¡Bienvenido a Madrid!

I´m also blogging for the University of Florida´s International Center, and I´ll be posting my entries here for you all to read! Here´s my first entry:

So I just spent my first day in Madrid.

…

I can’t believe that I actually just said that!

After a tearful goodbye to my parents at the airport, I was off. I somehow managed to carry three suitcases and a laptop bag up to the check-in counter, and then only a small delay in security (I tried to walk through the metal detector with my sunglasses on my head, my jacket still on, and my cell phone still in my pocket) stood between me and Madrid. Well, that and another fourteen hours of plane rides and layovers.

Arriving in Madrid-Barajas wasn’t difficult in the least. The signs throughout the airport were very obvious, and going through immigration was very quick. I got my bags, and exchanged some of my US dollars to Euros and then took my first steps on Spanish soil.

Outside the baggage claim area, there was someone waiting for me and we jumped in a cab and headed towards my apartment in central Madrid. I worried for my life a bit in that cab – he was driving very fast – and at one point I thought he might have considered running over the little old lady crossing the street in front of us. We did make it in one piece, though, and carried my bags up three flights of stairs to my apartment.

I live in a very nice location, in a very busy neighborhood – even now (after 11pm) there are still people bustling on the streets, and I can hear lots of cars driving by my window. I have a balcony off of my room, so I have a great view of the stores and people on the street below.

I even tried my hand at grocery shopping today. We went to a place called “El Corte Inglés” where they sell some of the more familiar brands; I bought Frosted Flakes and Kraft cheese, and let me tell you how excited I was to see those. We weren’t allowed to choose our own fruit (which I haven’t been able to understand yet), but I was able to ask for grapes because I knew the word (“uvas”).

I won’t pretend that this entire transition hasn’t had its difficult moments, because it has. In fact, at one point I had decided that I should just give up the whole business entirely and turn around and go back home. In those moments, I wasn’t thinking about the fact that I had wanted to do this for years; all I was thinking about was the comfort of being home and speaking my native language.

I speak a bit of Spanish – I’ve taken it every year since I was in the 2nd grade – and I know enough to get by. That, however, doesn’t make it any easier to open my mouth and say the words. But I am learning – and that’s the most important thing.

It’s been a bit of a bumpy ride so far, but I am looking forward to the future – it seems a bit brighter now than it did earlier this morning.

Hasta luego!