Mi Vida en España: oh madrid, how i love thee

So we FINALLY made it to Madrid today! I thought Alcalá was amazing but Madrid is about fifty times better! It's so beautiful and alive and fun and just wonderful...walking out of the subway onto the street, my heart almost stopped, it's like a dream come true!

Anyways, so here's our trip to Madrid in a nutshell:

* Double-decker train to the subway station

* Laughing nearly to the point of tears on the train

* That memorable first step onto the streets of Madrid

* A quick lunch/snack/drink at a little restaurant that smelled kind of weird (probably from all the meat hanging around...)

* A loooooong tour around Madrid - my favorite was probably the palace aka my future home

* Being scared out of my wits by statues, masks, and headless men that read newspapers that actually turn out to be real people!

* Tripping over some freak stone sticking out 2 inches above the road - my ankle still hurts

* Watching Alyssa dance with a cute old lady in the plaza (about half of Madrid was watching too)

* Spending about fifteen minutes trying to figure out which train would take us back to Alcalá

* Making conversation with the nice ladies on the train who assured us that we were headed in the right direction

* Getting "disoriented" getting back to my house (literally down the street from the train station...I don't know WHY or HOW I was born without any remote sense of direction!)

Oh, and best news of the day: my school offers flamenco classes!!!! for free!!

I am so excited, I don't think you can even comprehend!