it was really motivating to. I feel totally ready for this semester and excited about everything we're doing.  It might be a really difficult semester, but it is all interesting and practical content.  I'm very confident that this is going to be my best semester yet- academically and socially!!

My pharmacology teacher is Irish! Her accent is totally awesome, and I think she is a really good teacher! So far I've enjoyed all the teachers in my classes, and they seem very willing to help the students!

After classes we had to go buy school supplies. We went to a Chino store. It's a Chinese store that has everything!! It was a cool store...

Time for dinner! It smells delicious!

Bienvenido a Madrid!

I have been in a Madrid for 2 full days now! Our flights were all very smooth and uneventful, except for a friend and I both losing some luggage. I was forced to check a bag because it would not fit in the compartment, and it was sent on a different flight to Madrid. I received mine yesterday, but my friend's is still MIA:( hopefully it will be found soon. Otherwise our travels were great! We saw so many SLU students, or students on their way to SLUMadrid in the airports and on the flights.  It was great to meet new people and see familiar faces while traveling to a foreign country. 

When we arrived we came to our apartment, met our host mom, and began to unpack right away. We had time to siesta, eat dinner, and then go to bed! Yesterday was a full day of orientation and touring the city. We got a little (or maybe a lot) lost on our way to campus. THe metro was easy to navigate, but we had difficulty getting from teh metro to campus. We asked a few people for directions, and one guy told us it didn't even exist. We made to campus just in time though! We had a couple hours of orientation. We then had a guided tour through the area around campus.  Next the gave us a tour of the major parts of the city. The city is so beautiful and amazing!! After a short siesta we ate dinner, then decided to go out to Sol! My friends and I met some other students and went to a couple bars. I tried my first drink of alcohol ever- Sangria! After meeting a lot of people from SLUM (SLU Madrid), we headed back home. We got really lost... we got on the wrong bus and had to find another bus, then walk forever back to our house. We were able to ask directions to several people, and eventually found our way back home. It was definitely an experience, but it was our first night in the city so we were allowed to get lost.

Unfortunately today I have been throwing up and sleeping all day. Apparently even one drink of alcohol has major effects on me because of some medications. Looks like no more drinks for me! Our host mom and her friend have been absolutely fabulous to me while I've been sick today. They have gotten me some "magic" tea, some food, and medicine to calm the acid in my stomach.  I am feeling much better! I did miss the opportunity for a free excursion to a palace this afternoon, but that's ok. I'll have plenty more opportunities to see fantastic sights and places while I'm here! The adventures have just only begun!

Let the Adventures begin!

I have decided to write a study abroad blog about my adventures in Madrid, Spain. "La vida en el lado buena onda" was the closest phrase I could find to "life on the cool side," so that's the name of my Spanish blog! My main focus of this blog is to update the world on my adventures and excursions overseas and to let everyone know how much fun I'm having!

I am now in the packing phase of the process. There's no way everything I'm planning to pack will fit into my one check luggage and carry-on bag that I get... I have two more American dinners, two more English speaking masses, two nights to spend with my family and friends, and one afternoon left here in Normal. Then the traveling begins!! Saturday afternoon I will leave for O'Hare airport in Chicago, fly to Heathrow airport in London, then fly to the final destination- Madrid, Spain. From the airport I will travel by taxi to my host mother's house and move in for four months! It's rather surreal that I'm finally going to be in Spain. I don't think I'm even close to being ready, but somehow I know it will all work out!

Keep a lookout for further updates!