It is my first Saturday in Madrid, the end of a long but productive week. I can't believe I've been here since Monday. It was a smooth arrival--I met up with two other Fulbrighters on the flight, and we made our way together to the residencia (dormitory) where we will be staying through orientation. My first official exchange in Spanish was in the airport when I asked the man at information, "Buscamos Aerocity, sabes donde está?" (We're looking for Aerocity, do you know where it is?). I was very proud of myself until he answered and I only caught the word "telefono" and I had to ask him to repeat himself "más despacio, por favor" (more slowly, please). That put a quick stop to my inflated sense of Spanish mastery:-).
Madrid's metro system is amazing. After living in Los Angeles for a year, it is so refreshing to see a mass transit system so extensive and used by all manner of people. Madrid is a huge metropolis, but in reality many different areas are geographically very close to each other, and the metro shortens these distances even more. However, you run the risk of running into an embracing couple every time you turn a corner. I stopped noticing the couples engaged in various forms of PDA, it's so common. A couple people here have told me that one reason for this is that many young people (students, professionals) live with their parents until their 30s, and many others rent rooms from older señoras, so there is very little privacy at home--public places are thus actually more "private" in the anonymity and freedom they afford. So the metro, parks, etc can get very graphic:-).
The first priority for all of us grantees was finding a piso (apartment). We're all looking for shared apartments, wanting the opportunity to live with Spanish speakers and branch out of the Fulbright circle. I got incredibly lucky; my second day, I was able to set up a visit to a piso through a landlady whom I'd actually been corresponding with for a couple weeks. Miraculously, the room was still available when I arrived (pisos go quickly in this city). The place is in a great area called Bilbao (known for its cafes and young culture, well located to the rest of central Madrid), literally about 4 feet from the Bilbao metro station. There are nine rooms, all rented to girls in their 20s, all students or interns, from all over (France, Germany, Australia, Peru, one other American). I met a few of the flatmates when I visited, extremely nice and welcoming and best of all, the common language is Spanish, so I'll really be forced to practice. The piso itself is great, two common areas, high ceilings, lots of natural light, and a huge kitchen that looks like something you'd find in a hostel--it is kind of like a hostel, really, but cleaner and without the sense of transience. I called the landlady the next day to arrange to give her the deposit and collect the keys. I will not start living there until after orientation (this Thursday), but at least I've been able to move some of my things into the apartment.
Before I left the night I visited, two of the girls gave me their number and said we should hang out even if I don't end up taking the room. I've found that alot here--people my age seem more relaxed and casual about meeting new people, and more open to new relationships. In my apartment search, there were a few people who got back to me to say "Sorry, the room is no longer available, but give me a call when you get to Madrid if you want to grab a cup of coffee". It's a different vibe than I'm used to, but I like it. And speaking of nice people, the other grantees I've met so far have also been amazing almost without exception. There has been a real effort to help each other out with the apartment search and figuring out metro passes and just navigating the city in general. There's sort of an absence of competition that has made this week a lot less stressful than it easily could have been.
So other than piso hunting, I've been exploring the area around the residencia, taking "adventure walks" with a friend I've met here where we just wander in no particular direction and often find unexpected ways in which parts of the city connect. Many buildings have these beautiful, brightly colored and/or ornate facades, making some feel more mediterranean than others. The Arab influence on Spanish culture is more strongly apparent in the south (Madrid is in the center of Spain), but you can still see it here alongside the more dominant Catholic themes. I remember reading somewhere that the names given to public places (streets, parks, etc) give insight into what the culture values, or at least valued at one point. For instance, in the U.S. there are alot of things named after politicians. In Spain, there are alot of things named after a) military men and b) Catholic saints. Since the role of Catholocism in Spanish culture is part of my secondary project, I'm excited to delve into this more deeply in the coming months.
I've also been out at night with a group of grantees, just chatting at an outside table until they took all the other tables and chairs away and we realized we should probably go. What I love about going for a drink here is that, if you sit down, they normally bring you complimentary tapas with your wine or beer. At this particular place, the more we ordered, the more elaborate the tapas became (we went from olives and pistachios to chips to bread and cheese). Delicious, and better for your stomach if you're drinking.
Yesterday I went back to Atocha, which is the central train station in Madrid (also the site of the Al-Queda bombings in 2004). The most distinctive thing about Atocha is the huge atrium in the middle of the concourse. With turtles in the water. If you only saw a picture, you may think it was the rainforest section of a zoo. After Atocha, I went with my friend to the Parque Retiro area, where she was looking at a piso, which she ultimately took. Retiro is a huge public park in Madrid (like Central Park in New York), really beautiful, where I'm looking forward to walking around in the future.
Then today, a few of us walked to the Gran Via (the main touristy artery of Madrid) from the residencia through the northwest area close to my apartment--about a 40 minute walk, but very pleasant, filled with more breathtaking buildings. We visited the Plaza de España, a small park with a huge monument in honor of Miguel de Cervantes, without question the most celebrated writer in Spain ( he wrote Don Quixote). The man is worshipped here. In the picture, Cervantes sits at the top, looking down on Don Quixote and his sidekick, Sancho Panza. The sculpture on the left is Dulcinea, Don Quixote's love, as he imagined her (like a Greek goddess), and on the right is the peasant woman she really was (all this was told to me by a fellow Fulbrighter who is a Cervantes devotee). I thought this was a very neat choice to highlight the novel's theme of the power of imagination (although I have to say I haven't read it yet, but I will feel sacreligious if I haven't read it by the time I leave Spain).
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