Madrid: Week 1

Well what a week it’s been….Let’s start from the beginning. My education began very early this week. I learned that business class might in fact be worth the price when flying over 5 hours. I also learned that you should probably bring your own food on board or else be prepared to face some sort of beef and dried pasta that the airline thinks is edible (I didn’t eat it, but it certainly didn’t look so fresh…) I learned that Oceans 13 is not such a bad movie and that watching a small cartoon of your plain flying across the globe can actually be quite amusing. I’ve also learned all sorts of interesting things about Katie Couric but that’s probably for another time... Moving on….


After landing and deplaning, we entered what I can only describe as the most beautiful airport I have ever seen and made a small hike through customs, to the baggage claims via one of those airport monorails that don’t really need to exist but do because monorails were (or maybe still are) cool for some reason. My baggage cane right off the belt and get this: the luggage carts that we have to pay for in America are free here. Yeah, I know. After getting our luggage we met up with the larger group and boarded some lovely green tour buses that were much more comfortable than “Tourist Class” on Iberia is and headed to the Hotel Regina right in the Plaza del Sol in downtown Madrid. The hotel is decent, though they don’t seem to like us too much (we get the stale bread at meals and the rooms with 3 twin beds squished together).














Madrid is absolutely gorgeous in every way. Not only have I have not seen a single cloud since I stepped off the airplane, but they really try to keep every inch of the city clean (okay maybe not the prostitutes, but nobody’s perfect, right?). The streets and sidewalks are spray washed every night and I have never seen such a clean and organized subway system as the Metro. The temperature here has remained around 80° +/- a few degrees depending on the time of day. Aside from the weather and urban hygiene habits, the architecture here is truly breathtaking. While standing in one plaza you can see buildings from the 15th, 16th, and 17th, century with Roman, Arabic, and French influences all within a few feet from one another. And hey, I kinda have a soft spot in my heart for cobblestone streets…




















So let’s talk about the locals, shall we? Maybe I’m just ignorant, but having 15 facial piercings doesn’t do it for me (but who am I to judge, right?) Anyway, as you may or may night know, people’s schedules here are quite different dinner happens anywhere between 8:00 and 11:00 and then you go out. And you stay out. For a while. Like until 4:00, 5:00, 6:00 in the morning. And all that while you’re probably drinking… As I’ve been saying, this is my semester to see what it would have been like to be a real college student, you know, the kind that doesn’t sit in rehearsals all night only to go home do some paperwork and collapse… In the past however many days it’s been since I’ve been here (2, 3, 4??? I have really lost any concept of time especially since I’ve never lived anywhere where it can be 21:48 before) I’ve been to outdoor cafes, small cervecerias stylishly-trashy bars for some chupitos libres (free shots, if you can even call them that… tasted more like Kool-Aid to me…) a rather cramped disco, and an Irish pub where the music really reflects both the Irish and Spanish cultures. Examples No Scrubs by TLC and your favorite and mine J.Lo’s Jenny From the Block (well at least she speaks Spanish sometimes, right?) and let’s not forget Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise…

Anywho, it’s Friday night and I’m feeling a bit drained so I’m gunna take it easy tonight. Tomorrow I move in with my 60 year old Señora Laura Rodriguez. I’ve got this image in my head of either a very traditional Spanish woman (short, a little heavy, always fanning herself with her abanico) or a very thin and lanky woman with a lot of sass… Either way we’ll see.

Until next time…