Day Four. Lost.

             I didn't sleep very well last night. I woke up at 3 and once the clock hit 6 I decided that I might as well stay awake. Made it on time to my placement test, yay! There had to of been 200+ international students. There were people from ALL over. There was two girls from Italy that sat to my left, a girl from Russia at my right, and some girls from Sweden sat behind me. I spotted a group of guys from America, or at least I suspected that they were American. They were wearing North face jackets and sperry shoes...hmmm....they should of just wore a shirt that says, "Hi, I'm from America!" or " Obama is my homeboy!". 


             Oh really, I  shouldn't judge because I can't help but smile and make eye contact with people when I walk around. Which probably makes me stick out more then the Frat-tastic (Fraternity + fantastic, typically used in a sarcastic manner) boys at the exam. Here the people do not smile when they're walking the street. Why would they? They don't know you nor do they care to; it's just how they are. But I can't help it! It's a habit, a bad one now I guess. I'm blaming good ol' V-Spive, aka Valerie, for this! Working in her restaurant for 3 years will do that to you. The 4-10 rule...yup, that sucker has been seared into my brain. What is the 4-10 rule you might ask? When walking or meandering about the restaurant and you are within  a 4 foot proximity from a customer then you must say something nice, "Have a good day" "Thanks for coming in!" or a simple "Hi, how yall doing?Great!" (this one was my favorite because half the time the staff wouldn't even wait for the response. Sounds more like "HowareyalldoingGreat", all smooshed together so you can't even tell if there was a question in there). AND If you are within a 10 foot proximity of a customer you must smile (which means smile all the time). So there you have it the 4-10 rule. So the next time your in a restaurant and wonder why the waitress or waitor sounds like she/he doesn't really care how you are doing but proceeded to ask you anyway, it's because she/he does not care at all. Waitors and waitresses are just the worker bees carrying out the Queen bee's wish. Anyway in the past four days I've managed to keep it to just a smile. However I have caught myself a couple times saying Hola or buenos dias as I walked by. I'm slowly trying to break this habit.

           It was pretty neat seeing the amount of diversity sitting in one room. The test took roughly 30 to 45 minutes. After the exam I let my feet do the walking. I thought it would be a good idea to look around the campus and then hop on the metro home, but I under estimated how HUGE that campus was. I was completely lost. I started walking towards what I thought was the direction of the metro, but it wasn't. And not soon after did I  find myself not on campus anymore.  But here are some of my pictures from being lost today.

This is the Arco de la Victoria or the Moncloa Gate. It was built as a tribute for defeating the republicans in the Spanish Civil war.

This is a statue. It says A Bravo Murillo La Villa de Madrid 1803-1873. I'm not sure exactly what the history behind this is but I liked it and took a picture anyway.

        So I wandered around for a solid two hours before I noticed how cold I was. The weather today, 37 degrees and drizzling. Ick. I flagged down a taxi and headed home. Ahhh, warm and cozy. I'm hoping to get a good nights sleep tonight because my roommate, Meredith, will be here tomorrow morning. I'm so excited! It's much more fun going around and making yourself look like a fool with someone else. Wandering around alone just feels silly.
                                                                  Hasta luego,
                                                                         Kimee Paige

"Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one."
                                                        -Dr. Seuss