I arrived in Madrid two and a half weeks ago, and so far things have been amazing! I was nervous about flying because it was my first international flight and my first time flying alone but everything went really well, thank you British Airways! I’m living in an apartment that is a 10 minute walk from my classes and a 30 second commute to the metro station and to the park and my roommates are incredible (that goes without saying because one of them is a Penn Stater!). I was nervous that my building was going to shake like in NYC because of the metro, but the metro is underground….actually its past the center of the earth. During my daily journey to the center of the earth, taking 3 long flights of stairs, I get a chance to think about daily life back at Penn State, but life here is so interesting that that is really the only time I get a chance to think about you guys. Just kidding ;).

The view from my window is beautiful, even though it overlooks a busy street. I can see the Ejercito del Aire (Spanish Airforce building) and to the right of that, the mountains of Madrid! During my freshman year at Penn State, I would wake up every morning before a home football game to the unmistakeable sound of the Penn State fight songs drifting through my window, and its hard for me to believe that now I wake up to the Spanish Airforce band playing Spain’s National Anthem!

The language barrier has been difficult for me. The taxi driver who took me from the airport to the hotel we stayed in our first night in Madrid was very nice and I told him I was nervous about being able to speak Spanish so he said he’d practice with me, he assured me that the only phrases I needed to know were “quiero comer, quiero bailar y quiero beber” (“I want to eat, I want to dance, I want to drink”). I was pretty sure that I knew at least a little bit more that that so I decided to go out on a limb and talk to him about the taxis in NY and how they are yellow while the ones in Madrid are white. I guess I didn’t know as much as I thought because he said “No, ingles” (meaning “No, speak English”) and he didn’t speak for the rest of the very awkward half hour drive to the hotel.

Language barrier fail #2: The first night I ordered tapas (inexpensive Spanish appetizers) we sat at a table outside of the bar and it was chilly so I decided to order hot chocolate, or some version of it, I figured there was a possibility that “chocolate con leche” (“chocolate with milk”) would just be cold chocolate milk but I decided to take the risk. I ended up with a small sandwich roll with a bar of chocolate in the middle. That’s when I realized that for four months the food that I ordered would be entirely different from the food I thought I was ordering.

I spent a day in Segovia, a beautiful little town near Madrid that has a magnificent castle and cathedral.  I also spent a weekend in Asturias in the north of Spain, the sunrise at the beach was breathtaking. This week is the first week of classes and things have been hectic and I’m leaving for Paris on Friday with my roommates for the weekend so I will post some pictures when we get back (luckily we’re not flying into the airport where the employees are on strike!).

Thats it for now, I should get to bed so I get enough sleep before the Airforce starts to practice their marching formations,

Buenas noches!

Colleen 

Location: Madrid, Spain