Well, I made it to Madrid safe and sound. Shout out to Air Canada for the amazing on-demand-like entertainment system; watched 3 great movies on the flight. That being said, you can imagine how much sleep I've gotten...very little. I'm a bit jet lagged but I'll get over it within the next few days.
As I got into my host family's beautifully arranged apartment, I was greeted with two kisses by my host sister Marga. I know very little about Spanish culture but the two kiss situation (one on each cheek) is something I can get used to. My room has ample room (similar to a single at Hamilton) for me; one of the very first things I noticed were a bet of Spanish culture books and as I open the first one, it's signed "Tenes Paul Spring 2012," which brought a smile to my face. It felt as if my friend Tenes had said "I got your back...get to reading" haha. My second thought was: wow, my Posse is truly always there for me. Then I started reflecting and realizing that I will be in this new country, new city, new house, new culture for the next 3 and a half months. It felt like the first semester of my freshmen year all over again. I remember the feeling I got in August of 2009 when my parents left Hamilton and I was on my own in this foreign place. It was a feeling of independence mixed with sadness and fright all at once. What's different now is that I know how to overcome that feeling; I know that if I pay attention to those feelings it will only consume me. Instead, I took it upon myself to reach out to my peers and get out and start exploring the city because no one else was going to do it for me.
Parque de Retiro is a huge park 10 minutes from where I'm staying so I went with a peer and roamed the park for what felt like hours. There were all sorts of entertainment at this park; from playgrounds to a pond (where you can rest a small boat and paddle away for 45mins), small cafe shops (ice cream and refreshments), a glass museum (really strange abstract art made of big pieces of broken glass) and even peddles in front off benches for older people to "get their exercise in" (I found that kind of strange but a cool idea). I got back to the apartment and my host mother had just gotten home from work. She is a very nice and funny lady (loves sarcasm). Ended my first night with a delicious dinner with the family composed of Tortilla, salad, jamon, manchego cheese and other types of cheese that I cannot remember or pronounce correctly.
Tomorrow is the first day of orientation; I pray that I don't get lost in the Metro in the morning. I will post pictures of the park when I go back. Peace, love, posse!
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