Vistete como quieras pero vistete bien!

I'm sitting in the cafe of Hostal Persal and feel like I've been run over by a truck. However (and to your certain surprise), I have not yet been run over, despite the near fatalities of many Americans that cross the street in Europe. I am in Madrid, and the feeling that accompanies a new place, people and language dismisses my physical exhaustion and just about everything else. The city is incredible, the people are passionate, and time never stops here. Between siestas and tapas, I imagine that no one ever gets a full night of sleep. I certainly haven't, and without a watch or phone, I measure the days in cafe con leche (anything to keep me awake). But life is easy.

Getting here, however, was a 3-d ride to hell (will someone see "My Bloody Valentine" for me?!). Our first flight to Madrid was canceled when our connecting flight came to odds with the lack of snow plows in Great Britain. It was one of the 650 cancelled to Heathrow 3 (4?) days ago, and so our group waited an extra day and an hour for another flight out of JFK. I travelled with 9 of the 13 students on my program, which is a story in itself. Nick thought the 2nd flight was cancelled and no one could find Stacy. Somehow, we all ended up on the 1 pm flight to Madrid out of Heathrow the next day, and met the other 4 at the hotel.

Since then, we've been mostly not sleeping and not eating much, much like the Spaniards, but running around Madrid and adoring the architecture (much like tourists). We've had a tour guide for the past 2 days, whose name we've all made up (Jose, Luis, Pablo, any given Spanish name...), and who loves to say things in English that are only recognizable as jokes when he laughs incessantly after saying them. Our program director, Cristina Enriquez, too can't speak in English for 5 minutes without cracking a joke. por ejemplo: just 5 minutes ago when she passed all of us on our laptops, she says, "Do you know what I want to be when I grow up? A computer! (insert her loud, smoker's laugh) Then I'l have a lot of friends!" Along with the club promoters who yell "TENEMOS LOS MOJITOS MEJORES" when we walk by ("We have the best mojitos!"), constant hilarity.

Tomorrow we make the epic journey to Granada where I will meet my host family. I'm living with a single mother and her daughter, Elena, que tenia 21 anos, and I'm very excited. I'm not nervous but anticipate anxiety when I offer them Phillies paraphanelia in exchange for staying in their home and eating their food for the next four months. I hope they like me.

I also get to begin my Independent Study in a couple of weeks, which is a focus on some aspect of the community in photography. I'm hoping to focus on immigrants in the community and maybe take a local photography class. I might also get in on my friend Katie's project here and document her project on a rising hip hop scene in Granada's gypsy culture- I can't wait.

I will try my best to update. Apparently, this post was hard for me to write because just being here makes me think any time is lost on the internet, but I'm sure I'll get over that soon enough. Pictures will follow soon because words simply cannot express the beauty I'm living in. I miss and love you all.

Hasta pronto amigos!
& forever plur,

Cristin