The past few days I have had a lot of time to explore the city and do my own thing, as orientation ended on Weds, and school doesn't start until next week. I've been settling in to my apartment life- getting used to the neighborhood, going grocery shopping and cooking, doing laundry, cleaning...all the normal stuff you do when you live in an apartment.
For Rosh Hashanah, I went to services at a local synagogue here in Madrid, which was a nice experience. The people were really welcoming and the services were actually quite familiar. I even got invited to dinner at one of the members' houses next week!
I've also been getting familiar with my neighborhood- I now know where all the different grocery stores, markets, and banks are, and I've been getting used to the class schedule at my gym. Yesterday, I walked towards Plaza de Espana (about 15 mins from where I am) and explored that area of the city a bit. It's nice to realize that I'm actually quite close (within walking distance) of the center of the city.
Last night, I went to a friend's house and then to a discoteca to celebrate his birthday, with all of Ruth's friends from her masters program. It was another typically late night...didn't go to sleep until 7 am!! (I guess that's why the Spaniards created the siesta haha). It was a lot of fun- I'm still amazed by how many people are out at all hours of the night here! Also, last night was La Noche en Blanco, which is a night in Madrid when the major streets are shut off to cars and everyone is just out on the streets...there is music, the museums are open all night etc. We didn't actually partake in those activities that much just because it was so hard to move around; there were so many people. Nonetheless, it was interesting to see all of the commotion.
Today, I met up with one of the other Fulbrighters, Christina, and we took a nice long stroll around the Cautro Caminos area of the city. We walked quite a ways, all the way up to Plaza de Castilla, which is a very modern, cosmopolitan part of the city. On our way back home, we had our first metro mishap here in Madrid. Apparently, on the line that we were on, you need to get off the train at a certain stop and switch trains, or else the train will start going in the opposite direction. Initially, we hadn't seen a sign telling us that, so we were extremely confused when we realized we were going in the wrong direction and that the train on the other side seemed to be going in the same direction. Anyway, eventually, we figured it out, and now we are confident we won't have any more problems!
Tomorrow, Noel (my co-worker at my school) and I are going to our school to get a tour and dicuss our schedule with our coordinator Carmen, who we met during orientation. I'm excited to see the school and start work...I have a good feeling about it! Anyway, more on that soon :)
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