Bienvenidos a Madrid!

Flight out of JFK: 10:05pm
Arrival in Madrid: 11:10am

Where did all the time go? Yay for time change and jet jag.

Anyway, my flight here was smooth and without any problems. I even slept on the plane, which for me is a pretty big deal. Upon arriving however, I had no clue where I was staying and did not have any phone or Internet service. Back up a week or so: my friend Robby has a good friend who lives in Madrid and said we could stay with her. Both Robby and I tried to contact her about details of meeting her and where she lived. No response. I kept my fingers crossed that she would get back to me before arriving, but no such luck. So I buy a phone card and call the parents. My mom braves facebook for me (she did a great job with it surprisingly) and finds a hostel for me. Quite a stressful time, but I finally made it to a hostel and settled in (and took a nap).

That evening I had the pleasure of meeting up with Teresa and her boyfriend and they took me around the city for some tapas and cañas. It felt so good to be back here. I missed it so much and it just felt so natural and comfortable.

This morning I woke up at 8am (2am EST) to meet Robby at the airport so he didn't have to go through what I went through. It is so good to have someone going on this adventure by my side. It makes it a lot less scary. We walked around the city today. No maps needed. This was our home for 4 months. It's still surreal to be here. It's almost as if we never left (minus the lack of some important people- Trinity, Laura, David...). Anyway, like I mentioned before, it's so comfortable and natural to be here.

     Last time in Spain                       This time in Spain        

This evening, Robby and I met up with Robby's friend, Kaeli. She apparently didn't get any of our messages since she can only access the internet through her phone. We walked around the city some more and she took us to La Tabacalera. This place had once been an old tobacco factory in the Lavapies district, but for a long time it was just an abandoned old building. The government then gave the building to the community so now you can go there and take free classes such as yoga or art, etc. and some nights (like tonight) they had a free concert that was very interesting and fun techno music. I can't believe I didn't know about this place when I was here before. I would have loved it. Oh well, I loved being there tonight, if only for a few minutes.

Tomorrow we head off to something new, Sevilla! Exciting times ahead!