Where in the World are the Rosses?: An update and pictures

Hello everyone, haven't had a chance to post in a while due to spotty internet at my hostal, but I finally have an apartment of my own! That process was pretty awful, we spent three days doing nothing except walking around in the incredibly hot sun trying to find apartments. Finally I found one, but I'm glad I waited, because I love what I ended up with. I have a big room in a great neighborhood and I'm living with three young Spanish guys, so my Spanish is going to improve a lot more than most of the other students who are living in student apartments with lots of people who don't speak Spanish very well.

On Sunday we went to our first bullfight. I was really excited for this, but once you're sitting there watching a confused bull get tortured and killed, its a little more difficult to stomach. I'm glad we went for the cultural experience, but I probably wont be going again. We were also really confused about what was happening the whole time, but everyone is really proud of their city and culture so they were more than happy to try to explain what was going on. Every bullfight goes through 6 bulls, and the same thing happens in the same order every time, so I didn't really understand what the excitement was all about, but the people here get very into it.

One good thing about doing so much apartment hunting is that I've gotten to see a lot of the city. Each neighborhood (barrio) has its own feel. Chueca, where our school is, is Madrid's gay neighborhood, so its got lots of alternative, hip places to eat and go out. Sol is the most central neighborhood with bustling nightlife and shops. I live in a barrio called Atocha. It's really nice, and its where the Prado is, as well the botanical gardens and the national congress.

Since school has not started yet, we've been going out at night and getting to know a lot of people. We already have a pretty big network of American students, especially from Duke and Richmond. None of us really have enough courage yet to befriend native Spaniards, but I'm sure as our language skills improve we'll branch out a little. The nightlife is very fun, most people don't go out til midnight or later and everything stays open til 5 or 6 or later.

School starts on Monday, we've been doing orientation and taking some placements tests. Getting back into the routine of school and having to face the fact that I'm not here on vacation is going to be difficult. But at the same time, living out of a suitcase has been stressful as well, and I'm really glad that I finally have a place to live and that my life will be getting back to normal.

Today we went on a walking tour with some helpers from the school. We saw the royal palace and cathedral and went to a huge park. Madrid is more or less a desert climate during the summer so the park is pretty much completely dead right now, but apparently its quite nice during the winter and spring. I forgot my phone so couldn't take any pictures.

It's siesta time here, but I'll write again soon. Love you all and thinking about you!