Bienvenido a Madrid

I officially survived my first day in Madrid! It was fun and exhausting and scary and I am having so many feelings right now. Tomorrow is going to busy as well, I can only imagine another long and tiring day ahead of me.

But let’s not get too far ahead, let’s start at the beginning. My flight left Cincinnati around 2:30 PM and we arrived in Washington D.C. around 4:00. Nothing too eventful about the flight except that for once I actually saw my house from the plane! I always like to try and find certain landmarks when we leave from Cincinnati but yesterday was the first time I was actually able to find anything. First I saw Coney Island, our big swimming pool/tiny amusement park, from there I could follow a certain road and I found Casey’s high school: Anderson. Then it was easy to spot our two water towers in our backyard. So for the first time I actually found my neighborhood when taking off. I wonder if that means anything.

My flight from D.C. to Madrid wasn’t as long as I thought it would be. I think we arrived about thirty minutes early. I did my best to try and sleep on the plane but it just wasn’t happening… We were served dinner (I had some kind of Mexican food, rice, corn, beans and chicken with a weird sauce) and later we were given a small breakfast. Strawberry yogurt and a blueberry muffin: yum.

I went through customs easily; I just gave them my passport, they stamped it and on I went. (MOM: I kept my passport in my purse’s zipper pocket the whole time, be proud!) While waiting for my baggage I talked to a girl who was also studying abroad but not with my program. She was nice; I should’ve gotten her number or something. Oh well.

After that I went to find my ISA… person… I can’t think of the word right now but she is one of the coordinators or something and she escorted me and another girl (Allison from San Francisco) to our homestays. I already described my location in another blog post but now I can tell you about the house and my host mom, Elisa! Since I was the first to arrive I got the first pick of rooms so naturally I chose the largest. Actually, I think I primarily picked it was because the view is great. All I can see are rooftops BUT a herd of cats lives up there and I was just so happy to see cats! Also the closet is big and I have a dresser, which is nice.

I talked with Elisa a bit before I chose my room; she is a widow with two daughters, one son, and two granddaughters. The granddaughters are 12 and 14 so I probably won’t be spending any outside time with them. They’ll come over for dinner or lunch occasionally, they live close by. Elisa seems very nice so far! I don’t think she knows any English, maybe a couple words or phrases. But she was quick to offer me food and drink and she seems like a very wonderful person. Also, she has Wi-Fi so obviously we’re a perfect match. I didn’t realize this at first… I unpacked my things and ended up taking a nap until 1:00 PM (I got to her apartment around 9:00). Before I fell asleep I was beginning to have second thoughts about this whole study abroad experience. What would I do all day without Internet? It really shows how spoiled we Americans are back at home, where Internet of some form is readily available.

Anyway, I woke up and my roommate, Alex, still hadn’t arrived. Elisa asked if I had her number, which I didn’t. I said we were Facebook friends and that’s when I learned about the Wi-Fi and man did I feel stupid. Here I am in an amazing city and all I’m worrying about is goofing off on the Internet! But I am grateful to have it, I can check e-mails from my ISA coordinators, I can get all of you updated, and I can play SimCity Social on Facebook.

Finally Alex arrived, she unpacked a little and we had lunch. Alex arrived in Madrid on Wednesday and was staying with family friends and ended up with the stomach flu so she didn’t eat much and wasn’t feeling 100 percent. We had fried chicken, vegetables, fruit and bread for lunch. Elisa also made these croquetas which are fried vegetables or something… I’m not sure but they were muy deliciosa.

And after lunch… another nap and some Internet time until our meeting with ISA. We all met as a group at 6:00 near la Puerta del Sol. Elisa drove us, she was going there anyway to meet some friends. Our group went to a little restaurant and we had a little snack and Carlos, our head director (or something), talked to us for about two hours about Madrid. Then we took a half hour bus tour of Madrid and saw all the places that we will soon be visiting on our own time. After that Alex and I headed home… and got lost. I think we got off on the wrong stop on the subway but we eventually found our way home. We had a light dinner (some pizza for us both and gazpacho for me) and got ready for bed. I just finished showering and after I am done writing this I am going to sleep! We have to be at Antonio de Nebrija tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM for our placement test and to schedule our classes. This time Alex and I know where we’re going though. At 2:00 we’re having a group lunch. And that’s all I know about tomorrow. On Saturday we’re doing a group excursion to Toledo which I’m sure you’ll all hear about soon enough!

So that was my day. A lot happened in, what, 36 hours? I don’t even know anymore. It seems like I’ve been here much longer than one day. The good news though? I think I’m going to like it here very much.