Madrid

Madrid.

Day 1: Arrival (smooth and sound). Found hostel. It was a bit familiar because I have stayed here before. It feels comfortable which is strange because its such a foreign city in a different continent. I am not nervous or scared at all.

Met one of my roommates who had just come back from a shower. I knew we were gonna be friends when he proceeded to change clothes from a towel right there in the room.

Nap time. Went for a walk partially with my new friend, Weston, who’s from Arizona and then finished it up solo. Walked through Puerta del Sol and found our favorite Irish bar from when we were here before. Asked about if a friend of mine was working, but no one there had heard of him. Figures, that’s kinda how life rolls around. Chances are he had to go back to Romania.

Met up with some dudes from Scotland and a nice girl from England and Weston, and those four and I had a nice afternoon shuffling about the Mueseo del Prado. You know if you go after 6 it’s free…..We all sauntered around the city for a while and then ended up having dinner at one of the Irish pubs (there was a real intense soccer game on I guess). Sheppard’s pie, steak sandwiches, deep fried cheese and a cheese free salad. We all ended up in the “lounge” of the hostel. That is where at the connections are made. I call it the Facebook room. There are communal computers and as soon as you shake someone’s hand it sees your mosey over and pull their name up on Facebook and become an insta-friend.

A big ol’ group of us ended up hitting the streets at the night time and ahd a jolly time trying to get as many free drinks as we could. We ended up finding a cheap dance club and danced the night away. There was….tall Max from Montana, short Rafael from Toronto, the three dudes from Scotland, Laura from the UK, and Pascon from France was there for a while……Somehow we all ende up back at the hostel and were able to chat about it the next morning….

Slept until about 2 the next day and groggily woke up to my newest friend coming in with all his bags: Andrew from Ohio. I accosted him with morning breath and a question about the hour and after a nap we both went for a walk around town. First we started out with coffee and then marched up and down el Paseo del Prado, bought some cheap lunch time food (tuna and apples). Andrew is doing the same thing I am, different program and he will be in Madrid, but he will be a Language and Culture Assistant in a primary school as well.