Safe in Madrid

Hello all!

I am safe in Madrid, the train ride was awesome. I didn't take any pictures though because there were some shady-looking people lurking around and I thought it wouldn't be smart to brand myself as a tourist. There was a movie available on the train and it was alright but I didn't want to finish it, because the outcome was kind of easy to guess. The guy wins his case against the company and gets millions of dollars.

Anyway after the train I went and found a taxi to take me to my host family's house. The first guy that Alexi talked to, I didn't get a good vibe off of him so I went to the older gentleman who’s taxi was parked in front of his.

He was very nice, and very friendly, and we talked the whole ride to my place which I think won me some points because he did have extra stuff for my bags on his meter but he didn't charge me anything for them. He cleared it off at some point during our conversation. I asked him what I should see and he was super excited to tell me all about his city. It was pretty cool.

When he asked me about where I was studying I told him. And I told him that I was studying literature and history, he thought that was awesome too. He didn't know about Estudio Sampere but it is pretty small so I forgive him. I asked him "Estoy aquí por una mes, que necesito ver" translation: I'm here for a month what do I need to see. And that started him off on a whole tour guide bit. It was so funny how he talked about stuff as we were driving by it.

"Oh you have to go there, you're place is so central to the city that you'll have a lot of fun. You go here to get a beer, you go there to go shopping, that's El Prado it's great for art and history, and that place is all botanical gardens, and if you want to buy something for your friends and family back home that's a nice place to go look." All of this of course was in rapid Spanish and it kind of made my day because I could understand everything he was saying. The cab cost 12.35 because I guess if you get picked up at the train station they charge you an extra 5 it was in Alexi's tourist guide so it was legit. Then I met my señora, Manuela and she is really cool.

I feel like a giant around her though because she is super short. I think her grandkids and their dad either live here or spend a lot of time here because I met them all this afternoon. Welcome to Madrid. But they seem super nice, and she is expecting two more students this evening so I'll have some more people my age to talk to. I hope they go to Sampere I wouldn't mind some travel companions as I have a single room here. Yup that's right, single room. WIN! And it's super pretty. Manuela made it very clear that no boys and alcohol are not welcome in the house. Sounds fine to me, I'm in agreement with that. Currently I'm using internet that the grandkids let me know about. They had the password and everything. It's attached to a University so I'm going to go with it is legit and they know someone who works there.

This afternoon I called my mom and let her know I was safe, took a nap, sent Concha an e-mail and let her know that I was safe, looked up information about how to get to school and what metro lines I need to take, and I called Alexi and made sure that she got to where she needed to be alright. My stuff is unpacked, and my room is all set up so I'm feeling very settled in, and I'm going to go see if Manuela is taking a siesta or is up and around. The family will be taking me to Parque Retiro tomorrow so that I know where I'm going on Monday.

Until Next time,
Avery