Becoming a Madrileña

So...for those of you who don't understand the title of this blog, a "madrilena" (for some reason i cant put the tilde in the blog, so I'll have to mispell that from now on), is just someone (female) from Madrid. Of course, I will never officially be a madrilena, but I feel like after living here for 6 weeks now, life has basically become routine. Of course, I'm not calling my life here typical by any means, but Madrid basically feels like home, for now at least. For sure, there are still many parts of the city with which I'm not familiar, and many sites that I have yet to see, but I'm pretty settled into my routine- going to school and teaching, giving English lessons, working at home in my apartment, going to the gym, going grocery shopping, cooking, watching tv with my roommate, taking the metro, meeting up with friends, going out on the weekends...basically all the things we all do wherever we live. And overall, its a nice place to live :)

Of course, there are a few comforts and conveniences of home that I miss from time to time- like being able to find a bank that is open after 2pm or on the weekends (and not having to pay to make a transfer or deposit a check!), or being able to go to a store at 3 pm, going grocery shopping on sunday, or eating lunch at 1 instead of 3:30! And of course...I miss the convenience of talking to people at home, because its hard to find a time that works, given the time difference. I miss talking to my friends, most of all, since they are often working or studying when I have free time (and I'm sleeping when they do have time). But...mostly, I can't really complain.

Of course, this is not to say that I don't appreciate that, while this year is not a vacation, but a year living in Europe...I'm still pretty lucky to be living in Europe for a year. After all, its not every day I can just go visit a huge 16th century palace/monastery for a day, right? And in fact, that is exactly what I did on Friday, when I went to El Escorial with a friend of mine. The public transportation system is really great here- there are a lot of nearby places that you can go, within an hour or two, for very little money, especially if you have the Madrid monthly metro pass (which I do have since I use the metro sooo much). Also, its not every day that your roommate's friend from Bilbao visits and offers you a room in her apartment in Bilbao, whenever you want to come and visit. And indeed...this also happened to me this weekend. Ruth had a friend from Bilbao visiting and the three of us spent most of the day on Saturday together. She was really great and invited me to come stay with her in Bilbao for a weekend! I'm definitely going to take her up on the offer--its always great to have housing in a new city, and to have a host/friend to show you around and give you advice about where to go!!

Also, its pretty typical here to be told, at 4 or 5 am on a friday or saturday night that "its so early...how can you possibly be going home already?" Another group of phrases I hear a lot...."you're American? I never would have guessed...why do you speak Spanish so well? How do you speak Spanish so well? Can you teach me English? I thought you were Italian....and..what did you say your name was? Ivana? Yolanda? Elena? huh?? hahaha." I'm also getting quite familiar with the advances of Spanish men- which has been a bit of a mixed experience, to say the least. But, its all part of the cultural experience I suppose- so just trying to learn as I go and keep an open mind. Anyway, that's my bit of insight for now...more to come!