Bienvenidos!

Hola! Estoy aqui en España!

I've been CRAAAAAaaaaAAAzy busy the past few days. Ever since I landed yesterday morning it's been go go go! Which is good for me, I guess. The flight from DC to Madrid was long, but the plane was huge! The girl sitting next to me must've thought I was nuts because of how in awe I was of everything (pillows? blankets?! in-flight meals?!? ON DEMAND MOVIES AND TV SHOWS?!). We landed in Barajas airport very early yesterday morning around 6:30AM Madrid time. The IES staff were there to greet us and let's just say that I haven't wiped off the dumbfounded, "omg you're speaking Spanish to me" look since. But I can also say that my Spanish and my ability to comprehend have improved vastly even in the last 24 hours.

Here is the view from my hotel room in the Hotel Husa Princesa! This just made me that much more excited. After we were all settled in the hotel, we had lunch with the other IES students and staff. The people here are great! I'm one of eight engineering students (Four of which are from UR. HOLLA.) and we are eight out of about 160 IES Madrid students. One might say that we're kind of a big deal.

After lunch and meetings, I was able to get my cell phone and minutes straightened out (using my basic and broken Spanish) and afterward, a few friends and I went to get something to eat. We found a place called Lizarran. Here, you could go up to the bar and pick out different tapas for yourself, each with a different colored toothpick in them. When you were finished, you brought your plate and the toothpicks to the cashier and they charged you according to the number and type of toothpicks you had on your plate.

I tried some yummy things, some of which I had no idea what they were. For instance, my friend let me try his dish, which listed the ingredients as elvers, fried egg, and garlic. What are elvers, you ask? Google it. We did. Yep. BABY. EELS. Not pasta, like I'd assumed. Then back to the hotel to sleeeeeeep.


TODAY I had some more meetings and then finally moved into mi apartamento. I'm living with five other girls and our RA Lucia. It's SO CUTE and conveniently located just a ten minute walk from the IES Center and the nearest Metro stop is right outside our door. Tomorrow, (you guessed it) more meetings and crash-course Spanish classes. Plus a historical tour of this lovely city. Later this week, we are taking a day trip to Segovia, which should be awesome. More pictures to come, plus a video tour of my apartment! So high tech.