the beginning!!!

After my long delay in London, I finally arrived in Madrid!

It has been absolutely breathtaking. I still can't really wrap my head around the fact that I am actually living in this country and it's not just a vacation! I took a cab to the hotel since my flight was late and I couldn't be picked up by the ISA (my study abroad organization) coordinators! My cab driver and I spoke in only Spanish the whole way over to the hotel and it was great. I really begun to feel comfortable with my Spanish right away. He took me to the hotel and I had about 30 minutes to get ready before our reunion (meeting). I was a bit overwhelmed since I had just gotten there, but settled in quite quickly. I met my three future roommates (one of whom is my roommate at the hotel) and we all get along great.

We had our meeting where our Sevilla directors Carmen and Tamara introduced us to our program and passed around maps and guides. They are so adorable and from Sevilla so they are great and knowledegable in nuestro ciduad as well as Madrid. OH, THEY ONLY speak to us in Espanol. They'll throw in some ingles every so often but it's really cute when they try to say things like "how do you paying for these things?"

After that, we went to El Corte Ingles-- it's a mix of Costco and Nordstrom. Strange, I know, but the main level is like a department store--Chanel counters, Yves Saint Laurent bags, makeup & cosmetics & clothes-- and on the bottom is like a HUGE market. There is not only a market but also counters that are mini restaurants. These El Corte Ingleses are all over the city as well as down in Sevilla, so I will definitely go there often. Something weird or I should say different about Spain is that you don't just take the fruits and vegetables like in the US. You take a number and they take and weigh the fruit for you. My roommate Melody took an apple and the lady in the produce area was like "HOLA???" as in a rude "HELLO??" It was quite an adventure. That, and the fact there are legit stairs in every store-- everything is like 4 or 5 planchas (stories) high--AND that hams are just chillin in the restaurants and markets--are some noticeable differences. Spain is also very serious about their siestas (naps/rests) in the middle of the day. Most restaurants close after lunch (4ish) and re open for dinner around 9. It reminds me of a European New York City. Madrid is not as touristy as I thought it'd be but it's weird to see McDonalds and Starbucks in such an antiqued city.

We then had a panoramic bus tour of the city. They took us around for about an hour and Tamara (one of the directors) was on the mic and in Spanish telling us about our surroundings. It's pretty freaking cool. I loved seeing the city lit up at night and so alive. There are always hundreds of people in the streets. There are gorgeous fountains all over partes diferentes de la cuidad-- y hay muchas cosas a hacer... siempre hay algo a hacer... la marcha es increible.... (There are gorgeous fountains all over the different parts of the city.... there are so many things to do--always something to do...the nightlife is unreal...)
The bus tour was just such a great opener to the Madrid/program orientation.

After that, my 3 roommates (seema from new jersey, alexis from ohio, and melody from new hampshire) and two other girls Abbie and Nabila (who was in Barcelona last semester so is a great person to have around) went out for tapas & wine. We were exhausted after traveling all day and decided to call it a night.

It's also really cold here. It's like 35 degrees. We had breakfast in the hotel and left for our packed day. We then took a bus to El Museo Prado (el prado museum) and I was entirely in awe. Most notably, El Prado tiene obras del Greco, Valazquez (a Sevillan :)) and Goya. We had the option of going on a Spanish tour or English, and I chose Spanish. It was magnificent to be able to see some work from the 16th through 18th centuries. Seeing works I have studied immensely in my life up close is really surreal. Our tour guide also pointed out such interesting things about the paintings, including the fact that one of the kings he painted wanted certain things changed on his portrait and there were outlines of where the original had been-- it was so cool to see, because I would not have noticed otherwise. There are no cameras allowed inside, but I will never forget the art I saw there.

From El Prado, we took a beautiful walk through the narrow Madrid streets to the Palacio Real (royal palace). We walked up narrow streets of Madrid and I fell in love even more. Another different thing about Madrid is that the street signs are like little tiles on the sides of buildings. There is no actual sign like in the U.S. It's a little confusing but I got a good grasp on where we were-- mostly by areas, not by streets, so it was easier to get used to. On the way to the Palacio is the Plaza Mayor (main plaza) that is a huge courtyard that has beautiful buildings and statues and sits atop shops and restaurants. On sunny and warm days, I am sure everyone is eating and drinking outside and enjoying the amazing scenery around them, but today was so cold so there were not a whole lot of people sitting outside. We arrived at the Palacio and I was just, again, in awe. It is huge. It is all white and the Spanish flag hangs high on its top. The greatest thing about the Palace though, I thought, was the view of the city. You can see these stone arcs-- and through them the entire city is visible. We toured the museo de armas and saw all the suits of armor (chest plates, etc.) from centuries ago. After that tour, we went into the actual palace. The palace itself is remarkably huge. It has over 2,000 rooms in it, and unfortunately cameras were not allowed so I couldn't get photos of some of the most unbelievable sights, but each room was something different. Some highlights include: the room where the king changed which was absolutely beautiful-- it took 26 years to complete. The ceiling is like 3D-- all flowers and patterns from the ceiling, and in the corners are gold mini sculptures. Another room I liked was the throne room, where all the thrones of the kings are, as well as 12 espejos (mirrors) grandes, as well as gold lions from Italy. There are also huge chandeliers in most rooms, and each are glass but some are entirely gold. In the corner tops of the room, hay obras que representan diferentes cosas de la historia de espana... another amazing thing is there are LEGITIMATE MURALS painted on each ceiling. I can't even describe it, because I won't do it justice, but these rooms individually are as large as most Agoura Hills houses and easily twice the size of Tempe ones. The ceilings I REPEAT HAVE LEGITIMATE MURALS. It was also really cool to see portraits done by Velazquez because we had just seen his other work at El Prado.

After El Prado, tuvimos tiempo libre... we had free time. Melody, Seema, Alexis and Julie, Val, and Nabila and I all went for lunch. It's also customary in Spain to have a menu del dia (menu of the day) where you order from. Lunch is the most important meal of the day in Spain and you order 2 courses and they give you a coffee & dessert with it. I am still not adjusted to Spanish time/meals/etc. so I was just hungry for a salad, but the menu del dia is crazy-- for a first course you can have paella (meat over rice) or ravioli or a variety of things-- and your second course is typically a meat based dish. The menu was literally the size of a business card, and the waitress gave us only one. Each day the menu del dia changes. It's still really weird to pay with Euros.

After that, we split up and Seema, Alexis, Mel and I spent the rest of the day exploring Madrid. We went back to the Plaza, and went into several shops. There are so many different places to go and see in Madrid, it's fantastic to feel like you have so many options. We went to the Plaza del Sol, which has H&M, Zara and several other stores-- there are so many rebajas (sales) ahora! Every store is filled with people, and like I mentioned before, has several levels. It's not at all uncommon to find escalators and stairs in stores. People in Spain also don't get mad if you accidentally bump into them-- and even though I found myself saying "lo siento, lo siento," they seemed unfazed. ALSO, tipping is unconventional. VERY strange I know. We literally walked the city for 5 hours and made our way back to the hotel.

BESOS Y ABRAZOS,

LP