ESPAÑA

i'm currently in starbucks, being a leech & trying to get all of the internet i can, while i can. it's a holiday in madrid which means absolutely everything is closed & that we are one day further from getting internet. it's been almost a week since our last attempt at getting internet, when the guy said he couldn't do it (i'm pretty sure he just didn't want to try), which is why it's been so quiet over here. not for lack of trying though! also, this post will be empty of any pictures due to the fact that it took over 15 minutes to get one halfway loaded & i decided it wasn't worth it! haha anyways, after that side note...

we’ve been in spain for 8 days & it already feels like forever. i’m not sure if that’s of a good thing or a bad thing yet. either way, we are really liking it. 

we landed in spain on sunday the second around 8 a.m. after going through customs, which were so much easier than u.s. customs, getting our luggage & getting a taxi to our hotel for the night it was almost 11, so the three of us took a nice long nap. we were all exhausted, austin & i cause neither of us really slept on the second flight to madrid, & cedar because he’s a baby and is always sleepy. & even though he slept for about 5 of the 8 hour flight (on which i would like to note, he didn’t cry  o n c e  on either of the flights!), he passed out immediately in the bed, which was amazing because he normally will not sleep with us holding him, but he had no other choice since we didn’t have a pack & play in our room yet. 

after our nice long nap we went out to walk about the city to try & familiarize ourselves with it & just to keep ourselves awake. we walked along the street our apartment is on, trying to figure out which section of the building it would be & by austin’s school & the bank that we needed to go to the next day, then to zara because cedar was in need of a winter coat asap.

the following day we met with the landlords of our apartment to check it out before signing for it. the apartment is exactly as it looked on the pictures, which was a huge relief to me! i kept imagining it to be totally crappy & for them to have posted fake pictures, i don’t know why but i really thought it maybe would happen, but it didn’t! so monday we lugged our stuff (in two trips) to our new apartment. luckily austin was able to find a hotel that was just a little over a block away so it wasn’t too horrible moving all of our bags. which by the way, you know when you pack for a trip & have no idea what to bring so you end up bringing way too much & regret it as soon as you get there? i totally did that. all the things i kept thinking i couldn’t do with out, i deeeeefinitely could have. but i’m here so whatever! 

it’s so weird to actually be in spain. it’s pretty foreign to me, but at the same time it feels normal, like how life in utah. we do the same things: go to the store, make dinner/lunch/breakfast, go to the park, watch mickey mouse clubhouse.. all the normal things, just in a new country. oh & you know how anyone that has been to europe says that everyone speaks english, so it’s really "no big deal if you don’t speak the language" (i admit even i have said that. multiple times)? yeah well, not in spain. for real. no body speaks english in the slightest. & all my jokes about my just “picking it up” are far out the window because everyone is incredibly fast, so i’ll be signing up for spanish classes within the week, that is for sure! 

5 comments

  1. i am floored that your baby didn't cry once on those flights. what a champ! i'm excited to hear more about your spanish adventures, you guys are seriously so cool. in the meantime, i'll pray that more english speakers will inhabit your area :) haha

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  2. I'm so jealous of your adventure! It sounds like things have been going smoothly already, which is great! Madrid is fantastic, and the surrounding cities are so neat and fun to explore as well!
    As for the language thing, it's true that Spaniards don't do English well ;), but you'll pick it up quickly, and maybe even get lucky and get that Spanish lisp!
    I just read an article last week about a guy living in France and how he learned French quickly: he kept a daily routine, doing the same things every day so that his brain would become accustomed to everything, he listened to French music as he went about his day, and he also read children's books in French, or books that he had already read in English. I'd recommend going that route to really get a basic understanding of Spanish because it's easier to figure out what words mean if you already know the story in English beforehand. Also, if you can, Duolingo is a really great app to help you learn many different languages, but Spanish is their biggest. Good luck! And don't feel intimidated :)

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  3. this is the post i have been waiting for! ha i am so glad the flight went well and you guys are getting all settled in!

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  4. Glad you guys made it safely and that the apartment was what you were expecting (I always am afraid of apartment scammers, too!). Can't wait to hear all about life in espana!!

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  5. Glad things are going well so far! Except the internet thing, boooo! It is nearly impossible to mooch a decent internet connection in Madrid :/ you are right about them not speaking English there! And their Spanish is pretty different! You will catch on, though! :) cheers!

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