Dos

I woke up this morning to a wake-up call from someone at the front desk. Since I was groggy and my Spanish is still rusty, all I could make out was the "buenos dias" from the man on the phone--the rest of his words went right over my head. I just took it as our indication that we should wake up and hoped there was no emergency or response expected from me.  The whole group met downstairs for breakfast, and then we all headed to the International Institute for orientation and a tour of the school where our classes are held.  We were supposed to take the Metro to get to the Instituto, but Lucy and I went to our room after breakfast and when we came back downstairs, the whole group had left! So we hopped in a cab and met everyone there.

At the Instituto, we had to sit through many hours of orientation, which was a little dull, but then we took a tour of the beautiful building and ate lunch in the courtyard.  We also learned about our classes and academic schedule.  I'm taking two Spanish language and culture classes and hopefully an art history class where we get to take field trips to Spanish art museums.  And no classes on Fridays!

After orientation, we took the Metro back to the hotel.  The train was eerily empty and way too clean (I guess I'm used to the NYC subway), but a quick and easy ride nonetheless.  We also got a kick out of the hilarious caution signs on the train. The best was the no-thumbs-up sign.

We then went back to the hotel and had an amazing (and much needed) 3.5 hour nap.  For dinner, a group of about ten of us walked around the side streets of Madrid and were able to find a really authentic, affordable tapas place.  This restaurant was known for its meats and cheeses and tortilla de patata.  I've found the tortilla de patata to be the best food here so far.  It's basically an egg and potato pancake that looks like kugel but tastes like latkes.  Other than that, food is mediocre, but I'm keeping an open mind.

After dinner we walked through Puerta de Sol, an outdoor plaza near the hotel that truly comes to life at night.  People are everywhere: sitting on the fountains, dancing to street drummers, buying cans of beer from sketchy men selling them for 1 euro, and the most prominent are the pushy Spaniards trying to get you to come to their bars for "free drinks."

Marni, Zack, and I at Puerta de Sol

Lucy, me, Rivkin, and a Spanish lady that wanted to get in the picture.

It was a pretty late night, but a ton of fun.  We move into our homestays tomorrow!!