Bienvenidos a Madrid!

These past couple of days have been absolutely incredible!

I flew out of Denver on Thursday, the 14th, and landed in Madrid on the 15th at 7 pm. The first flight was British Airway, and it lasted 9 hours. As soon as I sat down in my middle seat, I realized that the chairs had headrests and fell asleep for the next 8-some hours. I only woke up to eat and re-position myself in the small space. The airport in London was beautiful! There was a very large mall with high-end stores that attracted people passing by with their flashing lights and shiny things. The layover lasted about 40 minutes and I was on the smaller plane, sitting by the window, in no time. When we landed in Madrid, two hours later, I went through passport control without any problems and claimed my luggage.

I called a cab and showed the driver the address I had carefully written out on a notecard. He said that he knew where that was and helped me put my bags in the back of the car. I sat in the back seat and asked him if he spoke English, he said no. I decided that it was a perfect opportunity to practice my Spanish before meeting my host-mom and asked him what the weather was like, and what the people are like. He answered my questions and continued to tell me about the mountains nearby where people ski and pointed out building when we drove by. It was by far the greatest cab ride I have experienced. He not only unloaded me near my building, but he helped me drag my luggage up to the elevator. Such a sweet man!

My host mom, Carmen, greeted me at the elevator and welcomed me to Spain. She does not speak in English very well, but she knows some words and can translate them to Spanish when I ask her to. She also has a 15-year-old little, white dog named Churrette (which means slobber). She helped me get situated and let me pick out which room I wanted to stay in: the one with the full-length mirror, or the one with two windows. I chose the latter. I unpacked and she had a mini-interview with me to ask what I like to eat and establish the rules of the house. The next morning, we walked over to her car and drove to the designated pick-up area to meet the ISA advisors and pick up my roommate, Lydia. We could not find free parking, and ended up walking for a bit from the car to the station. The bus was late, but everything went smoothly. At 16:00 that day, we had a mandatory ISA meeting where the advisors introduced themselves and we met one another. They also gave us Metro Passes which are VERY helpful in getting around the city.

On Saturday, we had a Panoramic Tour which was cut short because we could not get a bus (there was a marathon going on in the city and streets were blocked off). We walked from the Plaza de Opera to the Royal Palace, the Cathedral, la Plaza Mayor, and ended with the city center: Sol. After the tour, some of my friends and I went out to eat (we do not eat large breakfasts here, so brunch is a MUST- at least a croissante). We hung out all day and ended up walking around the shopping plaza looking for a coin purse for Matthew. Once we reached the Plaza Mayor, with no luck shopping, we decided to sit down for drinks and get lunch. The spicy potatoes and calamari were AMAZING! I love the food here! It was a really great day, overall.

I have been spending a lot of time at the Parque del Retiro (Retiro Park) and have become more accustomed to the lay-out of the 350-acre park over the past few days. I love the fact that everyone goes out and takes walks. There are roller skating classes offered at the park, along with yoga, martial arts, and other workout programs. I have just been walking alongside the fence and exploring within the park itself. My favorite places are the Crystal Palace, the Lake with the paddle boats and the Rose Garden. There are a lot of flowers and the landscaping is very well-kept. Yesterday, when I was doing two laps of walking through the park, I saw wild peacocks with their babies! I had to do a double-take because I could not believe my eyes!

Yesterday, everyone gathered at the university to take a placement exam and then we had an information session covering academics, housing, and cultural activities provided by the program.

Today, we all received our class schedules and now I can plan outside trips according to it! Spain has been amazing! I feel like I’ve been here for weeks, but it’s only been 5 days.

Vale, Ciao!

Olga