My first days in Madrid

The past three days have been nothing short of a whirlwind, and I am loving every minute. Early Thursday morning, my flight touched down in a very foggy Madrid. After picking up our bags from baggage claim (everyone's arrived!), the four of us who flew in together from Chicago walked out and were greeted by our two program directors here, Ramiro and Belén. They then accompanied us in taxis, two by two, to our new homes. I knew I'd be living with a single woman named Ana and sharing a room with a girl on my program, but other than that I had no idea what to expect. I was the first to be dropped off and stood, bags in hand, anxiously awaiting in the street outside the big green door to Ana's apartment. She soon came down and greeted me so warmly, helping me with my bags and leading me up to her 4th floor apartment. As soon as we walked in, I decided that this is the cutest and most charming apartment of all time. There is a small kitchen, a shared open space of dining room and living area, and Ana's bedroom/office. Against a far wall, there is a narrow wooden staircase that leads up to...our room!! Even though I have to duck most of the time to avoid hitting my head on the super low ceilings, the room has more than enough space for the two of us and feels cozy.

Staircase up to our room

Our room (which Ana refers to as our own "república de independencia"); what you can't see are the two sets of dressers, central closet, and two desks she set up for us

My roommate, Jordana, arrived shortly after I did and we both unpacked excitedly in our new room. Ana then called us down and announced that the three of us were going for a walk. We live in an incredible central location of Madrid - a 5 minute walk from the Antón Martín and Atocha metro stations, and in 10 minutes we can walk to the Spanish botanic gardens, El Parque del Retiro (a huuge and gorgeous park), and 3 of Madrid's most important art museums: the Prado, the Reina Sofía, and the Thyssen. Being able to walk to these iconic sites from home is pretty incredible. When we came home from our walk, Ana prepared our first homemade Spanish lunch: tortilla española! This traditional dish is similar to a potato quiche and is also delicious. After lunch I took my first official siesta. I could get used to this schedule! Later (and I really mean later - Spaniards eat dinner at 10 pm or later), Ana called us down for our first dinner together as a new Spanish familia. We sat around the table, eating and chatting away (all en español) about everything from the best travel sites in Europe to cultural differences between Spain and the US to our families. By the time we got up to clear our plates, Jordana and I were barely still functional from our long days of travel and went right to bed.

The next morning, our only instructions from Ramiro were to meet at la Universidad Complutense, one of Spain's oldest public universities, at 9:30 am for our first orientation as a group. Complutense is about 30 minutes away from Ana's, which means that Jordana and I had to attempt to navigate the metro system. We were a little late and went the wrong direction on one of the metro lines but...we made it! Turns out the metro here is very easy to figure out once you've used it a few times. Once at Complutense, we had a mini-orientation followed by a quick tour of the campus led by Ramiro. Afterward, everyone returned to their homestays for lunch and siesta. In the late afternoon, we met up again as a group at the Plaza de España to walk around the historic area. The streets were crowded and a bit touristy but no less beautiful and interesting to explore. One of my favorite parts of being here so far has been discovering new areas of the city. As much as I roll my eyes when my parents talk about the glory days before technology, I must admit that there is something truly enchanting about walking the streets of a foreign place with nothing in hand but a map (the real paper kind, not the iPhone app). Plus, it makes me feel extra proud of myself when I actually get somewhere on purpose!

Today, we walked around Madrid's central district, very close to where I live. We walked by the 3 museums I mentioned earlier, which I cannot wait to explore more on my own. We also took a long walk (a "paseo") through El Retiro. On this beautiful sunny day, the park was particularly stunning. Soon I hope to come back to El Retiro for a picnic or paddleboating in the river! By the end of our paseo in the park, our legs were tired and our group separated to return home for lunch. Ana cooked us an incredible dish of tuna, cauliflower and broccoli with salad and toasted bread. Yum. After a small rest, I ventured to the metro by myself and took it to a northern area where two of my friends, Adi and Gillian, are living. Their area is far more quiet and residential than our bustling central one, so it was fun to walk around a different type of neighborhood. We took the bus (also a very easy and useful system to navigate) into a nearby district with lots of shops and cafés. Although I'm still getting used to the late dinners, I love having such a long afternoon (between lunch at 2 and coming home to get ready for dinner at 9) to stay out exploring.

Parque del Retiro with Haesun, Adi, and Gillian

Now I am getting ready for bed because early tomorrow morning we leave for a ten-day trip to Granada! While we are there we will begin our clase de cultura, which all 15 of us on my program take together at the university and which Ramiro teaches, and we will also be having intensive Spanish language classes. I'm a little sad to already have to say hasta luego to Madrid, but I can't wait to see Granada and take our first trip together as a group. Sorry for the lengthy post, but these first few days have been so exciting that I want to share everything! I will do my best to keep the updates coming. ¡A Granada!

Leora