Carmen y papito

Hello everyone!

So yesterday was the big day when I finally moved in with my host family!! =)

Upon arrival at twenty-eight el calle de San Emilio, I proceeded to carry my fifty pound bag up three flights of stairs to my family's apartment. As I neared the last few steps, my host family came out of the apartment amazed to see I didn't use (what they thought was obvious)...the elevator. Oh well lol. Anyways, I live with grandparents in a cute little apartment in the more Allston area of Madrid. The woman's name is Carmen and her husband is Vincente (I believe), but Carmen calls him papito around me.They are very cute and extremely welcoming. Quite social I might add also.

Here are pictures of the house:

Hallway Right (entrance is off to the right)

Hallway Left (Kitchen off to left)
Kitchen

This is my room. It is much larger than I expected and quite comfortable. It's like having a dorm room inside my house lol

Timing in Madrid is extremely different than in the United States. Here, breakfast is around 9:30-10, lunch is at 2:30 pm and dinner is at 9:30 p.m. Bedtime isn't until about 2 a.m. lol They take lots of little naps and no snacking! And their diet is filled with jamon! (ham)

After meeting the family, it took a few hours to get the internet working so I unpacked and relaxed a little. The grandparents then gave me a walking tour of the area for about an hour, showing me the train stations and el estanco (a tobacco shop where you can buy stamps, load minutes onto your cell phone, and reload your metro card). When we came back to the house I finally got the internet to work and arranged dinner with my friends on the program. My host family provides me breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday through Thursday. Friday and Saturday I eat breakfast and lunch with them and then receive a stipend from BU for dinner. I returned relatively early for Spanish time in order to skype back home with the family and catch up on events back home! My host grandparents came in later than I did, around 1:30 a.m., from a family birthday party! Much different than at home.

Today, my program met at el Parque de Retiro, which is the Central Park of Madrid. It was beautiful; however, photos will come later in the semester when the weather is nicer and the flowers are in bloom. Today, as well as the past few days, is overcast and drizzling. This is the most rain Madrid has had in a while. Madrid is more of a desert...very dry. Most of us in the program are from the east coast, so we are all use to the moist weather. We feel as though we are dehydrated. Every meal we seem to go through at least one large glass bottle per person!

Later today I am going shopping at el Corte Ingles (the scale of Harrods with more reasonable stores like our malls, as well as small grocery stores and staple types of stores). Basically your go to for all things shopping!

Tonight...preparing for a big day tomorrow!! Interview for my internship at 10:30 a.m., then my first day of classes starting at 5 p.m.!! I'll check in with you then!

Happy 50th Anniversary Grammy and Grampy!! =) Wish I could be there to celebrate!!