MITZI: First Days with ISA

Yesterday was my last day with Peri, and my first day with ISA.  In the morning Peri and I woke up and checked out of our hostel by 10.  We went to a place called cafe and te (coffee and tea) for breakfast and both ended up having just a smoothie and a frappe.  After our semi-breakfast we decided to check out Madrid for ourselves and do a little shopping.  I found two scarves at little semi-souvenir shops around town.  We enjoyed simply walking around the city and seeing what we could.  I felt like it was a good way for us to start immersing ourselves in Spanish culture. 
    Next we went back to the hostel to get our bags and catch a taxi to the hotel where I was meeting my ISA (International Studies Abroad) group.  It was there I said good-bye to Peri and we went our separate ways.  After a refreshing shower I was ready to meet everyone in my group.  There was an optional bus tour of Madrid at 6pm that night that I decided to take part in.  It was there that I first met most of the people in our group and also met our directors.  It was really cool to go on the bus tour and see things that Peri and I had already seen.  For example, the first night that we talked about the presenting of the world cup in la puerta del sol, super close to the hostel we stayed at.  La puerta del sol is actually like Madrid’s times square and a very popular spot for both tourists and locals to hang out in, and I would have had no idea if I hadn’t gone on the tour.
    Before we left for the tour I met my roommate that I will have in Sevilla in our homestay.  Her name is Katie and she’s from California.  I am really impressed with ISA and how well they matched us up.  I feel like we are both on the same page about a lot of things, one of them especially being our goal to learn as much spanish as we can and to come home as fluent as we can.  Both of us are definitely looking forward to meeting our host mom and family, and also to have a “home” where we can put our things away and not have to live out of a suitcase anymore.  She also did a little traveling with her father before coming to Madrid. 
    After we came back from the tour, Katie and I grabbed a quick dinner at McDonald’s.  Ahh a little taste of home... kind of.  McDonald’s here are actually a lot more classier? than the ones back home.  And a girl I met said that she heard that having a job at McDonald’s is a job with some esteem, especially here in Madrid and other touristy cities, because the workers are required to be bi-lingual.  I thought it was interesting.  After dinner was a short meeting with our whole group.  Another interesting thing:  there are around 50 students in my group, and I’d say 85% of them are girls.
    The next morning we had a later wake up call and were not required for anything until 10:30.  I made it down to breakfast and was pleasantly surprised.  European breakfasts are not the same as American breakfasts at all, but the selection of breads, sweets, fruit, and raw meat was actually really good.  I quite enjoyed it.  After breakfast we headed to El Prado museum.  There we could choose from three different groups: English, Spanglish, or Spanish.  I choose the Spanish group.  This meant that the whole tour was in Spanish.  I didn’t know how well I would do at understanding, but I wanted to try.  I was very happy to find that our tour guide talked slow (knowing we were english students) and that I was able to understand about 75-90% of what she was saying!! Woot woot!!  She focused on three different artists:  El Greco, Diego Velazquez, and Francisco de Goya.  I have never much been into art, but I actually found the tour very fascinating and loved learning about the history behind the paintings.  My favorite was Velazquez and his masterpiece “Las Meninas”. 
    After our tour of El Prado we made our way to Palacio Real (the Royal Palace).  I cannot even begin to explain the beauty of this palace.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside the palace, but you might be able to look online and find some.  I seriously felt like I was inside a Marie Antoinette-like movie.  Some of the highlights of the tour were: a receiving room where Arabs and Israelis signed a peace accord in 1991 in the presence of Gorbachev and the first President Bush (keep in mind I was in the Spanish group for this tour also, woot woot!); the throne room, rich in deep reds and filled with mirrors; an elaborate dining hall; a music room; and my favorite room, where the walls were made of silk, embroidered with gold and silver, and the ceilings were painted with three-dimensional golden leaves and fruit.  It was awesome. 
    One thing in Spain that is completely different than American culture is the timing of meals and eating.  Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and usually happens from 1-4, spanish “siestas” also happen during this time.  Banks, shops, and stores will literally close during this time to eat and nap.  Breakfast is usually around 9am and is fairly light, and so is dinner, usually starting around 10pm.  Needless to say, after our tours it was around 2, and none of us had eaten lunch and we were getting a little hungry.  I went to a cute place near the famous Plaza Mayor,  with a couple of new friends and had a wonderful time.
    I am now back at the hotel getting ready for a run with some new friends in a park near our hotel.  This park is compared with central park in New York.  It has lakes and everything in it.  So it should be fun.  Ciao!
   
LATER:
    The run was great.  We ended up leaving the hotel around 745pm, and the park was packed with runners, rollerbladers, skateboarders, walkers, and bikers. The park was beautiful.  One thing I noticed was that many people looked at us weird for running in a group of six.  The biggest groups I saw were two or three. 
    After our run we got ready for dinner.  It was kind of strange.  Getting ready for a dinner at 10:30 at night.  But it was an awesome experience.  Like I said earlier, Spaniards do more of a light dinner, they call it Tapas.  At most tapas bars you get a small plate of food and a drink for a fair price.  I was just amazed at the number of people out on a thursday night.  And it’s totally normal for them!  It’s very common for places to not get going until around 2:30 in the morning!  All in all, it was a very interesting night and I’m going to have to get used to a very different way of life.