A Few Photos...

This is my "habitación" in Madrid. I live with my Señora, Veronica, and her 7-year old son, Samuel. We each have our own rooms, and in addition there is a kitchen and living room, along with 2 bathrooms. Our piso is very cute and homey.







On our first weekend in Spain, we traveled to Toledo as a group. It is a beautiful city about an hour south of Madrid. There are laws prohibiting the construction of new buildings because they are preserving the original architecture and character of the city, which used to be Spain's capitol once upon a time...


Alex, Breanne, Courtney, and I enjoyed Churros con Chocolate at la Chocolatería de San Gines. Many madrieleños eat churros con chocolate with friends or family...it's just one of those things they do! And for good reason--you don't know what real churros are until you come to Madrid. The chocolate that you dip the churros in tastes similar to hot chocolate, but a little richer, and much thicker...almost like pudding, but better! Trust me on this...

As Alex and I were roaming the city, we discovered this "secret" (it's no secret after all) heaven on earth, called Mercado de San Miguel. It was a Sunday afternoon, so of course it was bustling. We were absolutely astonished when we walked inside this beautifully sculpted building to find candy, ice cream, wine, beer, fish, bread, sushi, books, and absolutely anything else you can imagine. The atmosphere was positively incredible, and all of the treats looked like perfection. We will definitely plan on returning here...


Ahhh, the tapas. Another thing the Madrileños do is go out for tapas and cañas before meals. Tapas are small, delicious food items that come in adorable little portions. Cañas are glasses of beer--what I chose to drink in this picture was much larger than a caña...a jarra! But the montaditos--little sandwiches--were wonderful! And only 1 Euro each on Wednesdays! What you see in this pic cost only 4.60 Euro...Success!

A General Idea of Madrid Thus Far...

Before I left home, I thought that six months seemed like a long time to be in Europe. Turns out, it is merely the blink of an eye! I have already been in Madrid for two weeks, and it feels like time can't possibly have gone any faster! It leaves me wondering: how will I see and do everything that I want to in such a short amount of time?? Now, I do realize I actually have quite a bit of time left--but how do I manage my time so that I can make the most of my stay here in Madrid? I guess we'll find out...

So, what have I learned so far in two weeks? Madrid is a wonderful city, where the culture and lifestyle is drastically different than in the United States...or at least where I'm from...
Here are a few things I have learned:
1) Time in Madrid runs on an entirely different clock. I don't just mean that it is 7 hours ahead of Minnesota...it is really an entirely different schedule. 7 or 8 am=breakfast. Which is typically bread/cookies and coffee/milk/tea. How satisfying...12=mid-morning snack. Just one snack per day!? 2=lunch. Contrary to popular belief, during "siesta", not everybody gets to leave work to go home and spend time with family and friends. But yes, small shops are closed and the Metro is packed with people heading in all directions. 9-10pm=dinner. My señora prepares dinner for me each night...with absolutely heaping plates. I never thought I would complain about an excess of food, but here I simply cannot manage to eat it! Even the children are expected to eat everything off their plates...dios mío! And after dinner, people of ALL ages go OUT on the town! While I am lame and hop into my pj's and read or watch a movie in bed, even the elderly folks are headed towards Sol, the center of town, to enjoy drinks or churros with friends and family. The metro closes at 1:30am and doesn't open again until 6am. Younger folks actually stay out all night until the metro opens. I have yet to try this...

2) Chances of lung cancer developing are increasing rapidly. Smoking in public is the norm. Not just on the streets--in all of the buildings too! The metro is just about the only place where you're not allowed to smoke. Even in the University building there are students smoking cigarettes...and sometimes other things too...

3) You can get beer at the local McDonalds. Since the legal drinking age is 18 you can really get beer just about anywhere. Another thing about McDonalds--the McFlurries are much, much tastier here than in the U.S...

4) PDA. You really don't know what Public Display of Affection is until you come to Madrid. I'm not sure how people feel comfortable showing this level of intimacy in public...in restaurants, bars, the metro. Everywhere you look you see AT LEAST one couple in a full-on make out session. Nobody else thinks it's that strange, but I can't help but stare in awe sometimes...which probably makes me look like a major creep. But if they are doing that they must expect that people are watching...right?!?

5) the Metro is heaven-sent. It is really a wonderful, wonderful thing. I am obsessed with finding my way places on the winding paths of crossing metro tracks. I wonder what Madrileños would think if they came to the United States to find much less efficient transportation...I'm glad that I am making the transition from driving miles upon miles to hopping on a metro and walking, instead of vice versa.

For now, I'll leave you with this brief recap of the last two weeks. There is much more to say, but with time I will hope to expand on everything that I see and do!