The First 24 Hours Are Crucial

Wow, so a lot has happened since my last post on Sunday. Since then, I've learned a few things:

Being too nice get's you into very awkward situations.

On my way from the airport, I struck up a conversation with my middle-aged taxi driver, who then proceeded to give me his number when we arrived at my home-stay. Yeah, very awkward. I couldn't run away fast enough.

First impressions are fun.  

After that very awkward situation I slid my 45 pound luggage to a flight of stairs and prepared myself for a brutal four flights up. As soon as I finally arrived on my floor, my home-stay mom, Carlotta, laughed and pointed at the elevator right beside me (no words for how absentminded of me that was). Carlotta is a spunky little Spanish woman who wears colored eyeliner and loves yoga (are you picturing someone young? Well she's actually an older woman! lol)! She is very particular (the less attractive word to use is anal haha) on how she runs her household. Spaniards have a lot of house rules I was definitely not prepared for! Anyways, she's hilarious and I'm happy about the pairing. She's corrected me quite a few times on my Spanish, I'm not sure whether to thank her or slightly dislike her for critiquing me!

Life is easy in the barrio.

Carlotta gave me and my roommate, Madison, a tour around the barrio. Our barrio consists of small dress shops, pastry shops and tapas bars. The general vibe of the area was so relaxed, it almost felt like we were in a staged Hollywood set, it all felt surreal! We met up with some other students and had our first experience with Spanish cuisine and drinks. After, we parted ways from the host mommas and walked to the park. Have I told you how crazy excited I am that a park that rivals New York's Central Park is just a few blocks away from me?!

Being lost and not panicking is an achievement.

I can now say that I was lost in a foreign city. We all split up into small groups and I got separated from the people who I know live in my barrio. I didn't think about that until the girls I was with mentioned they lived the complete opposite way from me (Yikes!). I knew where the metro station was and had a little map of how to get back to the barrio but somehow I got off on the wrong side and ended up walking around trying to find a familiar street name! God is great and I found a familiar landmark after a while! From there I made it home and patted myself on the back for not surrendering to panic!

Turns out I'm taking art!

So remember how I said art hated me? Well I guess it was my imagination because turns out I'll be studying art at the Prado Museum after all! I'm so psyched!

All-in-all it's been a pretty eventful 24 hours. I'll be uploading some pictures on the Gallery tab that I'll make as soon as I figure out how to make it! haha

Que tengan buen dia,
Amanda