First Few Days in Madrid!

Day 0: (+) 0 tapas
(-) 2 tapas: Flying 10 hours on a United aircraft instead of the Lufthansa one that I thought I was paying for!
The flight was interesting, although I didn’t sleep much, only read 30 pages from Blink, and filled in about 10 crossword puzzles from my new crossword puzzle book. Most of the movies were pretty bad, except for Prince Caspian, which was decent at best. The people in my row were really nice, the food was interesting, and thank god my mom packed me a loaf of bread, Boursin cheese, and a pear, or I would have died of hunger after our 4pm dinner!
(+) 1 tapa: Flying 2.5 hours on a Lufthansa carrier
The airport in Frankfurt was filled with young, attractive German men. I got my own row on the airplane, and right as I was reaching for my emergency beef jerky, good ol’ Lufthansa presented me with some questionable looking chicken, and my own mini Toblerone bar! After eating my meal I quickly knocked out wearing my goofy inflatable neck pillow, listening to my ipod with giant headphones, and legs stretched out over all 3 seats. Next thing I know I wake up and the airplane is already taxiing. Welcome to Madrid, Katy.
(-) 2 tapas: Mean taxi driver who takes advantage of newbies
There was tons of traffic at the airport (I’m assuming from the Barajas plane crash that morning/previous night), so the taxi driver took an alternate route. Lo and behold the MoFo ripped me off because his meter was broken and he charged me for luggage (which is supposed to be GRATIS AND OBLIGATORIO).
(+) 3 tapas: Spending the rest of the day and night with my host Susana.
Once in Madrid I went to Susana’s (Jessica’s ex-coworker’s Spanish friend) where I would be spending the night. I thought I wasn’t tired, but after eating again (for probably the 6th or 7th time in 15 hours) I passed out without warning. Once both of us finally woke up from our siestas, Susana took me to the Sol area (downtown Madrid… get it? Like the sun, like the center of everything) where she gave me an awesome tour, tailored to my foodie needs. She showed me some of her favorite bars (we stopped for a drink at a bar owned by Javier Bardem’s sister!) and some great places to eat. And later, in true Spanish style, we ate dinner at 11pm.

Day 1: (+) 2 tapas
(+) 1 tapa: Morning stroll with Susana, the best one-night host ever
After waking up from my golden slumber, Susana and I took a walk around her neighborhood. She showed me the “Golden Mile” where all the really expensive stores are (i.e. Valentino, Hermes, Carolina Hererra, etc.). Then we went back to her apartment and watched some Sex and the City. It turns out she’s an avid fan and owns the whole series on DVD. Sweet.
(+) 1 tapa: A reasonable taxi ride
After getting duped by the first taxi driver, I learned my lesson and was not going to let that happen again. Susana came with me to get the taxi and schemed with me on how to not let him know I wasn’t from Spain. She talked to him and told him where to take me, then said something to me in Spanish about being safe and keeping in touch, and all I had to do was say “vale”. Worked like a charm and ended up with a much more reasonable price (1/4 the price of my first taxi ride).
(+) 1 tapa: Finally arriving at the colegio mayor, my home for the next 4 weeks
I got to the colegio mayor, which is basically the dorms for the university, and met a bunch of the people doing the program. My roommate (Mabi) had just flown in that day and was fast asleep in my room for most of the day. I explored a little bit of the surrounding area with Susanne (the only other student from UCSD) and took a nap.
(-) 1 tapa: Dorm food
4 food groups in this dorm: Salt, Sugar, Ham, Potatoes. ‘Nuff said.
(+/-) 1 tapa: Getting lost
So that night we went out with a majority of the group to some sketchy bar. One girl and I thought it was weird and awkward, so we tried meeting up with my roommate who had left earlier with another girl (Nico) and that girl’s Spanish friend. 3 metro rides later we found ourselves in a seedy area filled with sex shops and prostitutes, and no familiar face in sight. We eventually gave up our 2 hour search and took a taxi back to the colegio mayor. At least we found out where NOT to go late at night!

Day 2: (+) 1 tapa
(-) 1 tapa: Orientation
The next morning I tried waking my roommate up about a million times, to no avail. Girl sleeps like a rock. I got breakfast on my own which consisted of toast with Jam (aka preserved sugar), a pastry looking like a donut (aka a sugar roll), and a cup of juice (aka flavored sugar added to water). At noon we had orientation which was long, boring, and pointless.
(+) 1 tapa: Enjoying the city
After orientation I went to Sol with some gals. We walked around with the same Spanish friend of one of the girls, and it turns out I know more about the landmarks and history than he does. I saw a lot of the same sites as I did with Susana, but this time from an indifferent Spaniard's perspective. We went to the Museo del Prado after a long walk around the city, and I managed to get a blurry picture of Las Meninas by Velasquez before getting in trouble. We left the museum after half an hour because it was mostly painting of Jesus, Christianity, and portraits, which all start to look the same to an untrained eye. After the museum we strolled over to Retiro, which is a huge park in the middle of the city. We took lots of touristy pictures, refreshed ourselves with some drinks, then layed out on the grass under the trees.

El Palacio Real side view:

La Plaza Mayor Inside Retiro Las Meninas Pond in Retiro
(-) 1 tapa: Sweating
It’s really hot in Madrid. I can’t go around being dirty like I can at home. I actually have to shower every day and can’t wear my clothes multiple times before washing them. :(
(-) 1 tapa: American appliances and my stupid transformer
I plugged my converter/adapter into the wall so I could use my hair straightener before going out. I put the straightener in then turned it on and waited. Shortly after turning it on it started making some noise which I thought was just caused by water on the sink reacting with the hot plates on the iron. So I picked up the straightener and started to turn the heat level down, and within milliseconds it blew up in my hand. Thanks a lot Best Buy. It also doesn’t have 3 holes in the adapter so I can’t even plug my computer into it. Thanks a lot stupid Katy. (And just so you all know, 2 other girls bought European blow-dryers which also broke after plugging them in, one of which shorted and caused the entire half of the hall to black out.)
(+) 3 tapas: La Via Lactea
That night I went out with Mabi, Nico, another girl on the program, and one of the Spanish students also staying at the colegio. Following Jenna’s advice, we ventured over to Malasaña, which is a slightly alternative area close by the school. La Via Lactea was this really cool bar where they played a variety of music ranging from Prodigy to the Beach Boys. By the end of the night I was sweaty from dancing, my eyes were burning from all the smoke inside, and my hair smelled like an ashtray. But the fun was worth it :)

Day 3: (+) 2 tapas
(+) 2 tapas: El Rastro
In the morning we took the metro over to the La Latina neighborhood which has a flea-market every Sunday. It was fun to walk around and shop at the stalls, although I ended up making zero purchases. It was so busy and I was clutching onto my fannypack (yes, my fannypack) the entire time after watching some bitch attempt to pick-pocket the man in front of me when we were all getting off the metro. After el Rastro, I didn’t do much else during the day besides eat and sleep.
La Argentina (Nico) and me at el Rastro (flea market)

Now that I’ve been here for 3.5 days I really can’t imagine going back to San Diego in the fall like the rest of my schoolmates. It hasn’t really sunk in yet that I’ll be here for the year, but I’m already enjoying my time and so happy I chose to do the year abroad!

Until next time, besitos!

A short aside: sorry if this wasn’t interesting at all, I’ve never been one for journals or reflections so I’m not yet sure how to write this all down. In future posts I’ll try to cut things down and only relay the really interesting or important things. I don’t know how to limit myself so I only write in excess. Whoops! Also, this will probably become less frequent as I get lazier and am here longer.