We have arrived! After
eight hours, gross airplane food, 2 movies and no sleep, we landed in the most beautiful city with the
sunrise. Let the longest day ever begin. Culture shock hit hard from the get go
as our crew attempted to give directions to our host family’s house to the cab
driver in spanish. We failed so we ended up just showing him the email our host
dad sent us. We know a bit of spanish but they speak extremely fast for our us
it takes a couple tries to get. "Repite mas demasiado por favor" (Repeat
slower please?), is a common phrase. When we arrived to our house our host dad
Luis welcomed us with open arms. He lives with his wife Maria who we met later
in the afternoon and they are the most wonderful people. We haven't even spent
a full week with them and we already feel like we have known them forever.
We
took the afternoon to get unpacked and explore the neighborhood around us. After that we took on the
metro and headed to Sol! La Plaza del Sol is the main hub of the city and has
many side streets skirting of to shops full of clothes and trinkets. After
exploring and also getting dreadfully lost, we met up with some SLU friends and
stopped for a 9 o' clock spanish dinner (which is the norm in Spain. ¡Muy
delicioso! I wasn’t totally sure I would adjust to the different foods in Spain
but wow I am loving it. Maria and Luis are 4 for 4 on their dinners as well (paella,
tortilla y patatas, lentil soup, pasta con tomate). The roommates and I all
agree our favorite part of the day is sitting down for family dinner and
sharing all of the crazy stories from the day and laughing until our abs hurt.
Once
the sun sets Sol is a whole new city with lights, sounds and street performers
everywhere. We decided to give the city a whirl at night and see what goes on.
Very surprised to find out their nights don’t even start until 12 am, our tired
selves pushed aside our sleep deprivation and took on the streets. After walking
miles around the city traveling from spot to spot we returned to our new home,
all exhausted but also excited to be here in Madrid! This will definitely the
best semester yet, so many adventures to come :)
First night out with the Roomates!
Back: Me, Shelby, Emma, Alex
Front: Sarah, Greta, Taking Picture: Betty
No comments:
Post a Comment