Yesterday I arrived in Madrid around 3:00pm, and Elena from IPSF met me and showed me to my hostal. Its basically in the center of Madrid, one block from kilometro cero (kilometer zero, what they say is the geographical center of Spain). Elena and I had lunch in the Plaza Mayor and then took a small walking tour. I plan to do it again today to take pictures, enter El Palacio Real (The Royal Palace) and walk around in its gardens. Elena only talks to me in Spanish, which has already tested my skills, and by the end of the day I was too tired to keep listening (it takes a lot of effort). Hopefully each day will get better...they placed me in a pharmacy instead of a lab because my spanish level was above everyone else's in the program. I know my spanish will improve in just a few days.
The streets of Madrid are BEAUTIFUL! It reminds me of New York (it actually made me a little home sick...well, America sick), but instead of their Time Square looking like it does in New York, it looks like Greenwich village, Soho, ect. Bellisima. I plan on visiting the museums to see Guernica and other works by Picasso, Velazquez, Dali, and the various famous Spanish artists, but I might wait to do that on a weekend (when most of them are free and I can go with more people). Last night, I went to bed early to be well rested and prepared to speak Spanish well, but since the hostal is in the middle of everything it was loud throughout the night, especially when considering Spanish nightlife doesn't start until around 12. Today I'll meet Elena and her friends for lunch and my very first tapas experience, which I'm rrrreally looking forward to.
Dejan from Slovenia is meeting me on Wednesday at the hostal, and on Thursday we'll head to Alcala, I'll go the pharmacy where I'll be working, but I won't start working until Monday. So I basically have a week to get accustomed to the sights and sounds of Spain before work. Eight students, including myself, will be staying in a house on campus at la Universidad de Alcala, and they will all speak English. In fact, most people near where we'll be staying on campus will speak English and very little Spanish. The students staying with me are from Slovenia, Hungary, Poland, aaaand I don't know where else, but I do know I'm the only one from the States.
Hasta manana.
