Oh Madrid!

This coming Saturday will mark my second week in Madrid. Thus far I am learning to love the city more and more each day. I think the best part of studying here is getting to speak Spanish, I love the language and it feels wonderful to get to use it. I am torn whether to write my blog in English or Spanish. If I write in Spanish I can practice more but then it prohibits my friends and family that don't speak the language to read about my life, perhaps I will alternate or depending on the topic I am writing about I will shift languages. We'll see.

Today was a pretty good day. I had orientation classes in the morning at Sede Prim (Middlebury's school in Madrid). I love my grammar professor, she is a character. She basically acts out everything she teaches us with so many hand movements and facial gestures, it makes class a joy because you feel as though you are watching a play. She also looks like a rubber figurine which make it even more entertaining, kind of like the horse from Gumby, what's his name... I had to Google it, it is Pokey. My professor looks like a Spanish version of Pokey, haha. Next time I see her it is going to be hard to retain the laughter.

After classes I had lunch with Horchata (I can't decide if I want to use real names or code names, in my livejournal that I kept in middle school and high school I alway used code names for the sake of some level of privacy but I am still unsure as to how I feel about that in this instance but for now I will.) None the less, Horchata is a friend I know from Middlebury, she is one of my boyfriend's best friends from home and I met her through KDR (the social house I pledged last Fall). She arrived yesterday and will be teaching English in Madrid for the year at least. She studied in Getafe (the school I am going to study at) and she also has visited Spain quite a bit.

I've been feeling pretty lonely/homesick the past couple of days and like I said to her nothing cures loneliness quite like the sight of a farmiliar face. We had a nice time walking around for a bit and then grabbing a bite to eat. I had amazing paella, I need to learn how to make it. It is this classic Spanish dish, bright yellow rice (perhaps it is flavored with saffron and hence why it is yellow) with seafood, clams, shrimp, fish, scallops (lots of different seafood, it depends where you get the paella what kind of seafood will be in it) but it was amazing. I am going to take cooking classes here and upon my return make paella and sangria for everyone. It was nice to have a lovely meal outside in a quasi park with great company.

The food here has taken getting used to but I am liking it more. It is just at restauarants don't really serve vegetables and salads are expensive and not very green or plentiful. They also only serve white bread, there is no other type of bread option, it is white bread or nothing. Potatoes are a very popular side dish, it seems to me no matter what I order next to it are extremely greasy french fries. I am quite shocked that with a menu like this Spaniards aren't heavier, but perhaps that is because many do not go to restauarants but rather cook for themselves most likely healthier food and they also walk everywhere because Madrid is so concentrated.

I can hear sounds of the street from the terrace in my room. Did I mention I have a terrace? Yep, it is beautiful, I am so lucky to have it, it looks out onto some very pretty streets in Spain, the famous Calle Mayor which I live on. The panoramic picture that you see on top of this blog is the Plaza Mayor, Madrid's largest and most famous plaza. They used to bullfight there hundreds of years ago, but now it has many shops and restaurants with lovely outside seating (note to self, I need to learn more about the history of Plaza Mayor). As you can see from the picture it is so beautiful and it is just a block from my house (One of the many reasons to come visit me!). I really lucked out with this apartment, it couldn't be more perfect in terms of the people I live with and the location. More details later, I am getting a little tired of writing. But yes, where I live is lovely.

But as I was saying I can hear the sounds of the streets below me and I hear a street worker with a hose, each night they clean the city, it is actually pretty incredible, coming from NYC this concept of a very clean city is very foreign to me. Like there is hardly any garbage around the city and if you hose down the streets and sidewalks each night just imagine how much cleaner and nicer it looks than NYC? I wonder why we don't do this in NYC, I mean it would cost a lot of money but it would make the apperance of the city a lot better and create jobs. Perhaps this will be an innovative platform on city beautification in the US that will help me win the election when I run for Senate or something like that.

Well, I think that is enough for my first entry and I will be writing loads and loads in the weeks and months to come and hope you keep up with my life in Spain. I love you all and miss you tons.

If you want to write me here in Spain which I would love, my address is

Calle Mayor 49, Piso 2, #9
Madrid, Spain 28013.

Hasta luego! (Until later)