First Week in Madrid

Although leaving home was really hard, my first week in Spain has been so amazing! Carly, my direct roommate in our apartment (piso, in spanish), who also went to BC, picked me up from the airport last Saturday and helped me with all of my bags...thank GOD because I had a lot of stuff and there were a lot of stairs involved in the journey to our apartment. We took the metro, which is like the "T" in Boston...well a much cleaner form of transportation. Fortunately we have a metro station right by our apartment called Principe Pío. After I put my bags in the apartment and met one my other roomates Kristen, who went to Ithaca, Carly took me around our neighborhood to have a café con leche and see all the things directly in walking distance from our apartment. When you walk out of our front door you can see el Palacio Real (the royal palace), that is now unoccupied, and is free to tour on Wednesdays...I hope to do that next week. Also right by our apartment is el Parque Oeste, a beautiful park with benches and pathes, one that we often run through...not too shabby for a little exercise :)

Saturday night Carly, Kristen, and Carly's two friends from California went out to some bars...one being a chocolate bar (el Chocolateria). Here, they serve churros (not the kind we're used to with cinammon, but plain doughy churros with cups of warm dark chocolate!!

Sunday Carly took me to Ikea (yes they have one here too) a Spanish store comparable to our Walmart to get some wooden shelving for my clothes and some groceries. Monday morning bright and early Carly walked me to Don Quijote, the school, and there I took a placement test and had my first day of class, for four hours. (I'm so lucky that I can walk to school!) Everyday I take class from 9am-1pm, and although it is a little hard to wake up in the morning, the intensive Spanish classes are helping me become accostomed to speaking Spanish again :).

This week I have spent a lot of time catching up on sleep, and although I haven't seen much I realize that I do have a lot of time to become familiar with this city. The nightlife here is so much fun! People don't go out until 11pm or later and they stay up sometimes until 7am!!! We have gone to a couple great bars, and the people here are so nice and friendly! One of our favorite bars so far is called el Chapandaz, which is like a cave bar with specialty drinks made with leche (milk). Believe it or not they are delicious and the atmosphere and clientele are great!

One of my other roomates, Kara, was in Poland for a conference and she comes back tonight. I cannot wait to meet her face to face (cara a cara)...I feel like I know her well from all the emails and calls made while planning this trip. All three of my roommates have jobs as nannys, hired for not only watching the kids, but also for teaching them English. I will probably begin my job search in the next few weeks as well!

So far I can already see my Spanish-speaking abilities improving, mostly due to all the constant practice I'm getting! It is really hard at first and will be frustrating for a while when I can't get my exact point across, but it's a character building experience for sure. I am so blessed that I made it here safe with no hassle, and I'm also so lucky to have such welcoming, fun, and caring roommates!!

There is so much to see in this amazing city and I'm so excited that I get to be here to experience it all. What an amazing first week...I cannot wait to see what the next 6 months are going to be like.

con todo cariño <3 T