Well, it took me long enough, but I'm finally starting to be settled in. I slept for 6.5 straight hours last night and woke up feeling really refreshed and great. I think I was extra tired last night for two reasons. I think I'm coming down with a cold (it seems to be going around here at work and everyone is sniffling and coughing). I also went out with my Basque friend and some of her friends last night which meant all Spanish all the time for almost 4 hours. I understood maybe 40% of the conversation, which was less than normal, but could be expected since half the conversation was about people's summer travel which involved lots of town names around here that I don't know yet. Anyhow, we'll see how exhausted I am after my first proper Spanish class this evening! I came into work early so that I can leave around 5:15 to make it to my 6 o'clock class across town. But I'm still feeling kind of sickly this afternoon, I may run home after lunch for a quick rest before class. Since "after lunch" means 3pm, it's only a couple of hours off my day, and it will be worth it if it means not getting sick!
It's been funny because the shift in feeling better happened after Tuesday night when I took some visitors out for pintxos. My friend Alison's husband's cousin and the cousin's husband recently moved from the US to Barcelona, where the husband is also a postdoc. They were visiting San Sebastián for their vacation. I took them out for a pintos and then to our favorite outdoor bar for a drink. Then we headed out for music night. Walking in and seeing my friends made me realize how lucky I am to have a group of people in my life who I truly enjoy being around. This was also the first time that I knew more about this place than someone else. So I knew where to go when my first choice of pintos bar was too crowded. I knew the best place to go when we wanted to sit outside. And I knew how to get everywhere. I left that night feeling a lot better about being here, so it was definitely great to have that feeling.
In other great developments, I brought decaffeinated mint tea back with me from the US. Decaffeinated tea just doesn't really exist here outside of black tea, which is fine, but requires more stuff to make it tasty for me. Decaffeinated coffee exists mostly in powdered form ... if I can find it "de maquina" (by machine, or made like normal espresso), it's a miracle. I can get "descafeinado con leche" from the vending machine upstairs and it's palatable but tiny and quite sweet. I could also buy nespresso capsules for our coffee maker in the office here (we get a discount for buying in bulk since EVERYONE drinks this), but once again it's teeny tiny, and very sweet. But mint tea! It's a miracle! After lunch, I make myself a cup and then a second cup from the same tea leaves. I'm going through it so quickly (even with two cups per bag and one bag a day) that I'm going to need my US visitors to bring reinforcements. :)
I can tell I'm getting more used to it here because I am now tempting fate with the busses. It takes me a good 6 minutes to walk at a leisurely pace to the bus from my apartment including the elevator or stairs down (depending on my state of dishevelment upon leaving my apartment and whether I need to put my earrings on in the elevator or whether I can take the stairs). The bus tracker here is highly accurate, so if I haven't packed up my computer, I have to pack it up when the bus tracker says 9 or 10 minutes 'til my bus arrives. This period needs to be more like 12 minutes if I haven't packed my lunch and snacks yet. 14 if I don't have shoes on yet or I need to pack the rest of my work bag. But for the past two mornings, I've been waiting 'til it says 7 minutes for my bus and then sprinting out the door, down the stairs, and up the hill and arriving at the stop as my bus pulls up. From work, I need 10 minutes to walk (quickly) and 12 minutes for a leisurely walk to my stop, especially since my office is as far from the main doors to our office and the stairs out of the building. Counting in packing up, I should leave when the bus tracker says I have 15 minutes (at the shortest). Yesterday, it was 9 minutes, and I was basically running the whole way to the stop (in heels). I've hopefully learned my lesson, since I like a leisurely stroll more than a sprint. Though, it was good since I didn't feel like I needed to do any cardio yesterday after two sprints to the bus, a 45 minute walk to downtown, and then walking around for nearly 2 hours with the Spaniards!
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