Today was my first true full day since I got here. First I had the conference, then it was running around like a crazy person yesterday for all my papers. Today I got up and headed into work. I left my house at ~8:40 and got to work just before 9. After years of hour long commutes to Evanston, that was pretty great! The one problem is that I do not have a key to my office (which is locked) or to the main office (which is not usually locked on days the building is open). The problem is that the machine that programs the keys (they are combination electric smart keys and keys that turn in the lock) ran out of batteries. And it's a special battery the center doesn't have. So, like many things in my life, I was told "after Easter."
I put in a pretty solid work day - I had a lot of setting up to do getting the IT guys to install things on my computer (Praat, R, etc.). About halfway through the day, I realized that I have a real grown up job. People dress pretty casually, but in general, they dress like grown ups. Also, the office is super quiet. Because people work when they're there. There's very little messing around (though I did get an e-mail in the middle of the day asking if I wanted to place a small "purro" [bet] on the Madrid-Barcelona game tomorrow night). At first, I thought it was just because I share my office with two faculty-types and another post-doc. So I stealthily walked past the pool where the grad students sit (they don't get offices but rather cube sort of things) and the pool where the research assistants/interns sit. And they were ALL doing work! No Facebook. No e-mail. No PhD comics. Just Praat, EEG analysis tools, fMRI scans. It was sort of spooky, but no wonder this place is productive! I think I'll like it there - I got a ton done today, which made me really happy.
Then I came home and ran to the market for some more food. I feel like there's no way I can make it through this weekend with the amount of food currently in my kitchen. So, tomorrow, I'm venturing out to the big grocery store. This store is pretty scary to me because you can't just go up and pick out your meat. And often not your fruits and veggies either. Someone is there who you have to talk to in Spanish and explain what you want. I might try to get some fish tomorrow ... but I'm not sure if I'm brave enough for that yet. Regardless, I need to stock up. I'm sure the place will be mobbed tomorrow (imagine pre-snowpacolypse this past winter in Chicago) because no one's going to be able to get much after tomorrow night!
I also think I'm going to try out a church that's right up the road from my house - it looks like it's about 10 minute walk and that it's a pretty small church. I'm a little scared to go, since I'm sure it will be intense ... and in very fast Spanish. So I'm planning a walk by on Holy Thursday ... if I'm too chicken to go in, I'll probably go back for Good Friday, etc.
I'm starting to get used to the city, which is great. I walked downtown today to get a hairdryer (finally I can stop looking so disheveled!). I knew where I was walking and what order the streets went in, which surprised me a lot. It was really warm today so the beach was packed as was the boulevard. It was really nice to walk around and people watch for a while. I got a little cup of gelato to reward myself for making it a whole week here.
I sort of can't believe I've been here for a week. It simultaneously feels like I just got here yesterday and that I've been here for months. I hope that I continue to become more and more acclimated to my life here. I keep checking things off my "things I need to be comfortable in this place" list. I still feel really wildly emotional - swinging from being really happy to really sad almost every day. I find that going outside helps. Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain tomorrow starting at around 12 and continuing through the evening. It's also supposed to rain on Friday, and showers are possible on Saturday and Sunday. So, I'll either be exploring in the rain, or enjoying my apartment this weekend. I'm hoping I can get out to do some exploring as long as the rain isn't too drenching! I know I've been lucky to have no rain for a whole week, but I'm a big baby about walking in the rain (especially up Old Giant Hill [it needs a better name]).
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