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| La Plaza del Sol |
I can't believe we are actually in Madrid. It almost seems surreal that we are across the Atlantic Ocean in another country and not going home for another 8 weeks. Fortunately both of our flights went well. We flew from RDU to JFK to MAD and arrived in Madrid about 7:15am (there is a 6 hour difference between here and the U.S.). The only problems were the difficulty in finding our terminal at JFK since there was no terminal listed next to our flight (had to tram to a different location and go through security again) and only getting one hour of sleep on the plane. But the excitement of being in Madrid fueled our venturous spirits. So after we arrived in Madrid we decided to figure out the Metro instead of paying for a taxi. It should be simple, right? I’ve had some experience with the DC Metro, but as a Winston-Salem native, I've never really had much experience with public transportation. After "talking" with the lady at the information desk, we found the best route and paid for our tickets. The station at the airport was really nice, new and modern. On our first line, we met some U.S. students from South Carolina who just graduated and embarked on a post graduation Euro trip. Although it was nice to hear English, I didn't feel different than the majority of the people on the metro. Everyone seemed so familiar, as if I was riding a bus in Chapel Hill. The crowd was diverse - young students, businessmen, moms, etc. who all looked like Americans. It was interesting to see how similar the diversity of the U.S. is similar to a city like Madrid. We transferred to two other lines to arrive at the train station that we thought was near our hostel, but in fact it was not. The other problem we encountered was that we always seemed to exit the metro on the side without an escalator or elevator. We climbed tall stair cases lifting our luggage one step at a time, causing a hold up during prime time as people were heading to work. We got a lot of strange looks, but we carried on, literally with our luggage. The metro was a lively place. While it was a never ending labyrinth of tunnels and stairs, people rushed from place to place, a man played the violin which seemed to gives us a taste of Madrid (at this time we hadn't stepped foot on actual Spain soil), and old, disabled women shouted out prayers to the metro costumers. It was quite an introduction to Spain. And since we arrived at the train station that was not near our hostel, we really had to put ourselves out there and ask multiple people for directions. We finally realized we needed to get back on the metro and head to Sol - a large center near the capital where our hostel was. We emerged from the underground metro, finishing our last couple of stairs and entered into an active plaza with the sun beating down on us, and people passing us from each direction. We stood in the middle and the turned it circles to take everything in - we couldn't believe we were actually in Spain.
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| The view from on hostel - Calle de Celenque |
We finally found the hostel, and left our luggage there since our room wasn't ready yet. A nice older woman runs the hostel and was very helpful and patient when it came to communicating. Our hostel is in a great location - near the center plaza, near restaurants and bars, and near the capital. Everything is in walking distance. To pass the time we walked to the main shopping street to buy a prepaid cell phone to communicate with each other while we are here, and to call back home. This really challenged us to use our Spanish as we talked with a sales rep to find the best deal/best program for us. As we left the store, we realized there was so much we wanted to explore, but we were becoming deliriously tired. So right now we are sitting in the Starbucks, which seems to be one of the only places with free Wi-Fi, cooling off and emailing our parents. We are waiting for our two other friends to arrive and then we will check into the hostel and take a short siesta while all the shops are closed. I am eager to rest up and continue exploring. There is so much to do in Madrid, and I can't wait to tell you about it. Until then, ciao!
