My first week in Madrid, Spain has been unreal. This is my first time in Europe and traveling alone so I was definitely nervous heading over here not knowing what to expect. We stayed in a hotel on our first night which was a great way to get to know your roommates if you did not already know them. When I arrived at the hotel, my new roommate and I went to walk around for a bit to see what is around. We found this massive retail store called El Corte Ingles that had seven stories of shopping. On the top floor there was a restaurant where we ate our first meal in Madrid. Later that night, we all had a group dinner for the first time at La Pomadara. This was real Spanish food and was really different. After dinner, all of us were able to explore the city for a bit and hang out. The next morning we all went our separate ways to our homestay family’s houses. Our host dad, Pepe greeted us and was very friendly. My roommate and I had to carry all of our luggage on the metro to get to our home since most people do not have cars here. The next day was our first day of school at Don Quijote. This is a Spanish language learning center and many international students study here. My class has seven students and one teacher which I think is a good size to get a more personalized learning experience. On Tuesday, we were able to tour the Royal Palace of Madrid. I learned that this palace has 2000 rooms and is one of the oldest in Europe. It was so interesting to learn about the history of the palace. I’m excited to see how my next five weeks will be here in Madrid!
