The truth to Day 1: The Madrid Experience.

So I've never been more ready to get off a plane than in that moment. I was completely sleep-deprived, dirty, and a variety of expletives. The primary thing on my mind was how to get ourselves and belongings to the hostel and shower and recoup. Maneuvering through Barajas airport was mad strange so many twists and turns and stairs, lifts and escalators. It felt like some labyrinthine premonition...and it totally was, but more on that later. After weaving through the maze from The Shining, we made it to baggage claim. It took forever for us to cop our belongings as was expected. After than, we were pretty much lost in finding a way to the Metro station. We had the directions, but didn't know how to get to step one. We managed to ask for directions after a few cigarettes and unnecessary waiting. Everything in that damned aeropuerto is so spread out, but thankfully the line to the airport is basically the aorta to the city. The subways reminded me of New York which was nice and familiar in a bittersweet way. The last thing I wanted was to be cramped in a tight confine again, but oh well it's that or not get to the hostel. I was super en guard on the metro and combined with my lack of sleep and ever growing fatigue I was not a happy camper. We managed to maneuver though, my travel buddy was not thrilled about the ride. I would do the Metro again, but not her. She wants to taxi it up for the main part of the trip. Ehh...I'm not about that. Anyhow, finally we get off of 3 lines and countless exchanges and now we're officially out the Metro and on the streets of Madrid. The weather here is similar to home, but the kicker is that it doesn't have the raggedy-ass, smoky humidity that Duval has had for the past week or so. I didn't mind so much the radiant heat from all areas rather the suck factor was in having to lug mad kilos worth of belongings up flights of stairs and such throughout the Metro station and finally the hostel.

I've learned something about hostels pretty much. One, they aren't slasher movie experiences like in movies with titles of similar name. Two, I hate keys. We get to the hostel and we're having a hell of a time using Spanish to the jefe of the establishment. We had to wait forever to get our rooms and had to again lug our lives around with us yet again (and again when we check out fml) Why do these places have keys for every single solitary thing. I suppose in hindsight it was cool for safety purposes, but it's so unnecessarily convoluted. Those damned things were the root of all evil. We were even locked on our floor because a nameless someone (not I, real) turned the key the wrong way and got us locked on our floor. That was an unnecessary hassle, but eventually rectified. Anyhow, on a more lofty tip. I have to say that this city is freaking amazing. It has the energy and diversity of NY (not to mention varieties of gastronomic delights), but with historical and cultural flavor that supplements its distinct identity. This city is beautiful, so much about it screams history past and present. We took two trips during the day, the first was short lived mostly because I felt like shit, dirty and jetlagged. Rectified most easily, with a 4 hour nap haha. Finally, it was around 8:30 our time (post the keys fiasco) and we were finally able to rollout and enjoy walking the city. We traced the steps of the places we started, but didn't finish at the time. We've got mad pics, I can't wait to show those. The people flood the streets here, we saw street shows, mad government protesting and even visited the ol' Starbucks. The latter was fun, I got to compare experiences with the partners there over Spanish. It's hard for me to describe the whole undertaking here, this place definitely has to be seen to understand the experience. I don't mean to be overbearing but there's a myriad of things to see and do it seems here. I like the energy of this place, it's definitely something I encourage all my friends to experience. Its' going to be dope once all my class family makes it here..which is tminus 4 hours. I'm enjoying all of it, I've used more vocal Spanish than I've used in all of my classes, I can hear and feel the improvement of it all. The highlight of my day at large was walking and taking in all the sights and having Spanish convos with Rebecca aka Travel buddy. We capped the night at a small cafe close to the Puerta del Sol, using the language to shoot the shit about life and the experience. It was so enriching, I feel free out here, no worries than to improve myself, broaden my horizons and not worry about working for the man. I look forward to what the next 7 weeks will bring. Stay up on it! I know I will...on to the next one!