madrid, te amo

vale.

we are finishing up our first week in madrid and it has been amazing. you all may have noticed that i keep saying 'we' instead of 'i'...this is because my roommate lauren and i are basically married and eat, sleep, and breathe every moment together...she even has to listen when my dad is rambling on ichat about how he lived on $10 a day in europe (in 1980). she has even asked me if she can write some of these posts (meanwhile, i offered to do a duo blog with her months ago but she was too cool for it...her loss).

ANYWAY, this week, we had orientation at our school, universidad carlos iii de madrid. while the name of the school says it is located in the city, do not be fooled - it is actually in getafe, a suburb area about 35 minutes away from our apartment. every day, we take a train and a bus to get there and back home. the school itself is fairly new and has nice facilities. while i am here, i will take 3 classes in the cursos de estudios hispánicos, which are classes in spanish for international students, and one class in grados, with other spaniards. tomorrow is my first day of real class and i am excited as well as nervous to see how i do speaking in and listening to spanish at school all day.

while we weren't at school, we spent a lot of time trying to get to know the neighborhoods around us in madrid. we have discovered sol, a cool area with bars, shops, and discotecas in the center of madrid; calle gran via and calle serrano, two of madrid's most renowned shopping districts; and la latina - every sunday there is a giant flea market here called el rastro. today lauren and i went here and felt like real madrileños. on my own, i have been exploring (running) up and down the paseo del prado, a path that runs between all of madrid's biggest and most famous museums and monuments.

this week we have also been getting to know our host family. our mom, maruja, will literally not stop feeding us, and no matter what it is, whether a chocolate "bombón" or a pear, she tells us that we MUST eat it because "es rica" (it's rich). last night, maruja told us that she weighs twice as much as she did at her wedding, and we're guessing it is because if something es rica, she has to eat it. on the other end of the spectrum are both her husband, pedro, and her daughter, gloria. pedro is a skinny man who eats a bowl of fruit for dinner while maruja stuffs us full of delicious tortilla española (an omelet filled with potatoes) or tostas de jamón (crispy toasted white bread and serrano ham). he and maruja have been married for 40 years and are still so in love. gloria is their beautiful daughter who used to be a model and was miss spain (nbd). she eats with us and tells us how she hates dessert and churros (of course she does, thus, the fact that she is 28 years old and still has her rockin' model bod). in summary, we have truly come to love them and are excited to keep learning about their family.

at night, we have been trying out different bars and clubs in various areas throughout madrid. the good news: there are plenty. the bad news: people don't start going out here until 2 in the morning! we are certainly adjusting to the different lifestyle. we have also learned that everyone we know at home has at least one friend here in madrid, so we've been meeting lots of great, nice people who are studying here this semester as well.

overall, we had a great first week here and are beyond thrilled to be back in madrid from granada. we hope to spend the next couple of weeks exploring everything and really getting to know this city that we're living in for the next 4 and a half months!