I can't even believe that only a week ago we were sitting in our other freezing cold AirBnB writing all about Barcelona. Barcelona feels like a lifetime ago!
Last Sunday, we were fully prepared to sign an apartment contract at a cute little place right in the heart of the historical district of Alcalá de Henares. As cute as it was, we knew that, since it had been built in like the 16th century (can you believe it??) it would be freezing cold unless we were willing to pay the big bucks (we're talking like minimum €150 a month on top of rent) to keep it at least livable. That fact, plus the fact that we wouldn't get our security deposit back for leaving before renting for a year, led us to accept the invitation from the other couple from BYU doing the same internship to live with them in their AirBnB.
We were a little skeptical about moving in with another couple in an AirBnB with a shared kitchen and living space, not to mention two extra bedrooms where people from all over just come and go, but we are LOVING IT. Our little home in Villalbilla, located in the hills on the outskirts of Alcalá, has all the European charm...with none of the utility bills:). Besides the fact that Hayden and I sleep in two separate twin beds and the house is located very near a putrid landfill, the place is wonderful!
Anyway, small tangent, let's back up a few days. We have loved exploring Alcalá and getting to know the history of this, the world's very first planned university city. I was pretty worried as we traveled from Madrid to Alcalá through a less-than-scenic desert passing nothing but graffiti walls and brown buildings. After we arrived in our temporary AirBnB, we went exploring around the city and happened upon the cutest little Día de Los Reyes Magos celebration we'd ever seen...
Granted, it's the only one we've ever seen, but for reals, how cute is this?? The Plaza de Cervantes (so named after, you guessed it, Miguel de Cervantes) was full of cute little booths and families with young children celebrating a holiday that we, in the states, don't really know about. Here, along with Christmas, people celebrate the arrival of the three wise men on January 6 on the Día de Los Reyes Magos (Day of the Magi Kings).
Needless to say, my worries that we weren't going to be living in a beautiful little town went away, and we've loved exploring the streets and stopping at little historical sites along the way.
I need to take some better pictures of the historical district, maybe when it's warmer and there are more leaves, but it really is such a beautiful place with cobblestone streets and old buildings and...
Storks! Hundreds and hundreds of storks that build huge nests on all the old buildings. So random.
Not sure why we didn't get an inside pic, but this is the Catedral de Los Santos Niños, which is easily as beautiful as the one in Barcelona.
The University of Alcalá was founded by Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros in the early 16th century (we're talkin' 500 years ago) and we took a couple of tours to learn more about the school. Here is the facade of the oldest part of the university:
So cool! And seriously so old. I can't even believe that so many of these buildings are still standing. Here are some pics of the inside:
So, so beautiful. Check out the ceiling in that place! So ornate!
Here is the Puerta de Madrid, the beautiful gateway to the city to match the Puerta de Alcalá located at the east exit of Madrid. This thing has been standing there since 1788, which sounds pretty old until you consider that it stands right next to a wall that was built in the 3rd century...DANG.
There even used to be a whole Roman city here where Alcalá now stands, which just blows my mind because before this, a building built in the 1800s seemed old to me and now that's like brand new real estate. Unbelievable.
Here are some beautiful tile remnants from an old Roman primary school. I can't believe how well it's preserved after 2,000 years!
Apart from just exploring the town, we finally started teaching in our little schools this week, and so far we are loving it! The first couple of days I felt like a bit of a celebrity with all the little kids whispering to each other excitedly as I walked by waving to them:). They are the cutest! And the fact that they can barely speak any English makes them even more adorable. When I was introducing myself to my classes, they would raise their hands and ask me some of the few questions they could in English (they're not supposed to know I speak any Spanish so they only know to communicate with me in English) like, "What is your favorite...animal?" and "What is your favorite...season?" I asked each of my classes to guess my age and the overwhelming majority guessed something like, "Umm...35?" I'm just chalking that up to their inability to count correctly in English because, I mean, COME. ON.
This past weekend, we finally visited Madrid for the first of many times. What a cool city! We plan to go again next weekend, so the report on our adventures there will have to wait until then:).
All in all, we are loving our experience here and we're so happy to finally be settled and in a good routine. Now, if it could just get a liiiiiittle warmer, we could start traveling around! Until then, though, this place really is pretty cool:).
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