8/02/00

I've arrived at the airport in Paris.(I have to transfer). Called home, and waiting for my flight to Madrid. This guy from Japan sat next to me at the gate, and we started talking. He's a translator that works volutarily.(no salary for it) It kind of made me feel less nervous, just by talking to someone. From Paris to Madrid, I sat next to two Spanish guys. My first conversation in Spanish!! It was very..confusing? but it kind of made sense. When I got to my homestay house, my señora thought I was arriving on the 10th, and she was asleep when I got there.. But she seems like a nice lady!



9/02/00

First day of school! We took the placement test. It was pretty hard, and the last part of the test, I was like, guessing every question. I was finally able to meet Sabine, the person who helped me with everything on coming to Spain. I've met some Korean girls, and talked to them, and there was another Japanese girl here! Reiko! I know I should speak Spanish and everything, but it's great to have someone of my nationality here... In the afternoon, I went to the parque del Retiro with my señora, and her neighor. It was fun, seeing all the places I went to last time I came to Spain.



10/02/00

Today was the first day of class.(Yesturday was all orientation) It was... fun, I guess. A guy named Culum was the first person I talked to in our class. (He was sitting next to me.) He's from Pennsylvania! The first class, Lengua, was OK. I understood most of it. The second class, Cultura... a disaster!! I didn't even get what the H.W. was! Afterschool, I walked around my neighorhood, and I met two of the Korean girls from school. They were at the library... wow.. should I be studying too? instead of walking around..? Maybe not:-)



11/02/00

Today I had class from first period..It's too early!!! and there weren't much people in class either. Like, 7 people maybe. But I guess I can't blame them. It's Friday!! Second class, Cultura, a disaster once again. Politics in Spanish!! Aaaah! Afterschool, I made plans to meet Reiko at Sol. While I was waiting for the metro at Francos Rodriguez, Culum and Karim came down the escalators. They invited me to go with them to town. We went to a jamaican cafe on Gran Via. Yasmine(who wasn't in class today) and another guy named Chris (He doesn't go to Nebrija) was there. We were all talking in English and stuff. It was pretty fun. At 4pm,I met Reiko at Sol. We walked around, and went to Plaza Mayor. Reiko got pick-pocketed there. It was so scary! but somehow, we managed to get her purse back. Thank god! But we were so shaken up by this incident, that we sat at McDonalds until we settled down. McDonalds always does it!



12/02/00

I got up early today, and Reiko and I went to Avila, taking the Renfe. (It's a train) At Avila, there's lots of churches of Santa Teresa and stuff. Reiko's christian so she wanted to go, and I wanted to see towns around Madrid, so we decided to go together. It was about two hours from Madrid. We saw El Escorial from the window of the train. It was very pretty. We walked around so much today!! My feet are dying! When I got home, there was a little girl in the house. (She's usually not there) It turned out that she was my señora's nieta.(grand-daughter) She is very cute, and very polite. She even explained the TV programs to me while we were watching TV. She was like, "This is a movie, this is the news, commercial... oh, and this TV program's about..." All in Spanish, of course, but I kinda understood it..



13/02/00

Sunday.. a very peaceful Sunday, it was. En la mañana, yo hice nada. We had vino before the comida today. It was goood.. En la tarde, yo fui al parque del Retiro! Since it was sunday, there were so many people, and lots of performances. It was exciting! Oh, I saw the Japanese soccer player, Jo, on TV today!! He plays for Valladolid. I wish I could see him!



14/02/00

¡¡Hoy es el dia de los enamorados!! Today, the Intermedio A got divided into two, because we had too many people in one class... I'm not in the same class as Culum anymore!! This really sucks!! I went to the train station next to mine, Atocha Renfe today. This station has like, this jungle in the station. I saw it on my last trip here, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to see it again. I called Japan today, using the TEL card I bought from Japan. And then I got a call from Asuka, who's in Salamanca right now, studying Spanish like me! I was so happy to hear her voice!!



15/02/00

First class with the Intermedio A2. There's fewer people now. It's better, I know, but it's kinda sad that not everyone's in one class. After classes, I went to the library at Nebrija with Reiko. We worked on the presentation that we have to do tomorrow for Cultura class. We're gonna do MUSEOS!! After the comida, I went to the library near my house. It was like, a normal library.. it's just that I couldn't read much books because it's too hard. I went to the children's section and read some of those. Those, I can understand more. There was the cutest book, about an "estrella"(star), and the estrellas in the book were shining and stuff.. I was on the verge of stealing the book, but realized that those alarms would go off if I didn't check it out. So I decided not to...



16/02/00

I found some English books at the library today! I borrowed one. After classes, I asked Nils about internet cafes, and he showed me one on the map. I went there, but it was soooo slow!!(I found out later that this was not the one he was talking about.) I tried mailing, but failed, I tried reading Japanese, but failed... ohh, I want my laptop!



17/02/00

I did the presentation on museos today, with Reiko and Misuk. After classes, I went to a bar with Reiko and had café con leche, and talked for about an hour, mostly about our daily lives back in Japan and stuff. It was lots of fun. I finally got to know how she was like outside of class and everything. After comida, I went to the parque, and sat at this little garden. It is the best garden I have ever seen in my life. I think I could only feel that, since it doesn't look that pretty or anything, but the aura inside the garden, is precious. I strolled around the parque after that, and ended up at the station, Atocha. Now I know how to walk to another station!



18/02/00

I was finally able to use the internet at Nebrija. I still can't read Japanese, but hey! most of my friends can understand English anyways, so what's the problem! Oooh, nothing else special happened today.. Read my book, I guess.



19/02/00

I didn't do anything special today either.. just relaxed. Oh! I got a letter from an amiga back in Japan today!! How sweet of her!!



20/02/00

Today, during the morning I went to Museo Nacional centro de Arte Reina Sofia. (uf! what a long name!) I didn't know that Sundays were "Entrada Gratuito", and it was Sunday today! So I felt really lucky.It was a really nice museum, and this is the first time I've seen so many Japanese people in Madrid. I went to Sol today too. Maybe I'll call Japan around tomorrow...



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