API

My bus from Malaga arrived in Madrid two hours before my API orientation began. Just enough time to check into the hotel, put down my bags, relax, shower, and change.

There are seven of us in the Langauge and Culture program at Univdersidad Complutense de Madrid. 6 girls, and Julian. Oy.

The orientation is everything I’ve already read and been told. A fun two hours. It was worth it, however, for the free dinner afterwards, at Gino’s Italian restaurant (slightly classier than the Olive Garden). The group swapped personal tidbits and life stories over bowls of Italian/Spanish pasta.

Back at the hotel, I couldn’t sleep, so I spent a good portion of the night watching Spanish cable television. My comprehension is improving, but some TV shows still talk too fast for me to understand. For that reason, sports (futbol) work best.

-----------------------------

More meetings in the morning. Yawn. Snooze.

I was excited to meet the other kids in the Complutense program for the tour of the royal palace, considering they would be who I will live with.

I spoke with Manuel, my new roomate, for most of the walk to the royal palace. He is the only other American guy in API Complutense, making it very important we get along. So far we’ve gotten along great.

El Palacio Real is gorgeous, and a must see of Madrid. We began in the enormous stone courtyard overlooks the western countryside of the city. This was the only part of the royal palace we were permitted to take pictures.

Once inside on the guided tour, we were warned that pictures were not strictly prohibited. I scoffed at the signs and started taking covert pictures with the flash off.

What I didn’t know about my camera was that each time I turned my camera off the settings reset. When I went to take a picture of the ceiling on the grand staircase, I flashed the entire room- security guards at the bottom of the steps started moving. Shit.

Very conveniently, at this moment, an asian tourist right behind me decided to whip out his camera and take a picture of the wall. The security guard approached this tourist, and escorted him out of the room. Perhaps the guards went through this man’s camera and deleted all the pictures of the palace, perhaps they kicked his face in. I don’t know, I never saw that man again. I learned my lesson though; the guards don’t fuck around.

Our tour guide was unbelievably strict tiny old lady that was eerily similar to the old lady Mrs. Hogenson from the Incredibles. If any other tourist would get close to our group, she would stop midsentence, and glare at them until they would leave. Aparently her information wasn’t for outsiders.

The building itself is actually quite “new” for Spanish standards (mid 18th century), and lacks the beautiful Moorish architecture of other Spanish palaces such as El Alcazar or El Alhambra. I needn’t discuss how beautiful and ornate the royal palace was, because it was THE royal palace. Just go an see it.

I followed the other group, Manuel, Catalina, Lisa, and Danielle back to my new residencia, rather than go to my hotel. They gave me the low-down on how things work at the residencia.

Residencia Abay was only a short walk from the palace, located on Calle Chinchilla (chinchilla street) in Callao. Callao is the best possible neighborhood I could have been put in. I am 2-3 blocks from Puerta del Sol (where I previous stayed, in the center of Madrid and the Iberian peninsula), and about a quarter block off of Gran Via, one of the largest and busiest streets in the city. Everyone else is jealous of my location.

The residencia houses 14 students: 9 Spaniards, 4 Californians, 1 Julian. It was instantly clear that my Spanish was the weakest in the residencia. At least in this situation I will be forced to learn.

The residencia itself is quite lovely. It’s very clean, quiet, and aesthetically pleasing. All wood floors, extremely high ceilings (I love high ceilings), three bathrooms, big plasma TV in the dining room (el comedor).

I met Dolly (pronounced doy-jee), the “house mom” that does the cooking. She’s lovely. Speaking of which, my meals are prepared for me. My room is cleaned for me. My laundry is done for me. I’m going to live like a king.

Awesome.

Later that night I went out for sangria with some of the girls in my program, Azza, Gaby, Ally, and Morgan. We hit 2 or 3 bars for sangria, then called it an early night. I slept at the hotel for one last night.

-----------------------------

Next morning: more boring orientation stuff.

Afterwards, we went to the Prado museam for a tour. The Prado is the 2nd most famous art museum in Europe, after the Louvre. The group hung around outside while I spent roughly 20 minutes on the phone helping a very lost and panicky Ally find the correct Prado museum (apparently there are multiple). I’m such a nice guy.

The Prado was absolutely stunning, and I could really appreciate some of the art, but to honest, I found our tour incredibly boring. The tour guide didn’t realize our group’s level of Spanish comprehension, and spoke to us like children, which I wouldn’t have had a problem with, if it didn’t slow down the tour so much. It seemed as though we would stand in front of the same painting for 20 minutes before moving, and my legs got restless. The tour guide taught us how to recognize the works of El Greco, which I found interesting and useful, but after that, I was soooo done with the guided tour. I intentionally got lost and separated from the group so I could wander the Prado by myself.

After the museam, I moved my bags into the residencia. I was finally settled in to my home in Spain.