First Few Days in Madrid

Well I haven't updated this blog since I have arrived in Spain... Obviously I'm not off to such a great start. I arrived in Madrid a few days ago and have been going non-stop ever since. When we first got here we took the metro to an area called Chueca in Madrid and found our hostel. It was down a tiny alley with a small sign. It looked just like an apartment from the outside so we were scared to walk in. So far the hostel hasn't been too bad but that's mostly due to the fact that we haven't spent that much time here.   The day after we arrived we adventured into the center of Madrid called Puerta del Sol and also walked to Plaza Mayor.  Both of these places are extremely beautiful and have incredible architecture around every corner.  We obviously don't have cell phone service and we have very limited internet opportunities but when we were in Salt Lake we made plans to meet up with some other kids on the study abroad at the Plaza Mayor at 10 am.  Growing up in this technological age I had my sincere doubts that we would be able to find our friends... Turns out I was wrong.. around 11 am our friends came wandering through Plaza Mayor with their suitcases and all, fresh off the plan from The U.S. I was stunned... It has also helped me realize that I don't always need my cell phone in order to make plans with people.. All it has required so far is a little more preparation and planning. Not only did we have plans to meet our friends at 10 am at Plaza Mayor but we also had plans to meet up with some other friends at 5 pm at the Puerta del Sol.. Once again we managed to meet up with everyone.  In between meeting friends in the morning and afternoon we decided to go see the Palacio Real (Royal Palace). It. Was. Amazing. I will try to include some pictures in this blog post but sadly we have not been able to take pictures in most of the cool places we have visited so far.   Along with visiting the palace we basically just explored the city and immersed ourselves in the Spanish culture.  It is so different here than in the United States.  Everyone seems to be more calm and not in a hurry to do anything really. Every restaurant has expansive outdoor seating and people will be sitting at these cafes all day drinking and smoking.  One thing that I have found extremely strange is I haven't seen people eat yet... Every time we tried to order food for our lunch or dinner we received very strange looks and most of the time they would come back and tell us they didn't have what we ordered.  It turns out they really only eat one meal a day around 2 pm.  The continental breakfast at our hostel has consisted of a roll and a cup of Cafe con Leche (coffee with milk).  We normally skipped lunch because we were busy running around the city so I never really saw anyone eat the main meal of the day.  For dinner I have seen people mostly eating chips and drinking beer and wine, and smoking, smoking, smoking.   Today I finally ate a meal at the right time and I ordered a sea food paella called "paella senorito" (no clue how it got that name). The paella was delicious and I am still full for dinner which now helps me understand why they don't eat a lot at night.  Today we went to the Museo Prado and the Museo Sofia Reina.  Both were fantastic but once again we were NOT allowed to take ANY pictures... I was really sad about this because in the Prado there were rooms and rooms full of Vlazquez and Gayo paintings which were phenomenal.  All of the guide books told us that the museum opened at 9 and I have had my experience will world class museums so I told all of my friends we needed to meet there by at least 8:30 which ended up being a really good thing because the museum ended up opening at 10 and Becca and I were the first people in line! we had to wait but by the time they opened the museum the line wrapped around the block.  Part of the reason the line was so long was because it is International Museum Day today and all of the museums had free admission.  Because we were the first in line I was basically alone in a room full of giant Valazquez paintings which was really incredible to see.  The Sofia Reina museum was much less crowded because it is all modern art and let me tell you I have never seen such modern art. I saw things today that would blow the MoMA out of the water. The Guerneca by Picasso was really incredible to see in person and once again I'm really sad I couldn't take a picture. Well I have seen basically all there is to see in Madrid and I am extremely exhausted because of it.  I feel like I have had a pretty good introduction to the Spanish culture so far and I am really excited to head up to Oviedo on Sunday.  Tomorrow I think we are planning a day trip to Toledo which is were Picasso lived for a while if I am not mistaken.  I will try to keep my blog more updated in the future it has just been a couple of hectic days trying to keep myself alive and fed in this crazy city.  I am having a blast and I will post another entry tomorrow!