Bienvenidos a Madrid

Hey people,

I'm in Madrid!!!! This is so crazy and still doesn't seem real at all. So starting from the beginning with me packing for like 8 hours with lots of stress and crying and injuries followed by my brand new camera not working my luck so far is not so great. I have decided that I am not going to let any of this ruin my trip because that would be so pointless. Anyway my flight was super nice but then we had to wait at the airport for 4 hours because we just missed the first pickup time. After that we drove to the hotel we would stay in for orientation where I went straight to bed for a nap.

Sol Plaza

We did some sightseeing by the hotel in Sol Plaza, which is not only the direct center of Madrid but of all of Spain and always super busy. The next day we moved into our residencia which is on Calle San Bernardo (Calle means street in Spanish fyi). My roommate's name is Meaghan and she seems very nice, there are also I think 8 other people from my program living in this building. It is super nice and I like it but it's gunna be so busy when all the Spanish kids get here in September.

 

Me and Meaghan

 

So far my first few days have been crazy busy and I am so tired from all the walking. Some of the places I have been so far are the Prado museum, the Royal Palace, and Retiro Park. Unfortunately there are no photos allowed inside the museum or the palace but they were both incredible. Retiro Park is just so beautiful I am definitely going to go back there all the time to walk around.

 

Retiro Park

Finally some random stuff about Spain so far. The food is interesting, pretty bland and not my favorite so far, but it is edible so at least I won't like die. The night life also doesn't start here until like 2 am which I don't like because I like my sleep. So far I've been out once to a club and it was ok and I left early just in time to catch the last train because the metro closes at like 1:30. Maybe it would be better if I had better friends or maybe I am just not a club person, I guess we'll see. Aside from my homesickness that I don't think is ever going away, I am loving Madrid so far and I'll tell you more about it later!!

 

Love,

Sam