By: Grace Carballo ‘17

I am going to hold myself accountable and post at least a few times a week because in the paraphrased words of the wonderful Ron Swanson, “Never half-ass anything. Except for swimsuits because that’s trendy now.” Which reminds me, I went to Barcelona a few weekends ago and have a lot to say about that, so stay tuned.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

When I first arrived in Madrid, I was jet-lagged, stressed, and barely able to put together an English sentence let alone one in Spanish. As she showed me around, my wonderful host mom told me to close the hallway door always “porque de las ratas” or because of the rats. This didn’t bother me one bit because she seemed very chill about it and I’m trying to be low-maintenance and honestly I’m not afraid of rats nearly as much as I’m afraid of actual scary things like sharks or my future kids growing up to be bullies.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

My first day in Madrid when I went for a run, I realized as I struggled to find my way home that someone had somehow pickpocket my running arm band of my ca$h (luckily just 10 euros at the time). Like any furious parent, I wasn’t mad, I was just disappointed.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

They say “absence makes the heart grow fonder”, but I believe a nice additive to this is “especially when you miss your father” because it kind of rhymes if you pronounce things a certain way and also it’s very timely given that today is Father’s Day.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

In addition to my amazing host mom and rad, artsy, vegetarian host sister, I also have a super cool host brother who is a little older than me, here in Madrid. The mysterious man I stumbled upon in my new house the very first day I moved in turned out to be who he said he was and now we see each other all the time. Carmen explained to me when I asked what Victor does that he was a “go-go”, which I didn’t understand, but with a bit more pantomiming on her part, some hip thrusts and the like, I gathered means “dancer employed in a club.”

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

People always say that the best way to really immerse yourself in a new country is to live with a homestay family, especially when you’re trying to learn a new language. And I’m going to have to agree with the masses on this one, though at first I had my doubts.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

We had a day trip to Segovia, which is a picturesque town about an hour or so from Madrid with a lot of cool history and a pretty rad aqueduct. I would love to say I have no complaints about Segovia because that would be really pleasant and low-maintenance of me, but like my founding father, Jorgé Washington, I cannot tell a lie. In Segovia, I had my first experience having to pay to use the bathroom and if you have ever spent more than 45 minutes with me, you may have noticed I’m big into hydration with a small, small bladder.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

I would just like to take the time to thank all the great inventors and big dreamers out there who made the world what it is today. Without you folks, I would have no choice but to continuously be at a loss for words with my host family’s hairless cats as my only companions.

By: Grace Carballo ‘17

A few days ago at the Instituto Internacional in Madrid, I went to an intercambio/language exchange and I feel pretty good about it because now tengo una cita (I have a date/meeting) with an older man named Ignacio!