¡Madrid!

Today is the day! We made it to Madrid and I am excited to see what all it has to offer. Today has been a very long day. I'm starting to get used to this.

We had an early start today. I usually try to avoid these unless they are unavoidable. Today, we had to catch our train at 7:20, and at the rate my family moves, we had to get up by 5:30. Yuck. All of my closest friends and family will tell you that I am not a morning person. It takes me about an hour to get out of grumpy mode, and then maybe, with some coffee, I will wake up and be nice. Anyway, we got our stuff together, got on the metro, and eventually made it to the train station. This was no easy feat, considering I was carrying my big backpack with my carry-on strapped to the back (It has two text books and a computer in it) and my grandma's huge suitcase. This extended grumpy mode for about an extra hour. At the train station, we got to sit down for a couple minutes before boarding the train. Once it left the station, Mom and I went to the snack car to get some coffee and pastries for the family. When we ordered five coffees, we got a very strange look from the coffee man. Later, we found out that usually people drink coffee as a social thing in public, not sitting down at home or in the office. He was surprised that we were taking not just one or two, but five coffees, plus five croissants back to our seat. Yet another culture shock! I really like this part of their culture. Us Amurcans get so caught up in what we are doing, we don't take time to enjoy time with our friends and just relax during the day. Coffee isn't a necessity, it's a social event. I'm definitely going to try to implement this into my schedule once I'm home. The rest of the train ride was pretty boring. Grumpy mode ended and I became my usual, semi-entertaining self. My sister's boyfriend met us at the train station with pastries and we walked to our new apartment. This apartment is much nicer than the one in Barcelona. We actually have a living room and space to ourselves. We got unpacked and decided it was time for some food.

We went down the street to this little restaurant to have their menu del día. I ate Paella (a traditional dish consisting of rice, meat, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes beans) and Spanish tortilla (kind of an omelette with potato and tuna) with french fries. We sat there for awhile and came back to the apartment to meet up with one of my sister's friends who was going to go shopping with us. We went the the grocery store to get supplies because we had decided to cook dinner tonight. It was pretty exciting. Everything seemed pretty cheap and it was very organized. We paid and came back to the apartment for a nap and to cook dinner. My sister and friends made some delicious eggplant lasagna and garlic bread. It was a great night with some great people.

We have some pretty exciting plans for tomorrow, but I don't want to give any of it away! Until tomorrow!

¡Luego!

Aden and Jorge