I’m posting this before any of you will have the opportunity to read it because I have not yet given out the information regarding this blog but this was my first day here and I thought I’d share what its like so far. My flight from Chicago to Madrid was pretty crowded but I had a decent seat and it really wasn’t as bad as I was concerned as it would be. I’m not a big fan of Iberia and I have good reason (ask about that if you’re curious, it’s a long story). My flight left Chicago a little over 45 minutes late and was 25 minutes late arriving in Madrid. I had to, literally, run through the entire airport to catch my connecting flight to Santiago de Compostela, where we are spending two weeks before returning to Madrid.
I arrived more or less without a hitch and took a cab from the airport to the residence hall we’re staying in here. We each have our own rooms which are a little small but have a big window and, most importantly, their own bathrooms complete with showers!! I was the first one here from our group here so it’s been a little lonely. Fortunately, Mihai, the program director, was already here with his family and they took me around the city for the day. We mostly just wandered around until lunchtime when we stopped at a restaurant for some basic Spanish lunch food. Then, I came back for a short siesta. After my siesta, I went with Mihai and his wife to a really awful Spanish movie called Dias Azules. It was a story about 3 brothers who are selling their vacation home...but really it was about a bunch of idiots drinking too much and driving and how they really don’t change despite being seven years older. After that, we went for tapas before returning to the residence hall.
The city itself is beautiful; I’d never been to this region of Spain before but it seems to be covered with beautiful farmlands and some really great groves of some kind of tree I’ve never seen before. The city itself is filled with cobblestone streets and old buildings. We saw the cathedral, which is so massive you can’t really tell where it ends, and lots of plazas. I’m planning to take lots of pictures and put them all online; I’ll let you know more about that when I get it worked out.
Anyway, I hope all are well and I’ll write more later. Feel free to email if you want a personal response…(I’ll respond to emails I’ve already received tomorrow, I just wanted to get this out before I forget anything.
¡Hasta luego!