I was really fortunate to connect with some great people right from the get-go here in Madrid.
Ben did a great job with my accommodations that came complete with 2 incredible roommates!
My first full day they took me to what is considered to be the Madrid version of the church I attend back home. I met a girl named Julie Brown who, as it turns out, also attended Jacob's Well back in KC. She was gracious enough to invite us over to celebrate at her place and the rest, as they say, is history! But the story doesn't end there! This is one instance where I did not have my camera on me, *gasp*, so this photo is courtesy of Julie.
My class got off to a good start and I'm very glad to have arrived early so that I had a chance to map out how to get there so I wasn't struggling with that element on the first day.
We have a really diverse group in our class, which I personally like. The program directors are British and Australian and our class is such a great mix of people from all over. I am picking up so much fun vocabulary! By Thursday of the first week we were starting to get into a groove and four of us girls decided to go for tapas after class. First tapas! Cheers! Slante! Prost!
On the topic of good friends and good food, it turns out that both of my roommates cook! The first week they were in a particularly fine mood to get creative and we sat down for long, late meals and enjoyed each other's company. Here is Christine dishing out her creation.I felt the need to reciprocate, so I put together a little taste treat from the spaetzel I'd brought back from Germany. If anyone actually knows how to reconstitute it from a dry form, please let me know as I still have half of it left.
In this next picture, Lisa and Christine are preparing to be very gracious about my first attempt to make dinner. The asparagus actually turned out pretty well. Good thing there was ice cream for dessert!
On Friday I was invited to a gathering to say farewell to Ashley and Matthew, some wonderful people who've been living in Madrid but are returning to the States. I was invited by my friend Ricky who I'd met the previous weekend. Here is acting the gracious host to Vicky. In the end we ended up playing a song trivia game and singing songs from our childhood. I am delighted to find versions of 'Brother John' in almost every language!
There was an exciting weekend as well, and that post is soon to follow!
