Dear family and friends,
We are now in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, a city just east of Madrid. I (Jeff) am directing BYU’s study abroad program until April 10th. We have 37 students in the program—thirty-three women and four men. They stay with host families here in the city. Students will take history classes from me, an institute course from the CES director in Alcalá, and Spanish classes at Alcalingua, the Spanish-as-a-second-language program at the University of Alcalá.
Alcalá de Henares is an important city in Spanish history. The university was originally established in the 1480s, and many of the great figures of Spanish history went to school here. It is also the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Qiuxote. It was in the news more recently because it was at the Alcalá train station, about a block from our house, where on March 11, 2004, terrorists boarded trains and planted bombs which later exploded in Madrid’s main train station, killing close to 300 people and maiming hundreds more. In general, however, this is a safe city and we are not overly concerned about our safety.
We left Utah the morning of January 7th, had a very short layover in Atlanta, then flew directly to Madrid. The kids were great on the flight. What we did learn is that we had too many carry-ons, which made getting on and off the plane probably the most stressful part of the process. We will go lighter next time. Timothy was well-behaved, but he did not sleep at all on the trans-Atlantic flight, so Kathy and I got into the Barajas airport very tired. We got our bags, then met the two taxis Alcalingua had sent for us. They were woefully inadequate. The drivers saw all our baggage and immediately called for two more taxis. Kathy, Aaron, and Timothy got in one, Rickey and Mikelle in another, and Sarah, Trevor, and I in a third, followed by a fourth taxi full of luggage. We made it to the house just fine, and had a fun time taking everything into the house.
BYU rents a house for Study Abroad directors in Alcalá. It is quite large by Spanish standards. It is a four-level town home in the chalet style. In the basement are two rooms generally used for storage by the owner and the program directors. The entry-level floor has a bathroom, the kitchen, and living/dining room. The first floor up has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, and the small top room has a pool table in it.
We are now in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, a city just east of Madrid. I (Jeff) am directing BYU’s study abroad program until April 10th. We have 37 students in the program—thirty-three women and four men. They stay with host families here in the city. Students will take history classes from me, an institute course from the CES director in Alcalá, and Spanish classes at Alcalingua, the Spanish-as-a-second-language program at the University of Alcalá.
Alcalá de Henares is an important city in Spanish history. The university was originally established in the 1480s, and many of the great figures of Spanish history went to school here. It is also the birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Qiuxote. It was in the news more recently because it was at the Alcalá train station, about a block from our house, where on March 11, 2004, terrorists boarded trains and planted bombs which later exploded in Madrid’s main train station, killing close to 300 people and maiming hundreds more. In general, however, this is a safe city and we are not overly concerned about our safety.
We left Utah the morning of January 7th, had a very short layover in Atlanta, then flew directly to Madrid. The kids were great on the flight. What we did learn is that we had too many carry-ons, which made getting on and off the plane probably the most stressful part of the process. We will go lighter next time. Timothy was well-behaved, but he did not sleep at all on the trans-Atlantic flight, so Kathy and I got into the Barajas airport very tired. We got our bags, then met the two taxis Alcalingua had sent for us. They were woefully inadequate. The drivers saw all our baggage and immediately called for two more taxis. Kathy, Aaron, and Timothy got in one, Rickey and Mikelle in another, and Sarah, Trevor, and I in a third, followed by a fourth taxi full of luggage. We made it to the house just fine, and had a fun time taking everything into the house.
BYU rents a house for Study Abroad directors in Alcalá. It is quite large by Spanish standards. It is a four-level town home in the chalet style. In the basement are two rooms generally used for storage by the owner and the program directors. The entry-level floor has a bathroom, the kitchen, and living/dining room. The first floor up has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, and the small top room has a pool table in it.
We arrived on Tuesday, and the first group of students came in on Friday, one day early because of a good deal on flights. I told the students they could stay at my house that night since they couldn’t go to their host families until Saturday. 15 out of 16 took me up on it, so on Friday night we packed 23 of us into our house. It was quite the experience and it wasn’t necessarily comfortable for all the sleepers unfortunately, but it proves we can host those who want to come visit. As they students all paraded up to the house with all their luggage, two policemen showed up to make sure we weren't sub-letting our home to a bunch of renters.
We’ve struggled quite a bit adjusting to the new time zone. We are constantly falling asleep for too long at the wrong times. Yesterday we discovered all 8 of us had fallen asleep from 4-7pm so of course bedtime wasn’t happening until 1 or 2 am. We slept pretty well that night, however, and woke up in time to catch a ride to our first Sunday in the Alcalá ward. We saw president Brad Farnsworth of the Madrid mission, who is Mom and Dad Shumway’s old neighbor from Hawai’i. We had a nice chat. Just a couple of weeks ago he transferred Kathy’s cousin, Jackson Brown, out of the ward we are now attending. We hope to see him sometime while we are here.
We hope to post some pictures soon.
