Hey-O! Guess Where I am?!

Hola Todos!!

Today is my 10th day in Madrid and I am in no way disappointed!! I am going to try to recap the past ten hectic days with clarity!

I left for Madrid on Tuesday January 8th.  My flight was suppose to depart at 8:25pm but due to weather conditions and someone checking a bag and then not actually boarding the plane, we did not leave until 10:50pm.  Those 2 hours and 25 minutes did not seem like a big deal in Dallas but when I was running through London Heathrow trying not to miss my next flight to Madrid, I realized why everyone else on the plane seemed bitter.  Luckily I made my flight just in the nick of time.  The first night we, all those studying abroad in Spain through USAC, stayed in a hotel because orientation was held at the hotel on Thursday January 8th and 9th.  Orientation was boring but helpful.  We went on a mini walking tour of Madrid, talked about social graces in Spain, how to be a polite stranger in your host families home, and how to work the metro system as part of the orientation on Thursday.  On Thursday at 5:35pm my host mother Paloma, came and picked me up from the airport!  She speaks english very well and has really helped me get accustomed to life here.  My first night here I Skyped my parents and little sister, Kennedy, as well as a few of my friends.  We had another full day of orientation on Friday January 9th.  On Friday we took the Spanish placement test and selected our classes.  I got placed in track II out of four and I am taking a drawing class.  Saturday I went on a scavenger hunt with students in the USAC group.  The most exciting place we went to on our hunt was a Market, Market de Ventas!  It was HUGE, 3 floors of food! Shinyoung, a girl in my scavenger hunt group, and I vowed to go back and shop and we did on Monday after class!!

Classes started on Monday January 14th.  Unlike Loyola, you do not get to choose the time of your classes here, they are predetermined..My class starts at 9:20am.  I am not, by any means, a morning person.  The school is 50 minutes to 1hour away from my house so I have to wake up around 7am.  I was not quite used to the time change on Monday, but as the week progressed waking up got harder and harder.  The good news is that naps are very common here!  They are called siestas! So every day after school I come home and take a nap 🙂

Besides going to school, I went to the Market with Shinyoung, she is from Korea by the way, explored the city a little bit, and went to this wonderful place called San Gines Chocolateria with some friends.  Like star grill there are places that stay open really late for people who..like to eat early in the morning.  Here they have a place where they serve churros con chocolate! I had never had a churro before and definitely would never have thought to dip one in chocolate!  Needless to say I will be going back.

That sums up what I have done here so far, now I would like to share little experiences and realizations I have had.

The metro is extremely efficient.  The trains come very often, they are clean and well lit.

There is a lot of petty theft but not a lot of major crime, which is a plus.

You do not invite people to your house, you go out and hangout.  That being said, there is a lot to do and a lot of places to go to hangout.

People are always walking, and it seems everyone has a dog.

Breakfast is around 7-9am, lunch is some time between 2-4pm and dinner is between 9:30 and 11pm.

There is a period during the day where most shops close down.  I am not talking about “little shops”  I am talking about the pharmacies, the book stores, the markets, the banks, and some of the restaurants, it becomes ghost town.  The shops re-open around 5 and stay open as late as 10pm.

You do not smile at someone you do not know, nor do you complement someone you do not know.  It is just not done here.  This makes train rides very awkward.  Also, it is OKAY to stare at people.  I am not talking about a glance, I mean the full on “I am judging you” stare.  When you greet someone you MUST kiss them on both cheeks, if you do not YOU are strange and weird.  You do not under any circumstances shake someones hand.

Electricity is very expensive here so the Spanish have perfected conserving it.  Here are some examples:

-Every time I leave my room, if only for a second, I MUST turn off my light.

-Almost all lights are sensor lights so they automatically go off when no one is around

-On the metro not all doors open at each stop, there is either a button or a lever on each door that is used to manually open the doors.

-My host family unplugs chargers from the outlets when they are done using them

Well that is all I have for now! Stay tuned 🙂

Hasta Luego!

Tyler Monroe