¡Hóla de España!

¡Hóla de España! Hello from Spain! I am currently writing this in the middle of what is technically day 6 of Madrid, since our departure, arrival and first day blurred into one 36-hour mega day with minimal sleep.

There is surprisingly room for jetlag in this lifestyle, given that nothing opens until 10 am, lunch isn’t until 3 and there is time for rest, or “siesta” around 4 pm. Activity starts again around 5 or 6, then dinner around 9 when the sun goes down. The bars are vacant until around midnight. What I gather from this bizarre timing and lifestyle is I’m just going to be confused about what meal I should be either whether I’m jetlagged or culture shocked.

See brief initial findings below, with a full breakdown of everything incredible in Madrid coming soon!

Food:

Awesome. Delicious. Could eat all day (except not really because that’s not culturally acceptable. They don’t snack…?).

Lots of ham. Everywhere. They sell legs of pork on convenient stores. Bacon, prosciutto and sausage is in everything at restaurants. I’m not kidding, they have ham, or “jamón” flavored Ruffles:

Tapas is a thing I could get used to. I’ve had tapas in the States, but not like this. Here, basically every restaurant or bar is a tapas bar. Everyone who orders a drink (beer (“cerveza”), sangria or a mojito) gets a free plate of tapas to share with everyone at the table. Go with a group of 5, get 5 different tapas, only pay for the drink (about 5 euros or $7 USD). It’s a magical thing. I got tapas for dinner the first night and lunch the next day and most other meals this week. (In Madrid, we get free breakfast in the hotel, but lunch and dinner are on our own in the city).

Tapas from El Tigre, near the hotel in Madrid

Not a lot of fruits or vegetables in Madrid, which is weird for me, but I hear that there is more fresh produce on the coast, which we will get to see this weekend :)

Quick breakdown of what my days are like this week in Madrid:
Get up at 9
Breakfast in the hotel from 9:30 to 10:30
Spanish politics class taught by a Spanish professor (classroom in hotel) from 11-1.
Service learning time twice a week serving food to the elderly
Free time for lunch/exploration
Some sort of group event/tour/museum around 6 or 7
Free time for dinner
Sleep

We have a day trip to Segovia and Avila tomorrow (Saturday), and leave for Valencia on Sunday, where we will attend classes at a university for 3 weeks. Stay tuned! :)