October fun

These past two weeks have been spent within the autonomy of Madrid, but that does not mean that they have been boring in the least bit. They have been full of movies, tutoring outside of class, ad an amazing hiking trip.

Last Friday, I was able to see a friend from home here in Madrid. Jojo Sorrell was here in Madrid with a friend who's working with her in Peru. I was able to meet up with her and her friend for a couple of hours in Retiro Park and walk around the city. It was nice to see someone from home, and it made me look forward to when my friend Jordan comes for 2 weeks in December.

Jojo came to Madrid! Us in Retiro.

Then last Saturday Becca, Vicki, and I woke up nice and early and took a day trip to a small town called Cercedilla. This town is only an hour from Madrid by train, and a great place to go hiking. We got there pretty early and it was still cold, but we decided to take a trail up to a point called El Mirador (The Lookout). The lookout was exactly as it sounded, and made for a great spot for a picnic lunch and a siesta. It was completely sunny that day, and a great day for a hike. It was nice to know that only an hour from the city, you can find a peaceful and relaxing place.

Me, Vicki, and Becca on our hike in Cercedilla.

My view for our nice siesta and picnic.

I won't bore you with the minor details of my life here in Madrid from the rest of the past two weeks. But believe me, they were pretty exciting. They do include only going to 4 classes this past week, making my supposed 16-hour work week only about 5. Just gives me more time to enjoy Spain through food and siestas!

I got my first package from my parents at home, full of all kinds of great stuff!

Beach, take 2

I know that it has been a while since I last updated, but it's because life is busy. Between work and travel and siestas and nutella, it's hard to find time to sit down and write.

Let me tell you about what I did two weekends ago. It was a long weekend of 4 days, so we decided to get plane tickets and fly up to a city outside Barcelona. From there, we took a bus to Lloret de Mar, a touristy beach town on the Costa Brava part of the Mediterranean. The beach was less sand and more pebbles, but most else about the location was pretty great.

The group was supposed to be 6 in total- me, Evan, Kyle, Jess, Erica, and Laura. All of us were Fulbrighters and get along well, plus 6 is a good number to travel with. So our flight is at 8:20 am on Friday morning. I get up early and head to the metro to get to the airport, meeting 2 of the girls along the way. As we're getting off the metro at the airport, I find out that Kyle and Evan aren't coming. One of them accidentally booked their tickets for the next weekend, and of course cheap RyanAir tickets aren't refundable or change-able. So it was just me and the 3 girls. A little less testosterone than I was expected, but I was still pumped about going to the beach and got along great with the 3 girls.

What did we do in Lloret de Mar, you may ask? Well, a whole lot of nothing. We walked around a little, saw the one cathedral that was there, and spent the rest of the time at the beach. It was great, and just what I needed after the big city life of Madrid. We were able to sleep, picnic and eat on the beach, and just sit around. We saw some great sunsets, and I had some nice (albeit hilly) early morning runs.

Saturday was Laura's birthday, so we got creative and made our own form of "birthday cake" for her. We bought some muffins and nutella from the local Dia supermarket and made our own cupcakes. We found some candles from the dollar store and had 2 red ones and 3 blue ones, to symbolize 23 of course. She was still sick from a bad stomach bug that she got in Madrid, so we celebrated the night with doner kebab (these amazing gyro-type sandwiches) and sitting by the beach.

This relaxing in Lloret de Mar was just what I needed. It was so peaceful and so much fun. Another great adventure in Spain.

The group (Jess, Laura, Erica, and me) on the beach in Lloret de Mar.

Of course we had to get a jumping picture on the beach.

The cool cathedral in the town.

The castle at sunset.

Me at sunset.

Attempts at an artsy sunset picture.

Where I stopped on my morning run.

One Month In!

Yesterday officially marked the one month point of when I arrived to Spain. Exciting, right? I'm really starting to get situated here and am enjoying myself a whole lot. It's going to be a great experience, and the past week and a half are testament to that fact.

Where to start? Well, I guess I'll begin with last weekend. A group of 5 of us went to San Sebastian, a coastal city in Basque Country, for the weekend. We met up with Laura, a Fulbright researcher in Pamplona, and her boyfriend, as well as the Santander people. My review of the weekend: thumbs up. The city was great, the food was great, and the people were great.

We got there on Friday afternoon, walked around seeing the sights, enjoyed some great pintxos (pronounced pinchos, the typical dish of the area that is basically a small tapa on bread), and had a fun night out in the city.

The next morning I woke up early for a run on the path along the beach. It was great to see the city as the sun was rising. Later in the day we soaked up some sun on the beach, followed by some great paella and some more sightseeing. As it got to sunset, we hiked up to the top of the "mountain" (more like a hill) with a giant Jesus statue on it. The view from up there was great, especially with the sun setting. We then had another night of pintxos and fun out on the town.

Sunday morning I woke up and ran again along the beach, taking a break along the way to sit at this little point where there are "sea comb" steel art pieces in the water and just sit. It was so peaceful and relaxing, and a great start to the day.

We then did some more touristy stuff, including a funicular up to the top of another mountain to see another great view at this little amusement park. At the top they had this ridiculous Cosmicar ride. It was a haunted house, but with the most random images of red light districts, safaris, and draculas that flew right into your face and hit you in the face. Something you definitely would not see in America, but completely worth the 2 euros we paid for it. After that, we were all tired and enjoyed a nice nap on the 5-hour bus ride home.

The group (Me, Angie, Jonathan, Gladys, Baird, Laura, and Ed) by the Amusement Park.

A nice jumping picture up the mountain at sunset with part of the city in the background.

A great picture of me looking off into the bay and the sunset.

Where I ran and sat to watch the sea both mornings.

This past week was my first week of school. I worked 3 days and had one day of training with the other teaching assistants here through the Spanish government (a repititious session from what we learned at the Fulbright orientation). My school is great! I really like my coordinator, the other teachers, and most of the students. I am working with 2 classes of primeros (7th graders) and 2 classes of terceros (9th graders). One class of each grade is extremely loud and full of some hellians, but I love the other classes. The kids are pretty good at English, and many of them really want to learn the language. All I did this week was basically observe, but next week I should start teaching some lessons.

Friday was my day off, so I was able to sleep in and then make my second trip to my favorite store in Madrid: Alcampo! It's basically like Spain's version of Target. There are 1 euro aisles, and they have pretty much everything you need for reasonable prices. It's a little far north, but was well worth the trek up there on the metro. I went with Becca and Vicki, two other Fulbrighters.

From there, we made our way to the Olympic announcement rally outside the Royal Palace. Madrid was one of the 4 finalist cities to host the 2016 Olympics, along with Tokyo, Chicago, and Rio de Janeiro. It was pretty packed with people awaiting the announcement. They handed out free giant hands, along with free T-shirts and free hats. Of course I got as much free stuff as I could, even though it took a good 45 minutes of waiting in line. Madrid ended up being one of the final 2 cities, but lost to Rio de Janeiro. I would have loved for the games to be here, as that would give me a one-up if I wanted to work in the 2016 Olympics. But it is good for South America that Rio won. When the announcement was made, people were pretty disappointed, but seemed to know it was going to happen. Everyone just kind of filed off and went on with life.

Becca and I with our Madrid 2016 giant hands!

On Saturday, we woke up early to head by bus to Segovia, a small city about an hour outside of Madrid. The city is known for its Roman aqueducts, Cathedral, and castle called the Alcazar. The weather was perfect and we were able to see all 3, along with many other churches. Five of us went: Miguel (my roommate), Vicki, Becca, Linnette, and me. First we went to the aqueduct, which is this massive structure built out of granite with absolutely no cement or adhesive holding the bricks in place. We walked the entire length of it, which is a little over half a mile. We then moved on through the city to see the amazing cathedral and the Alcazar. The Alcazar is a castle that was used by Isabelle and Ferdinand and was Walt Disney's inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle in Disneyland. It was an amazing building. We walked all through the castle, the later in the day sat in a field below the castle and just relaxed on the grass while looking at it. We also had an awesome picnic in the park.

By 7 pm, we were all exhausted and headed back to Madrid for the night. The trip was a great success.

The group (Miguel, Becca, Me, Vicki, and Linnette) in front of the aqueduct.

Me up at the top of the aqueduct!

The Alcazar. Can you see the resemblance to the Disneyland castle?

Where we layed down to relax and look up at the Alcazar. So relaxing.

Both of my past 2 weekends have been full of adventures with beaches, castles, picnics, and crazy Spanish kids trying to learn English. If the rest of the 9 months here goes the same way, I think I'm really going to like Spain!

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!