First Day in Madrid

We’re finally here.

This is unbelievable I can’t believe that I am in Madrid and will be spending my entire summer in Spain. I don’t think the fact has truly sunk in that I am going to be living in this city. Fortunately for now though I am having a really good time with the people I am traveling with. There are 5 of us in total Kelli, Katie, Nik, and Javier. Kelli is a blast and I really like talking with her. She flew over to Madrid with Katie and I and we instantly all became friends. We joke around with each other like we have known each other for a lot longer than just 2 days. Nik is also really nice and friendly. Javier has already been here for 2 days and has gotten to know the city pretty well. He lives in Mexico and is fluent in Spanish. He gave us a tour of the city and helped us find some cool clubs to go to tonight. Unfortunately it is kind of hard to look at him because, I kid you not, he looks EXACTLY like Mr. Beans. I will have to take a picture of him and post it because it really is true.

Anyway today was an incredibly long day. Our flight left Detroit at 1:15 and we landed at Philadelphia at 3:30. At the airport we overheard the funniest guy ever. He was talking on the phone and it was really difficult to understand what he was saying. Kelli asked me what language he was speaking in and I told her I thought it was English. I listened for a little longer and realized that he did speak English and sounded exactly like Seth Green’s brother with the infected tongue ring from Rat Race. It was hilarious. We left Philly at 6:00 and had a 7.5 hour plane ride to Madrid. In US time that means we landed in Madrid at 1:30 am. However, with the time change here we landed at 7:30. Customs was a bugger to get through because of the long lines and we finally got out of the airport around 8:30. We got to the hotel and were told that we had a free day until dinner at 8:00. We were all absolutely exhausted but wanted to try to get over the jet lag so we tried not to sleep at all today. Unfortunately that didn’t work and we ended up napping for about 4 hours.

After our nap, we ran into Javier who showed us around Madrid. We made a new friend in the Museo del Jamon and we relaxed in la Plaza Mayor (the biggest and most popular plaza in Madrid). We met up with Caitlin and Almendra at 8 for dinner and they informed us about our orientation and everything we will be doing. Orientation lasts until Saturday and then we move into our houses with our host families. School starts on Monday, blech. After dinner we went out to see the Spanish night life and ended up spending a lot of time in a Salsa club learning how to dance. Javier was great on the dance floor and led all of us girls around. Nik said he wanted to learn how to salsa by the time he left Spain so I decided to help him and soon became his salsa partner. Sadly, neither of us are very good at dancing, but at least we have a long time to learn how. It was a blast to hang out with everyone and just let loose.

We called it an early night at 12:30 since we were all so tired. My first day in Madrid has been amazing and I know that many other awesome days are soon to follow. I’ve found that I have to pay a lot of attention here since everything is in Spanish. It is impossible to multitask here because it takes every ounce of my energy to understand what is being said around me. I know that my Spanish will improve with this immersion, I am just a little afraid of what I have to go through for it to improve. It is also hard to be connected to the internet without paying a lot of money. Once I am in my home stay, I will be able to have better access for free so more posts will be able to come then. I miss everyone at home, but am glad that I have also been able to make some friends here.