Exploring the City Pt. 2

      The best part about traveling to a new city is getting the chance to explore. Today, my roommates and I got lost on the way to a supermercado (translated as super market, but it was more like a combination of J. C. Penney's and Hy-vee). After basically going in one huge circle, we found ourselves back in a familiar place when we came upon Puerta del Sol. This plaza as well as Plaza Mayor is within blocks of our apartment and have become landmarks that give us our bearings. After realizing our location, we found our way to the store and purchased groceries. We picked out a large dinner plate of Paella, a Spanish dish with prawns, snails, chicken, rice, and vegetables, and we all shared it for dinner. Sometimes I'm not that into seafood, but it was incredibly filling and surprisingly delicious.

       After dinner, we were just hanging out around the apartment when we kept hearing a phone ringing. We questioned if we had a telephone and then found out that there was one located next to the front door. After finally finding the phone, I answered with an "Hola" only to be overwhelmed with an indiscernible amount of Spanish words. I caught the word abrir, which means to open, but I didn't know who it was so I responded, "No puedo (I can't)" and hung up. I sat back down in the living room and continued to read my homework. My friend Bruno said something about the potential of it being some sketchy people that we have heard so much about, but have yet to experience within our time here in the city. The idea kind of freaked me out, but I just let it go. About five minutes later, we heard the doorbell ring and that's when we all kind of froze. My mind started racing. "They got someone else from the apartment to let them in. They knew we are foreigners. Who is at our door? What are they going to do? Is this really happening?" I reluctantly approached the door with my roommate Ryan close by and began to struggle with the contraption that allowed me to peer out through the door. They must have heard my struggles, because they began speaking to me through the door. I was almost convinced they were going to hurt us, until I opened the door to two men holding a TV and a bag of cords. 

      They immediately knew by the look on my face that I was slightly freaked out, but it was a relieving moment. I should have realized that it was these men at the door, because I had been talking with the landlord earlier about receiving the television, but somehow it just slipped my mind at the time. They helped set up the TV and we ended up watching a movie and staying in.

      On Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to attend an Inter-Cambio which is basically a bilingual conversation between people that want to learn each other's language.

       We sat Spanish-English-Spanish-English so that it would force us not to cheat by talking to our neighbor in our familiar language.

       This guy's name was Ignacio. He was a pretty funny guy and I learned a lot from him including the custom of a Spanish last name as I mentioned in an earlier post (Father's last name- Mother's last name). This experience was great and really forced me to use my Spanish in a way I had never tried before. After the two hours was up, Bruno and I began heading home, but ended up exploring the city a little bit instead.

      It all started when we saw this really cool bridge and decided we would check it out.

       We found a park nearby and began to swing. This cute little baby was grinning from ear-to-ear whenever I looked at her, so I had to get a picture. Her mother seemed happy and it was a nice little interaction with a local Madrileno (Person from Madrid).

     After leaving the park, we realized that we were right down the street from this incredible cathedral. We walked around the grounds and found that on the other side was the Royal Palace of Madrid.

      This area was filled with locals riding bikes, rollerblades, kicking soccer balls, and people just hanging out. There were a few sets of couples that were openly making out, because that is just what the people do here in Spain. PDA is super real out here. You can find people openly making out in parks, subway stations, restaurants, etc.

      It seems like everyone has dogs out here and that surprised me. I guess they are man's best friend after all, but for some reason I thought that was just an American thing. This little dog was my favorite and we got to pet him for a moment.

      Bruno and I spotted this little guy as he marveled at the roller skaters skating in between these cones. He has some serious style. I need to take some notes if I want to meet any Spanish chicas out here.

      Life in Madrid is like living through all of the nice days back home consecutively. The weather is fantastic and the views are spectacular. Bruno and I sat back and watched the sun recede behind the mountains off in the distance, until we decided it was time to go home.

      Both today's explorations and Wednesday's have helped me learn more about how the city is structured and how I can get around easier. I intend on doing as much of this as possible throughout my time here, because I know if I don't, that I will regret it when I return home. 

Thanks for reading,

       RCE