hola!

hello to everyone from Madrid!

I've got some down time so I figured I'd fill you all in on my first few days in my new home.

Madrid is just lovely, I wish I had some pictures for you, but I'm not very good about that yet. Right now I'm living in a hostel with Forrest. We'll be living here for a few more days until we find apartments to live in. It's quite nice, we have our own bathroom and TV and fridge, which I stocked today with sandwich supplies and orange juice, etc. so we don't have to buy lunch every day. Our hostel is two doors away from the school I'll be going to, so chances are my apartment will be somewhere in the vicinity as well. It is right in the middle of Madrid.

Madrid is a very old city with narrow streets and alleyways and city squares every few blocks. We are a 5 minute walk from two of the biggest squares, "el Plaza Mayor" y "el Plaza del Sol". Streets shoot off of each of these in every direction and are filled with bars, restaurants, and shops. The nightlife is always very lively, but the first night we were here there was a game between Real Madrid and Barcelona (the two best soccer teams in Spain, and probably the world, and HUGE rivals) in Madrid, so the city was a bit crazy. Madrid won and everyone was driving around in the streets honking horns and waving flags. It was a great way to get thrown into the local culture.

Right now there are 5 of us from Middlebury here, with more and more arriving every day. Nobody knows where we should be going to see cool stuff, so we're all just kind of figuring stuff out as we go. Most people, and everyone over the age of 40, do not speak English, so we're being forced to speak a lot of Spanish, which is good, but also really hard. It makes everyday tasks like getting groceries or finding a bank seem really daunting.

It gets very hot here during the day, so from 2 to 5 everyone goes on a long lunch/ nap ("una siesta") and all the shops shut down. It means the night begins a lot later, but there is a really nice breeze during the night and I'm definitely going to like the schedule here.

Tomorrow were spending the day at a huge park near my hostel and then next week I start orientation.

I'll write again soon, can't wait to hear from everyone, I'm feeling pretty homesick right now.
Love you all!