So you still haven't met anyone from Alcala?

Yes, that was one of my questions in the "oral exam" portion of the placement test this morning. I got up a bit after six, worked out, took the bus downtown, found class, took this placement test thing, went to Starbucks - yes, Starbucks, but I think different countries offer a different perspective of beverage preparation and I'd like to discover these cultural variances - and then went on a tour with Javier, one of the professors of Alcalingua, (the language school at the University).

Javier is quite the hunk/tour guide/comedian. Quintessential man? Perhaps. He showed us around the city and explained a lot to us. For example, if you look up and see a hole above a door it's for the apartment above a store. The owner can look down the hole to see who is yelling up at them and if it's a friend throw down the key. If it's not, they pee on the person. He told us a lot more important information than that, but that was one of the most brilliant inventions I've ever heard of.

Then we went and bought an abono, which is the monthly transportation pass for Alcala and Madrid. A big money saver, except we bought the adult one instead of the under-21 abono, and the money saved dramatically decreased. Better luck in febrero! On the other hand, lunch, aka grilled cheese, was delicious.

We had our Don Quixote class tonight. Kind of a bore. Maybe it'll get better.

Tonight we met some neighbors, made sangria, and got to know a delightful first year named Pablo, but I call him Pab. I helped an Australian guy named David find the bus stop, which is imaginary. It's a specific place, but there's no way to tell it's there. Thank goodness our pal, Pab, was able to show us Alcala's "9 3/4" stop.

Ok, I thought of a cooler fact. The building where Alcalingua is, where we have classes, is the same building first used to teach Spanish to the Irish, the first people who came to the University to learn Spanish a really really long time ago. That's why they have the exchange program - as a tradition to continue teaching Spanish to foreigners. Well, top of the evening!