The University of Alcalá de Henares

The view from our apartment

I still can't believe I am living in Spain! I went to bed last night expecting to wake up in Idaho or Utah because me being here in Europe still doesn't feel quite real yet.  However, after a long, hot, and sweaty night (no, it's not what you're thinking...we don't have air conditioning, so I was perfectly capable of getting hot and sweaty all by myself) my body decided it was time to start the day at 6:30 am Madrid time.  Chloé and I each took showers and were informed by Blanca that we are to make our own breakfasts every morning, which is better anyhow since Blanca stayed out later than we did last night so this party animal needs her sleep.  We then proceeded to walk around Alcalá for the next couple of hours, taking pictures and exploring the suburb of Madrid that will be our home for the next three months.  After an extremely fast paced conversation with an attractive man at an information station, we were able to procure three different maps of the city that we will be using quite a bit over the next week.

One of the main courtyards of the University

We met up with the rest of the group at the Plaza at 11:00 for our tour of the University of Alcalá de Henares, where we will begin our studies on Monday.  The interesting thing about the University is that there isn't one central campus like American schools, the different colleges are spread out throughout the city.  I'm not sure exactly which one we will have most of our classes at, but all of them are pretty close and equally breathtaking so we shouldn't have any problems.  

 My favorite part of the morning was when we went through some of the historical background of the University.  This guide spoke to us in English, which I was grateful for because if she had spoken to us in Spanish I definitely would have missed out on some of the core details.  The University was first created by the Catholic church, but then the government of Spain took it over during one of the religious movements and did away with a lot of the church influence in the school.  This is especially for my friends at BYU: if you think the honor code is strict, just think about some of these rules these university students had to follow back in the day:

The exam room where students would go through
an extremely thorough process to earn their PhD's

-The students had to live as if they were living in a convent while studying at the University (okay, so that rule is the same for unmarried BYU students) 

-The students had to wear robes as if they were in a convent

-Only men could study there

-If a student was heard speaking nay language other than Latin, they were thrown into prison for a few days, without food and with repeated physical punishment

-If a student was seen speaking with, walking with, or associating with a woman in the city, he was thrown into prison

-If you were thrown into prison or didn't comply with the rules enough times, you were expelled

Personally, I don't think any of us have it this bad.  Obviously all those rules were done away with a long time ago, but it was extremely interesting to learn about.  The building we toured around is extremely old, but it had been restored and repainted in parts so that visitors can enjoy a more fulfilling historical experience.  We did many other new and exciting things today, but I'm going to keep things short and sweet and give you all something to look forward to.  ¡Hasta luego!

Breathtaking ceiling architecture, pieced together
without glue or other adhesives