My first impressions

Hola a todos!

I have landed safely in Madrid and finally overcome that jet lag. It really only took a day but it was a rough adjustment. My first flight was out of KCI at 12:30 and I arrived in Madrid at what was 1am our time but was really 8am in Spain so just in time to start the day. I didn´t sleep at all on the plane and made it through the day until I took a brief siesta around 3:30. I had to go to bed at 9:30 because I was SO tired and tried to sleep in today too.

I thought a good way to start this blog would be to give me first impressions of the city-

The Family
They welcomed me with open arms! My room was decorated for me, including pictures my host mom (Maria) had framed of my family and friends back home. It felt very welcoming. The apartment is a flat in the city. It is on the 5th floor so we use the elevator and it is so tiny! It barely fit me and my suitcase, so if the whole family is there they need to take two trips. The two children are ADORABLE. Eloisa is 3 years old and extremely talkative. She was shy when she first met me, but she has quickly opened up. She is super smart and LOVES Hello Kitty! Francisco is 10 months and always smiling. He is much calmer than Eloisa but loves trying to push things so he can walk. Maria and I spent most of the first day together so we got to chat a lot. She is very interested in me learning as much Spanish as possible which is great! Javier is the father and the cook of the family. He works until at least 7pm so we didn´t get to share as much but he is also very friendly and warm. I feel very safe and well taken care of with this family.

The Lifestyle
Today I got to explore the city, but mostly just the area in which I live (it´s called Barrio Salamanca). I had read before that it was a ritzy area but walking around here I really see what they mean! The streets are narrow and seeing all of the cars parked is incredible...nothing but BMW´s, Mercedes and the like. A few streets over is the most "exclusive" street in Madrid - Calle Ortega y Gasset. It is lined with only stores like Dolce and Gabbana, Rolex, Prada, Chanel, etc. Nothing I can ever afford so I guess walking up and down will do! The Madrileños are stylish. I´m glad I didn´t bring a ton of t-shirts because those will definitely not do me well here. It was in the 70´s today but most everyone is still wearing long sleeves and pants! I didn´t bring much of that but it doesn´t matter to me because the weather is beautiful. I feel very safe in the city, it reminds me a lot of being in Chicago because I have already squeezed in a ton of walking. The taxis and buses are even cleaner than they were there! Once I take the Metro for the first time, that will be the real test. The only thing to watch is for pickpockets in the tourist areas and on the Metro but I bought a fully zippered bag that I can wear across my body and hold onto as I walk.

The Food
The first day here, Maria and I walked to downtown (Sol - the center of the city). We stopped around 10:30 am for a ¨cafe¨which is typical because lunch isn´t until later. She had a drink made with almonds that she said is very popular and I had a sweet lemon drink - basically lemonade but apparently with lots of sugar! It was so sweet (dulce) that I couldn´t finish it. We went to a restaurant around 1pm but they didn´t serve lunch until 1:30 (typical lunch time, usually even later) so we waited around and sipped on water. The Bardem family is really famous in Madrid, and the mother of Javier Bardem (of No Country for Old Men and Vicky Cristina Barcelona) was dining at the table next to us! The menu was set with bread and mussels for appetizer, a first course, second course, and dessert. I chose the zanahorias (carrots) and tried some of Maria´s gazpacho. The gazpacho was delicious and is very popular in the summer. I then chose the fish for my second course and was a little surprised to see them pretty much only skinned and the heads still on with the eyes cut out! I have never eaten anything like that, but it still tasted good. I have a feeling that I will be eating a lot of seafood here - apparently Madrid is one of the top consumers of seafood in the world. Even my carrots had shrimp in them. Dessert is very common to be fresh fruit. Maria had melon, but I of course chose the chocolate mousse. Javier made dinner that night, which was a variety of sausages (including chorizo) and rice. We had crusty bread and a hard cheese for an appetizer. The flavors are very different than what I am used to and I am still adjusting. I may end up losing a little weight over here after all :) For dessert we had oranges and a sweet wine, which honestly tasted like raisins! And I can´t quite figure out what the Spanish foods in the pantry are, the family said I could write down any requests for the grocery store so I may just take them up on that. Today I went exploring and decided to have my lunch at Starbucks which was a nice reminder of home.

The Language
Not many people in Madrid speak English according to Maria, so I can´t fall back on that much. I have been taking Spanish for 9 years, which is evident in my knowledge of grammar when I read and write but it is still challenging to communicate. Madrileños speak very clearly (thank goodness I am not in Barcelona, where they speak Catalán and is a very different version of the Spanish I know) but quickly. Yesterday was the hardest for me because I took this past semester off from Spanish and we jumped right in talking only in Spanish which had my head going a little crazy when I had no sleep. Everyone is very understanding and helps me learn new vocabulary and doesn´t mind when I have to add in a little English. My host parents know English but they want me to immerse myself in Spanish so we only speak in Spanish. I think Maria could tell I was getting a little out of it over lunch yesterday and we spoke in English which was a nice break. The most challenging part is that I can´t passively listen to conversations, I have to listen intently to each word spoken and process and translate in my head and then do the same when formulating a response. I have a feeling I will improve a lot by the time I leave! I went around Madrid today to see if I could afford to join a gym while I was here and went to 3 places, communicating only in Spanish. It actually went over really well and I feel very proud that I was able to do that! The gyms were pretty spread out and I got lost a few times because the street signs aren´t on the stoplights, they are on small blue signs on the outside of buildings on the street corners. This means that it is easy to not be able to find these signs so I ended up passing the streets I meant to turn on a few times. Oh well, it was a learning experience and not too stressful because I had a map and was used to that feeling in Chicago.

I hope you enjoyed this post! I am enjoying myself a lot, and of course am missing everyone back home a lot.

Katie