Friday, October 3, 2014
Friday, March 14, 2014
Officially 6 months in SPAIN!
Six months ago I finished the 15 hour travel journey from California to Madrid, Spain. I stepped off the plane, collected my 2 pieces of luggage, caught a taxi and had two days to explore before orientation. Arriving at my hostel in the heart of bustling Madrid, I waited in the lounge with wifi for about an hour until my room was available. Messaged friends and family that I had arrived safely and sent out a few snap chat updates. I met some girls from Dublin who were hungover laying on the couches. They had to check out of their rooms and had all day before they made the trek back to the airport. I took a quick turn about the city with some of them who got burritos (funny enough!) and started to crash. Jet lag and plane sleep was starting to catch up to me. Found the hostel again and headed upstairs to shower and passed out for 4 hours.
Feeling fresh and ready explore I got ready and plopped myself on a chair near the check in desk connecting with the internet. A lovely Australian girl named Tracey was sitting next to and before you knew it we were gabbin away and off to find a place for dinner together! We had a blast! Found a place near the center for Sol (the central metro stop in Madrid) and stayed for 3 hours. She was on her tail end of a 7 week backpacking trip across Europe. She was supposed to end in Germany for Oktoberfest but her visa was going to expire just before..:( Begrudgingly she made a change of plans and was going to travel a bit in the U.S. On her last night here she wanted to hit an ice bar near Sol so after dinner we skipped off to hang out in a freezer.
On our way home we met another guy from Brasil in our hostel that was on his way to do the Camino de Santiago! We became snap chat friends and I got to see some of the pilgrimage housing along the Camino! I said good by to Tracey and still stay in touch with her, maybe I'll go to Australia one day and give her a ring. The next day I went on a walking tour of the city and had a blast! The history and culture crash course was fascinating and seeing everything on foot on a beautifully hot and sunny day was enchanting. (Not to mention the tour guide was a BABE.) I face booked a girl that I had been in touch with through Facebook and we met up at the Prado Museum to meet other auxiliaries. I met Michaela, Tyson, Jimmy and Roland so fun! We got into the Prado for free (everyday 6-8pm) and mostly just joked around for a bit then found a German Brewery. Each one of them had some type of Spanish major and had also started to learn Portuguese as well. Their Spanish levels were impressive and I was instantly envious. They were all in a separate program that was through the Communidad de Madrid but you needed to know some spanish to go through the application process. My program is also through the Communidad but it is like a mommy- and holds your hand, helping the participants through each process.
The following day, I had orientation and Michaela helped me lug my bags to the hotel. I checked in and had a week long orientation with seminars and meals included….Found my apartment shortly after and the rest is history! Madrid started with a bang and never sleeps!! There are always things to do, see, eat, experience here in this thriving city. I live near the biggest Train Station in Madrid, which is quite convenient for weekend excursions and my daily trip to Alcalà de Henares.
Feeling fresh and ready explore I got ready and plopped myself on a chair near the check in desk connecting with the internet. A lovely Australian girl named Tracey was sitting next to and before you knew it we were gabbin away and off to find a place for dinner together! We had a blast! Found a place near the center for Sol (the central metro stop in Madrid) and stayed for 3 hours. She was on her tail end of a 7 week backpacking trip across Europe. She was supposed to end in Germany for Oktoberfest but her visa was going to expire just before..:( Begrudgingly she made a change of plans and was going to travel a bit in the U.S. On her last night here she wanted to hit an ice bar near Sol so after dinner we skipped off to hang out in a freezer.
On our way home we met another guy from Brasil in our hostel that was on his way to do the Camino de Santiago! We became snap chat friends and I got to see some of the pilgrimage housing along the Camino! I said good by to Tracey and still stay in touch with her, maybe I'll go to Australia one day and give her a ring. The next day I went on a walking tour of the city and had a blast! The history and culture crash course was fascinating and seeing everything on foot on a beautifully hot and sunny day was enchanting. (Not to mention the tour guide was a BABE.) I face booked a girl that I had been in touch with through Facebook and we met up at the Prado Museum to meet other auxiliaries. I met Michaela, Tyson, Jimmy and Roland so fun! We got into the Prado for free (everyday 6-8pm) and mostly just joked around for a bit then found a German Brewery. Each one of them had some type of Spanish major and had also started to learn Portuguese as well. Their Spanish levels were impressive and I was instantly envious. They were all in a separate program that was through the Communidad de Madrid but you needed to know some spanish to go through the application process. My program is also through the Communidad but it is like a mommy- and holds your hand, helping the participants through each process.
The following day, I had orientation and Michaela helped me lug my bags to the hotel. I checked in and had a week long orientation with seminars and meals included….Found my apartment shortly after and the rest is history! Madrid started with a bang and never sleeps!! There are always things to do, see, eat, experience here in this thriving city. I live near the biggest Train Station in Madrid, which is quite convenient for weekend excursions and my daily trip to Alcalà de Henares.
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