perdido uno zapato del talcon alto

First day. The University is about a 35-45 minute walk from my host family's home. Finally got there and was ushered in ( in loud, fast Spanish) to take my placement exam. I finished first out of the entire group. Quite impressive, I know. I only answered 20 out of 80 multiple choice questions. I was advised to only answer the ones I knew or I wouldn't be being "sincere" to myself. They did tell me that in English. Of course I wish to be sincere to myself.

This morning started off with one missing shoe. Not just any shoe but one of my favorite shoes. It's quite stressful and difficult to find comfortable heels....and when you do...You certainly want to hold on them and not just go off losing them somewhere between Madrid, Toledo, and Sevilla. I'm "sincerely" hoping that perhaps this one shoe never left Madison, Georgia.

I hate loosing things. That's maybe why I label everything. We were discussing Friends today. Others have already noticed I'm Monica. I might as well embrace it. She's not too bad, right? I personally like her. Besides, what's wrong with labeling and planning?

I know a lot of food names in Spanish now. Imagine trying to explain you don't eat gluten (wheat) or lactose (sugar found in dairy) to a woman that speaks only Spanish and maybe 5 words in English. My head is still swimming from that experience. I'm in bed right now. I'm supposed to be siesta-ing. But it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon....and even if I'm still somehow still jet lagged...it would be 9 am back home. Neither one of those are exactly prime time sleeping hours. I did eat toast from breakfast because that was the only thing left set out for us this morning prior to explaining I don't eat bread...so I was extremely sleepy until around 1pm...but now I'm feeling great. Siesta time needs to hurry up and end so fiesta time can start. Did I mention I have a class at 5:50pm to 7:40pm? I'm not even joking.

Do you flip? Because I flip. and today flipping helped me find my way back home. No joke. I kid you not. We pulled it to recognize which street turns to take. It was a glorious feeling.
 

P.S. Don't bring running shoes to a country that is forced to nap in the afternoon because it's too hot to even be outside. Waste of suitcase space. Early morning running won't work either because we only shower at night.

Still smiling, nodding, and trying to look enthusastic while not understanding anything,
Taylor