Madrid, Espana

Our first stop was Madrid, España. When we landed Tuesday morning I was immediately overwhelmed. It was a definite culture shock. I wouldn't say I am bilingual but I am somewhat familiar with the Spanish language. However, this experience was definitely shocking. I didn't understand a word of what these people were saying. Lucky for me, my trilingual friend enabled us to get by.

Pati: At this point I must take a moment to describe troubling moment Marcella and I experienced in trying to find our fellow ASI Officer and friend Esther Portillo at the airport (Esther would be joining us for the first few days of our trip). We were scheduled to land 30 minutes apart. Marcella and I were to arrive first and it was decided that we would stay at the first place we exited. Unfortunately, Marcella and I did not exit through the appropriate location and we realized this right off the bat. As Marcella mentioned, I too experienced culture shock as I tried to acquire information from the information booths. Speaking Spanish for my entire life, I was confident that I could communicate with los Españoles…but was I wrong! The first person I attempted to speak to looked at me as iif I were speaking to her in a completely foreign language! Luckily, we found some ladies who were able to decipher my “incoherent” Spanish and pointed us in the right direction. Not too long thereafter, Marcella, Esther, and I were on our way into the city!

Marcella, Pati & Esther @ a restaurant.

Marcella: We proceeded to our Hostel, which is a cheap sort of hotel for students. The accommodations are usually not too fancy and cleanliness sometimes lacks but the price is right. The Hostel we stayed at in Madrid was called Hostel Lopez. We paid 4000 pesetas for two nights and for those of you dying to know 160 pesetas per dollar, you do the math. Madrid was the beginning of our 17 day adventure so we were still quite jet lagged. And after I went two days with out sleeping I was all screwed up. In Madrid the people are called Madrileños. One interesting thing about them was that they have siesta's every day. From 12-4 all the shops close and people go home to have lunch and take a nap. The people in Madrid stay up pretty late and there are a lot of bars and cafes which are referred to as tapas bars. Paseo del Prado was the main street of central Madrid. In Madrid we visited the museum of Archaeology and a few local sights. We did try some Spanish cuisine but weren't too fond of it. It was very greasy, it seems the Spanish cook their meals with a lot of oil. During my stay in Madrid I felt very out of place in my sneakers and jeans. Most of the Spanish people wore dressy clothes and fur coats were a dime a dozen. I was tempted to buy one from the man selling them out of his van. In Spain we spent most of our time walking around. We visited the Plaza del Sol, Parque de Madrid and the infamous Plaza Mayor where the big New Year's celebration took place. Madrid was a beautiful city with a lot of history. A city that would take at least months to truly understand.

Our next move was arranging our train reservations. Although we had an unlimited train pass we needed to reserve our spots on the train. You see, to travel there are several ways to go in Europe. The most popular is to take the EURAIL. This train goes throughout Europe and stops in many cities. For Pati and I, we were to take the train to each stop and hope to make it back to Madrid in time for our flight home. On the train there are a few options. You can reserve seats, sleepers or cuchettes. We usually reserved cuchettes which are six beds in a small cabin. You share it with other people and there is very limited space. There is space for luggage on top but to be safe Pati and I slept with our luggage.