On what to expect.

A building on the UC3M campus...and a random old shirtless man

There are alarmingly few Google image results for "Universidad Carlos III." Either they don't have cameras in Spain, or I'm accidentally enrolled in one of those internet scam universities. I guess being stranded in Madrid could be a really fun adventure--right? I'm just going to hope that UC3M is a real place, and that there are lots of creepy, shirtless, middle-aged men walking around outside the campus. (See that dude in the picture?! I thought Vassar was the only "clothing-optional" campus I'd have to deal with during my college career...I guess not. Sigh.)

It's pretty thrilling not knowing what to expect when I get to Madrid. I have this image in my mind that Europe consists entirely of super old, tall buildings all crowded together along a cobblestone street. And that cobblestone street is filled with men wearing capris and small children drinking beer (or is that just in Germany?) I mean, up until a few days ago, I thought all of Europe drove on the left side of the road like those crazy Brits do. So in addition to the obvious things--the 9 hour time difference from California, drinking unrefrigerated sodas, and having absolutely no idea how to use the vosotros verb tense--I'm going to be in for a total culture shock. I should probably start memorizing how the euro system works, otherwise I'm going to be broke in approximately 3 days. (They do count time in days there, right?)

But they do say ignorance is bliss, so I think I might just dive into this as a (hopefully charmingly) clueless American. 57 days!