First day in Madrid

After a long flight, I´m finally in Madrid. I had a two hour lay-over in Munich and it was cold as hell. I might have to get a coat before I go there in December. I arrived in Madrid at about 11:30 AM. Sara picked me up and god bless her for being so nice. She helped me carry my bags, showed me how to get Metro tickets and just gave me a basic orientation. We went to my apartment for the next week or so and it is awesome. I reserved a studio and for some reason I got a one bedroom. I can have like 4 more people in there. It´s clean and it´s got a balcony overlooking the plaza outside. I love it! Then, we met her friend Erica at Plaza del Sol and we all just kinda walked around. This city is amazingly beautiful. When I was flying in, it hit me that I did not know anything about the city. And I thought to myself, why did I pick Madrid???

But it has been great so far. I have a feeling I´m gonna enjoy walking around the city a lot. There´s a bit of a surprise in every corner. We went to a tapas bar for lunch and that was an experience. It was super crowded and there were just lots of people drinking and smoking. But not drinking to get wasted, just to chill. The food was free. Basically, you just order a drink and they give you free tapas. It´s seriously the best deal ever! You get all this food for a price of a drink!! I love it!

Also, as I write this, there is a potential riot going on outside the internet cafe (which is on Puerta del Sol, the city center). All day long, everywhere we walked, there were cops in riot gear just hanging out. Apparently, there is some big protest happening that involves two radical groups and one of their members getting murdered last week...or something like that. Sara and Erika reassured me that this is very, very rare. Most of the time the protests are very peaceful. I personally think it´s just me. This is the third time I´ve been in a foreign country in which I have encountered police in riot gear. Maybe they´re looking for me...

Well, I´m gonna head back and get some bread and Nutella I can eat for the rest of the week. Then hopefully I can take a nice long nap until tomorrow.