Bienvenidos a Madrid!

Aquí estoy! En Madrid! It has been such a long day, but an exciting one. I'll recap my adventures for today for all of you reading this in the States...

Mom, Dad and I arrived at RDU this morning at about noon. It was an emotional departure, for sure. They are, after all, sending their only baby into the great, big world. After hugs, kisses and tears, Devon and I ventured through the gates. We left Raleigh at about 2:30p, and landed in Washington, D.C. at 3:45p. At the terminal in Washington, we scoped out the other passengers and found a few more teachers. It was great meeting other people that are in our same boat and have our same fears, anxieties, and excitement. Once we got on the plane, we were informed that there were a plethora of empty seats! We were able to spread out and sit together. We also met another friend, Simone, which Devon had already made contact with prior to departing. She is from Virginia Beach, and I just love her. The flight took off from Washington at 5:30 and we were on our way to Madrid! Despite a bit of turbulence on the plane, the flight went well. We probably only slept about an hour the whole flight. We arrived in Madrid ahead of schedule at 6:50a (Madrid time - about 12:50a Eastern Standard Time). I thought it was quite clever of the flight attendants to try to slip us into Madrid time by serving us breakfast before landing. Clever, but not effective. There's no stopping jet-lag.

After exchanging a few dollars for euros and collecting our bags, we took a taxi from the airport to Cat's Hostel, where we will be staying for the next week. The city is amazing. Everywhere you look there are grand buildings with amazing architecture. The traffic is quite scary, but I was confident that we had one of the best taxi drivers in the city. Note, the "was" in that sentence. When we arrived at the hostel, the fare on the taxi was supposedly 23 euros. Well, after helping us with the luggage, the taxi driver (speaking very fast Spanish, mind you) held out his hand and was like "This isn't enough; there's a baggage fee!" So I, being the gullible American that I am, coughed up more cash. Later, we found out that there is no tipping, no extra fees, and that taxi drivers are not entitled to any more money than what reads on the taxi meter.

Lesson #1 in Madrid: Never trust taxi drivers. Always trust the taxi cab meter.

We couldn't check in to our hostel until 12p, so we sat in the lobby from 9:30a until check in time. We met Simone's friend Sergio, who is a native Spaniard, at the airport and he hung out with us until we checked in to our rooms. It was nice to have him around to ask questions. After checking in to our hostel, we walked around a bit and found a little convenient store. It was really cool seeing all the Spanish labels, but I was kind of surprised to see Lays, Fritos, and Aquafina water. There were plenty of American brands mixed in with the Spanish ones.

After our little stroll (or "paseo" in Spanish), we all passed out for a few hours. I woke up around 7:30p and took a shower. The showers weren't nearly as bad as I expected. In fact, the whole facility is rather nice. No real disappointments. The atmosphere is so chill and everyone is SO nice - the staff, other residents, everyone! I've met so many people since we've been here, and once our orientations are over on Thursday I think we are all going out. I'm looking forward to it!

Devon, Abigail and I went to find something to eat at about 8:30p. The standard "dinner time" here is from 9-10p, so we were trying to adjust to the norm. We found a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant, and broke the ice by testing out our Spanish when ordering. The waiter spoke so fast, it was difficult to understand. He was probably thinking "Silly Americans," the entire time he waited on us. He had no time for questions, comments or concerns. It was kind of funny, actually. I ended up getting a dish that was sort of like American Stouffer's stuffing, with a kick. It had bacon, bits of ham, bread crumbs, and peppers, and it was sort of an orangey-red color. It was delicious! After dinner, we took another stroll and found a busy city square with tables on the sidewalks. There were probably 20-30 tables on this wide sidewalk, and then waiters from the nearby coffee shops would come and take your order. As we sat next to the busy street with bustling mopeds, cars, and people, we ate churros con chocolate. The churros were crisp and fluffy, and the chocolate was rich and thick. The standard is to break off a piece of the churro and dunk it in the chocolate, which is served almost like hot chocolate in a coffee cup. ¡Que delicioso!

We arrived back at the hostel around 11p and I was able to Skype with my friends Liz and Adam. It was great to see friendly faces! It's about 1:15a here now, and I think I'm about to turn in for the night. All in all, it's been a pretty long day. All is well in Madrid. Another update soon, amigos...with pictures!

Besos!