Adventures Abroad

Last week I started school at Saint Louis University Madrid. Caroline and I have about a 35 minute walk to school, which isn’t as bad as it sounds! Especially with company! Caroline has class two hours later than me but always walks early with me. Isn’t she the best?! The school is great but it’s so tiny! Coming from a school with a five-story library to now a school with a two-room library with limited wifi, things will take some getting used to. The school has some lovely patios that are perfect when the sun is shinning. (Which is pretty much everyday!) I have the majority of my nursing classes in one room and my labs take place in another. I have to wear my lab coat and sometimes my scrubs. Pretty official eh? Towards the middle of the semester we are going to start clinicals in the hospitals here. This is what I’m most nervous about. We have to go in on our own where no one knows English!! Scary!!

This past weekend was filled with so much fun. It starts with Caroline and my friend from SLU coming to visit us! He is working in a hospital in London and decided to come down for the weekend. We showed him to Madrid’s hotspots! We included some of the best sight seeing with stops in some of our favorite newfound bars along the way.  On Saturday we spent the day exploring Retiro park. It’s a huge park surrounded by city. And I mean huge! There’s countless gardens and beautiful architecture! 

Today was the start of a new beginning in España! It was a gorgeous day filled with curiosity, laughter and well plenty of confusion. I arrived at the apartment where Maite lives and finally met her! Maite is a tiny, adorable young woman who was so excited to have us! Her apartment is in an excellent location with in walking distance from Madrids best spots and school. 

So Caroline and I decided to adventure into the center and see what we could discover! We began walking and would go in any direction that caught our attention. We soon found ourselves much further away and lost than we expected. We felt it would be best to get our barrings over sangria and chocolate churros. We sat at the cafe on the side of the street very much enjoying our decision and just watched how the people of Madrid go about living life! Its so different from ours in a beautiful more practical way that is intriguing because it is not familiar to us.

By far the hardest part of the day was trying to communicate with people. Having not brushed up on my spanish, my skills need improving. Maite told us that today was our last day of English and tomorrow we start to learn. It is going to be a very hard process but it is necessary for success here.

I must be willing to be a beginner every single morning!