An adventurous weekend

With all the chaos of moving in and getting situated (somewhat) behind me, I was able to enjoy myself this weekend with a lot of fun times in the city.

To start things off on Saturday night was La noche en blanco, a festival here where the city stays up all night with museums and other buildings open. It ended up being an extremely fun night, starting off with an African music concert/singer in Lavapies, the more immigrant part of the city. The lady who sang was really good and sang in both English and Spanish. There, I met up with some other Fulbrighters and we headed to Plaza de España where there was a rap battle tournament. This place was packed! People were shoulder to shoulder in the plaza trying to see the stage. We couldn't see, but we could hear. Unfortunately, none of us spoke Spanish well enough to understand rappers who were a) talking really fast and b) were using a lot of slang. While it sounded cool, we had no idea what it meant. So we left there and made our way down the busiest street in Madrid that night, where people were everywhere and going crazy. It was fun to walk through, but we kept on going and headed to the Reina Sofia, a contemporary art museum.

The Reina Sofia was nice, but the art was a little too modern for me. I'm not a huge fan of when people just splash paint on canvas and call it art. Or one was just a bookshelf. I mean, that guy could have just bought that at Ikea. We did get to see Guernica, Picasso's most famous painting. It was huge, and awesome to see in person.

Picasso's Guernica in the Reina Sofia Museum

We met up with some more Fulbrighters there, but our group was so big that we really couldn't get much done. So, I broke up from the group and headed by myself up to Santiago Bernabeu stadium where Real Madrid plays to take a tour. While the line was really long, I was super excited about seeing the stadium and did not care that I had to wait for 45 minutes. And Miguel met up with me about 20 minutes into waiting and went in with me.

The stadium was so cool to see! We got to walk around the inside bottom level, then onto the sidelines. We also got to sit in the player's seats on the sidelines, which were really comfortable! Then they took us up into the trophy room to see all of the Real Madrid trophies, which were a lot! The tour overall was really exciting, and makes me want to go see a Real Madrid game at some point while I'm here. But that's a little more expensive of an adventure, so it will have to wait for another day.

Miguel and I sitting in the player seats on the sidelines at the Real Madrid stadium.

Sunday was a very relaxing day. I woke up at about 11, went for a run, then relaxed until the afternoon. On my run through Retiro Park, I noticed that the streets were closing right outside the park. Having watched the news here, I remembered that it was for the Vuelta a España. The Vuelta is a bike race, a lot like the Tour de France but not as well-known, across the country of Spain. Sunday was the last day, with the finish in downtown Madrid.

Being the sports junkie I am, of course I went downtown at 4 (about an hour early) to meet some other Fulbrighters and get a good spot to watch the finish. We got a great spot to see, and were able to see the cyclists a lot of times because they went through 5 laps by us (so, we saw them 10 times!). I got some great pictures, cheered them on, and wondered how many more times they were coming through. The guy who ended up winning was Alejandro Valverde, a Spaniard. We stayed until the very end to see the awards ceremony, then headed home for a relaxing night.

Lap #... who knows. It was awesome to watch them ride by.

The awards ceremony, with Valverde holding up his winning trophy.

As for this week, there probably won't be much going on. I don't start class until Monday at 11:20 am, so until then I'm going to try to get out and see some more of the city. Then this weekend, it's off to San Sebastian!

Hasta luego!

2 Weeks In

I've been in Spain a little over 2 weeks, and I'm just now starting to feel settled. I am moved into my piso, have Internet and dishes and sheets and everything I need. I've been to my school and somewhat know my schedule. So in two weeks, I've been able to accomplish pretty much starting my life all over again in a new country. And let me tell you, it hasn't been easy.

This past week, I've been moved in but really had nothing to do since work hasn't started yet. Needless to say, I've sat around my piso thinking about how much I miss home and how long 10 months of this is going to be. I thought time after time about giving up and coming home, but just had to keep telling myself that this is a tough transition that takes time. I guess I just expected to come here, be settled, and have an amazing time. I think that's going to happen, just not in two weeks. This is my first time abroad for this long, so I guess I need to cut myself some slack snd realize I'm going to feel uncomfortable for a while. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I can't give up on just because of a couple of bad days early on. With that said, I tried my best to live the Spanish life full of adventures.

Getting Internet in my piso was an adventure in itself. First, the lady at the store put the wrong address in the system for us, even after I wrote down our address on a piece of paper for her. So when we got the call that they were at our house, it was in a completely different part of Madrid. Instead of correcting the problem, the technician just marked off that he went to our house and moved on. I had to go back to the store, again showing them the right address, and they were supposed to then come on Monday. But when they called on Monday, they had the wrong house number on our street and wouldn't come unless it was right. So I went back to the Telefonica store for the third time, told them the right number, and again waited for Internet. Finally, the guy showed up to hook it up (1 hour late, of course). He got it all working on my computer, but Miguel's computer still wouldn't work with the Internet. We tried to call them back to get the technician back here to fix it, but couldn't. The Internet was installed on Wednesday. Then Thursday morning they call and say they will be here Friday morning to hook up the Internet. I tell them we already have it, but they don't seem to understand what I'm talking about. So I just said okay, and they showed up again on Friday to try to hook up a second router. When they got here and saw we already had it, they were not so happy. Their mistake, I guess.

So there's our fun time with the Internet.

A picture of our kitchen area. It's small, but now we have a George Foreman.

Our living room, with the couch that anyone who comes to visit can sleep on!

Thursday was my birthday, and it was better than I expected. I didn't know how it would be having my b-day at the beginning of the program, in a new country. But the day was great. I walked around with another Fulbrighter and saw some sights (even though it was rainy), then relaxed all afternoon. At night, about 20 people crammed into our tiny piso to hang out before going out to a Brazilian bar down the street from us. We were the only people in the bar, but it was a lot of fun. It was a great night overall.

Part of the group in our piso.

Another part of our crowded piso.

Most of the group at the Brazilian bar.

Vicki, Miguel (my roommate), Becca, and Me

On Friday I went to my school for the first time and got to meet some of the professors and administrators. They were extremely nice, and have me very excited to start working. Our coordinator is great and the other professors have all been very friendly. One even invited me and Katica (the other Fulbrighter at my school) up to her vacation home in Austurias. We're definitely going to take her up on that offer. A lot of them also wanted us to tutor their kids afterschool. They would feed us, and pay us... 20 euros an hour! That's like $30 to sit and speak English with a kid for an hour. Not bad money at all.

Well, that has been my past week in a nutshell. Not too exciting still, but hopefully some real adventures will start soon. And I know this homesick feeling will go away, even though I do miss you all back home! Expect some postcards soon!

Time to settle in

One week ago today, at exactly this time, I was just getting into Madrid to start the 10 month stay. Now that the week has passed, it seems like it has been a month. I have already accomplished so much and feel like I know the city so well. Now, I have a piso and... a roommate! Today I found another Fulbrighter to live with. His name is Miguel and he's from Mexico but just graduated from school in California. He's a bit older (30) because he took some years off to be in the Navy before college, but I think it's going to work out really well. He speaks perfect English and Spanish and I've told him I want to improve my Spanish, so we're only going to speak Spanish in the piso. That'll be really good for me, because if I'm really stressed out one day and need to revert back to English, I can and he will understand me. But hopefully by the end of this, I'll be able to even be stressed out in Spanish.

Leading up to finding a roommate, this past week has been VERY stressful. I guess a part of my personality (that I definitely get from my parents) is to worry about things, even when I don't need to. I worried about my luggage. I worried about a piso. I worried about finding a roommate. But just a week after the adventure began, all of this stuff has already been worked out. It's a true testament to the work that God is doing in my life on this trip. He's showing me that I don't need to worry. That I need to have patience and accept that it's going to work out. If I don't do that, it's going to be a long 10 months! I'll always find something to worry about and lose sleep over. But no, now I'm ready to take Madrid by storm!

Our orientation ends today, so I'll officially move into my piso tomorrow. Between now and then, I need to open a bank account so I can get a contract to have phone/Internet (mainly Internet, but you have to have the phone for Internet) in my piso.

I don't start school for a week, so hopefully this next week I'll be able to take some time for some real adventures!

Piso Search

On Friday, I went to 2 pisos. Let's just say this got me really discouraged really quick.

The first one was right in Sol, the main plaza area (the one where the bear with the tree is). It was a room in a shared flat that I found on loquo. The ad didn't have any pictures, so I didn't know what to expect. When I got there, the guy let me in and started off by saying, "Let's hurry this up. I'm tired." As we walked through this very narrow hallway to my room, he proceeded to tell me how weird the people were who lived in the piso. I asked how many people were there, and he said, "5, or 8, or 9." Not a good sign when the landlord doesn't know how many people live there. So he shows me the room, and it's basically just enough room for a bed and a dresser. Tiny, tiny room. He takes me past a nasty bathroom and an even worse kitchen, telling me how everyone there pretty much stays in their room and doesn't talk. As he's talking, one guy comes out of his room, mohawked hair, in boxers and tennis shoes, says something really quick and runs back in. By now, I'm already just wondering how fast I can get out of this smelly, dark place. I tell the guy thanks, and I'll call him later and let him now. Ha. Yeah right. He's getting no call from me.

The second place sounded good in the ad. I would be living with 2 guys, and they wanted someone who was a runner. Little did I know that they were 2 really weird 32- and 34-year-old guys. I walk into their apartment and look up to see that the ceiling's missing and I can see the floor of the piso above it. The guy sees me look up and says, "Oh, that will be fixed soon." Yeah right. I knew that had been there for a long time and wasn't getting fixed anytime soon. He shows me the room and someone else's stuff is in it. The guy tells me that the person in the room is going to leave soon. I ask to see the bathroom, and he tells me there's someone in it so I can't see it. What? Then the other guy comes out of his room and he smelled so bad! I gave them the same, "Oh, I'll call you" and left.

After these two, I was just completely discouraged. But I went back to the residencia and complained about the hunt with the other Fulbrighters there. It was at least good to know that they were having the same problems, so I wasn't alone in my stress. That night, I ended up setting up 2 more for the next morning.

Saturday morning, I went to 2 pisos. The first was in a decent location, although it would have taken me longer to get to my school when I commute. The guy I would be sharing it with was in his 30s, seemed semi-normal, and the piso wasn't all that bad. But then I asked him about it being okay for me to have a friend stay here on the couch if anyone visited me in Madrid, and he immediately said, "This is not a hostel. You're paying to live here, so just you." That was pretty much a dealbreaker. If my friends come to visit, there's no way I'm making them stay in a hostel. So I told him I'd think about it, left that as a slim possibility, and headed towards my next appointment.

At the second piso for Saturday, it was in a really cool area but was pretty far south of the city. I finally found the piso after getting lost, and the guy that met me there was a little strange, but not bad. We went up to the piso, and it was really nice. I would be living with 3 other people and 3 of us would be sharing a bathroom. It was a great room, but he wanted 500 euros! I wasn't paying that much for how far away it was. But I didn't completely rule it out. The place did have an indoor pool, which was nice.

When I got back to the residencia, I kind of made the executive decision that I wanted to live in a 2 bedroom with another Fulbrighter, that way I could have friends stay if need be and have a little comfort in my piso, not with weird Spaniards. Saturday night, I found two nice looking 2 br pisos and set up appointments for the morning.

Sunday: The first piso I went to at 11 am was in an area called Malasanas. The street seemed pretty nice. There were bars and stuff along it, so I was worried it might be loud. But when I got to the piso, the landlord took me back into the back 3rd floor of the building to the piso. When I walked in there, it was small, but I really liked it. It had a living room with a table and couch and little TV, two bedrooms with dressers in both, a nice little kitchen and a tiny little bathroom (kind of like a cruise ship bathroom). The guy wanted me to sign a year lease, and I told him I'd only be here for 10 months. So what we compromised on was that if I didn't find someone to fill the place for the last 2 months, I would pay one month and he would just lose the money from the next month (because people don't tend to look for housing until September, which is when all the students get here). That wasn't bad, considering the rent was only 745 euros/month for 2 people. It would be an extra 27 euro per month per person, which is still a deal in the area it was in. So while I was really interested in the place, I wanted to at least go see the other piso I had an appointment for.

When I got to the other piso, it was not what I expected. While it was really big, it didn't have a living room. Oh, or furniture. The ad said it was furnished, but it only had 2 bed frames, 1 mattress, and 1 dresser. And it was 800 euro/month for 2 people! So I ruled it out.

After thinking it over, I decided to call Luis (the owner of the first piso from the day) back and tell him I wanted to rent it.

I went back over there later in the day, double-checked everything, and finalized things. I brought Lisa, another Fulbrighter, along to give a second opinion. After she approved, Luis and I started talking business. We dealt with the contract, he had a plumber come in and fix a problem with the sink, and he showed me all the little details of the place. After about 45 minutes of talking through it all, I signed the lease on my apartment!

Now that I have the keys, I have to go there this week and get a phone line set up so we can get DSL Internet. And I have to get dishes, because the piso didn't have them. But there's an Ikea right down the street, so it will be easy to get that.

Pretty much, the piso is great. I really liked the neighborhood (at least what I saw in the day), liked the landlord, and think it will be a great place. Now I just have to find another Fulbrighter to live with me. Hopefully that won't be a problem. They all get here in the morning, so I will ask around then. If they know how much stress it would relieve from them to just go ahead and live with me, they would do it in a heartbeat. So I guess what I did was took on the stress of 2 people!

Now that I have a piso, I am so much more relaxed and happy to be here. Until now, I felt tense and anxious and so stressed out. I haven't really slept much since I got here, so I'm going to catch up on that sleep now that I don't have to worry about a piso. Plus, my entries will probably be a bit more exciting because I can actually explore Madrid now without have to keep my eyes peeled for "Se alquilo" (for rent) signs.

When I get everything moved in this week, I'll make sure to get some pictures up of the place. Until then, now it's on to finding a roommate!

Oh, and here's my address:

Michael Clemons

c/ San Dimas, N˚ 3, Planta 3, Puerta 3

Madrid, Spain 28015

I would love mail, but it might be expensive so don't feel the need to spend tons of money!

The start of my Spanish Journey

So to keep everyone informed of my happenings over here in crazy Madrid, I figured I would start a blog. That way, everyone can stalk me like I know you all want to.

Let's begin with what I'm doing in Spain. I received a Fulbright scholarship to teach English in a secondary (high) school about an hour outside of the center of Madrid. I'm teaching at a school called I.E.S. Profesor Maximo Trueba. I will be working there 16 hours a week, then spending the rest of my time by (hopefully) teaching individual English lessons under the table and traveling. There are going to be about 75 of us here through the Fulbright program.

Okay, so I started this great adventure last Tuesday when I left from Louisville at about 5 pm eastern time. It was kind of tough to leave the parents at the airport and not know whether or not I'm going to see them for 10 months, but I was able to get through it. My flights took me from Louisville to Memphis to Amsterdam to Madrid. One cool thing about the flight was that I sat by a guy from England who had just done the Ironman triathlon in Louisville. He sat in front of me on both my flight to Memphis and Amsterdam, so I talked to him about how I want to do a triathlon in a few years. He was probably in his 50s and had already done 20! Also, when I got to Amsterdam they didn't even check my visa. The document that I had to drive 5 hours (each way) to Chicago to drop off and pick up wasn't even looked at. I'm sure it will be important later when I try to get my residency, though.

Almost 17 hours later, I finally arrived to Madrid. And while I was here, my luggage was still in Amsterdam, along with the 5 or 6 other people who flew from Memphis to Amsterdam to Madrid. I had to talk to them and have them send the luggage to the Fulbright office here because I really didn't have any other address and didn't know how my residencia worked.

I got to my residencia where I'm living through orientation the 7th-11th and until I found an apartment after a 26 euro taxi ride (which is about $40). I probably could have taken the metro for cheaper, but at this point I just wanted to get to the residencia.After settling into my non-AC room in the 90 degree weather, I had to take a nap and rejuvenate before even thinking about starting to find what I needed.

The next morning, I met some of the other Fulbrighters who arrived early and we went out on a search to get abonos (monthly metro passes) and phones. We then thought we needed to go ahead and get our residency cards before anything else, so we walked all over the city and all we got were appointments at the end of September. Little did we know that these cards are something the Fulbright Commission is going to help us get during orientation. But hey, the 4 of us were able to really get to know each other through all our walking in the heat.

By the end of my first full day, all I had to show for my work was a metro pass for the month and a lot of fatigue.

The next morning (Friday) I got up early to go get a pre-paid phone from Orange with Megan, another Fulbrighter from Baylor. The guy was really nice, but I would much rather have done a contract. We can't do contracts now because we don't have the residencia card, but I might switch over to one when I get it. I then found out my luggage was at the Fulbright office and went to pick them up. They were nice and let me leave one suitcase there until I found a permanent place to live and didn't have to take another taxi.

After having a phone and some other clothes, I started piso hunting (piso is what they call an apartment here). I looked on 3 different websites (loquo, idealista, and segundamano) to find open rooms in pisos or open pisos. A lot were ridiculously expensive or really far out. But I did find 2 that sounded good, and went and visited them on Friday. And for the piso hunting, I will start a new post...