Days of Orientation

The University offered a three day orientation to meet other foreign students, as well as to see parts of Cantabria outside of Santander. I could not have made a better choice in deciding to attend everything even though I was jet lagged, and most days ran from 7 o'clock AM to 2 o'clock AM.

The first day I was very nervous. The usual: what if no one wants to be my friend,  what if I get lost, what if I cannot understand anyone... Carmen helped me straighten up and stop acting like a baby. The minute I walked through the door, I made two friends! A girl named Sara from Italy, and a boy named Peter from Switzerland. I sat with them throughout a long introduction from an older man. He was probably the President of the University, but I couldn't understand him. I was worried about this until I realized no one else could either. They gave us a lot of information, including a few statistics. The most interesting to me was that out of about 400 foreign students I will be studying with this semester, only 17 of us are from Mexico, Canada and the States combined. And there are A LOT of students from Mexico... So probably about ten Americans in all. We then broke into smaller, around twenty students in each, groups to take tours of the campus.

The campus is a long row of buildings. Much smaller than Baylor, but in length it probably takes longer to walk across. The university is the only part of the whole city that is not stacked on top of itself.

This group is where I made some amazing friends! I think they are the friends you keep around for awhile. I met a girl from Germany, one from Austria, two from France, and an American from Pennsylvania. Except when we describe America to the other girls, the North and the South seem so different we really should be from different countries. All throughout the orientation I spent time with these girls, the six of us seem pretty close now.

The first day of orientation our excursion was a bus trip around Santander, and the a ferry ride as well. It was FREEZING this day, and pouring rain. We went to the white castle you see in the background, a lighthouse, and all around the city. After this we went on the ferry. It was something else... My sister Abigail would have been so sick she would have jumped out. Huge waves, couldn't see out the window, and in case I forgot to mention it, it was FREEZING. But I guess things like that are what make good memories. That night there was a fiesta and a football watching party in a local bar. Of course it wasn't American football, so I wasn't too interested. Not enough people get knocked around in soccer!

The next day we went to Comillas--the city with the school and all the huge palaces/cathedrals, and the Picos de Europa. Both places were incredibly beautiful! My favorite place in Spain this far are the Picos. It's a tiny little Pueblo in the Mountains.. Not a lot to do or see, but it is amazing for me to realize that even the oldest buildings in the US would be considered modern next to these structures. There was ANOTHER party on this night, but I decided to pass. Electing to sleep was a very good idea.

Friday we went to the Cuevas de Altamira and Santillan del Mar. I was really excited to visit the cuevos, because we studied them in one of my classes. The oldest cave writings in the world are located here. Apparently too many people were breathing on the writings so the created a new "oldest cave in the world" and we got to see that... Stupid. If I wanted to see a fake I'd look at a picture on the internet. Besides, what is the point of having them if no one can see them! They're going to wear away someday! There was yet another party this night--I think these people party every night. And the party didn't really start until midnight. So, as you can imagine, it was a long night.

The food here is very different. Lots of fruits and vegetables... But I like it! I am going to lose a lot of weight. I probably already have. It is a 30 minute walk to the university and back every day, so an hour of walking. They eat a normal sized breakfast, a HUGE lunch around 3:00, and a tiny little snack around 10:00. It's probably a healthier way of eating, but for now my body isn't very happy with me.


Today I saw sun when I woke up this morning! It is gone now, but I am taking it as an omen that things are looking up. I'm not as homesick, I don't seem to cry as much (although that may have something to do with my catching up on sleep), and I am making friends!

Thank you all for continually praying for me. I miss you all, but until we see one another again, nos vemos!