It was definitely the shorts.

Today was our first full day in Spain. With Angeles and Emilio as our fearless leader, we braved the streets of Madrid (after the same hearty breakfast as yesterday). We were taken to the subway station just a few blocks away, and took the circular (say that with a spanish accent) nearly right to the university!

University San Pablo CEU (pronounced say-ooh) doesn't appear to have a campus - in fact, from what we've seen so far, it's a building. Angeles and Emilio left us to be oriented along with the rest of the DIM kids (not yet sure how I feel about the acronym, since everyone actually seems pretty bright). It was fabulous to be reunited with those we already know, and exciting to hear about what we're going to be doing, but when the 4 hour mark hit, we had just about had it.

The best part of the morning was definitely the awesome advertisement we found at the metro station:

"Is the man of your life already out of your life? Sell it!"

Amazingly, we were able to retrace our steps and find our way back to home, sweet home. Angeles prepared us a lunch of lasagna (it was pasta with a lot of cheese and some spinach), and bread. I was so excited with the portions - it seemed so appropriately sized. We had clearly underestimated our host mother, because she sneak-attacked us with some fish after we finished, doubling the size of our meal! I nibbled at it, trying to cut it apart and rearrange it so it looked like I had eaten more than was actually the case. (I can be sneaky, too.) She also served us this melon that was FANTASTIC! It was white. I may or may not have researched it. For any interested parties:
http://www.clovegarden.com/ingred/melons.htmlIt's the canary melon. SO. GOOD.

After lunch, Angeles went to a mysterious pool that's somewhere above us (we told her we would accompany her soon), and we went on an adventure of our own in order to buy some telefonos moviles! We went on the metro again (we're pros now) to Arguelles and met Perry and Mike there, since we were hoping that if we all bought phones from the same carrier that we would get a cheaper rate when calling each other. Across the street from the subway station there was literally a row of stores that were all selling cellphones. Perfecto!

We decided to go right down the line, starting with Vodaphone. Someone on the program had just purchased a vodafone, and so our previous line of thinking applied. We were in the store for a pretty long time, trying our best to interpret some different offers they had for prepaid phones. We were translating, adding, dividing, and trying to find small print that told us the REAL price, when suddenly one of the employees approached us and asked in English if we needed help. Obviously we were rather surprised - how could they tell we were Americans? Perhaps because of all of the aforementioned reasons? Couldn't be. And then...it suddenly dawned on me. I was wearing shorts. We were told before arriving that shorts were not worn by any REAL Spaniards so that if we wanted to fit in, we shouldn't wear them. I didn't really believe it, and in fact, I'd already seen a lot of Spaniards in shorts, but in that moment, I knew it to be the truth. Never mind the English we had been loudly speaking just moments before...from the moment we stepped into Vodafone I had branded us as Americanos. Luckily, these plans are very confusing and English was pretty convenient. Unluckily, when we finally decided we were ready to commit, the service in the store fails and the employee is unable to use his computer to make any sales. What? Is that even possible? We were dumbfounded, but as we left, we realized that perhaps it was better not to have a phone service whose own service in its story is unreliable.

We chalked it up to a practice round and continued down the line of phone stores. After a failed attempt, we ended up at Movistar. In nearly only Spanish (the other customers in the store were from the US and helped us out with one detail) we finally got telefonos, and for very cheap! Overall success!

We returned home, and decided to go for a run along the river across from the apartment. It was a little bit of a strugglefest, but it happened and that's what counts. The other rumor I'd heard before coming to Spain was that no one runs here. As Erin and I were running along the river speaking in English, we got stares from the other runners going by and realized that we'd made another glaring error. They too, seemed to know we were Americans. Not only were we running, but we were now both wearing shorts. Might as well have been wearing the American flag, right? I know.

After our feeble attempt at exercise (even the mostly sedentary Emilio commented on how quickly we'd returned), we relaxed until 10:30 when we ate an interesting dinner. We had french fries which were familiar, but with a main course that was not. We're pretty sure that it was ham and cheese in some sort of fried crust...with ketchup on top. Probably my least favorite so far, but truly not bad at all. It was a lot better than it sounds. Angeles complained how we don't eat enough and didn't understand why we decided to split the Flan she gave us. Emilio knew our weakness for the melon and had her bring more of that. She tells us time and again that we're growing girls and need to eat to grow strong. I guess mother knows best?

Today I learned first-hand that certain cultural stereotypes are blatantly incorrect. Just to be safe though, I'm wearing a skirt tomorrow...