Tour of Madrid

Hola amigos! Yesterday was my first full day in Spain, and it was great! We got up bright and early to catch the train at 9:30, then we rode to Madrid.

We started in the Puerta de Sol (or Sol for short) and walked around the city. We saw this super-creepy street performer. Just watch: -------------------->

We saw lots of cool things on our tour: a market, a monastery, lots of awesome narrow cobblestone streets, several cathedrals, the royal palace. It all ended with a visit to the Chocolatería San Ginés. We had some churros and chocolate. The chocolate there is NOTHING like hot chocolate from home. It's chocolatey and creamy and thick enough to stick to your spoon. Or a churro. Oh, and the churros are better than the ones at home too. They're not covered in sugar and cinnamon to mask mediocre quality. SO good. Anyway... after all this, my roomie and I decided to go home to Alcalá and walk around the city a bit. But, we had a little adventure getting lost on the Metro. By the time we got home again, we were both super tired, so we napped for a couple hours, then went to the Plaza Cervantes to check out the Feria de Alcalá de Henares. We stayed out til about 10:30 then came home and had dinner and talked to Pilar and Fernando until 2 AM.

This morning, we woke up bright and early again to get ready for church. There is a ward here, and the church is about 2.5 miles away. We walked there and arrived just fine. Everyone there was very nice to us and it was cool to be across the world and still sing the same hymns and have the same lessons as back home. After we got home, I had my first paella! Pilar made it with saffron rice, green beans, red and green peppers, onions, garlic, and chicken and rabbit. Possibly the best dinner ever. We ate outside on the patio where it was sunny and cool and breezy.

Anyway, now I'm all full and sleepy so I'm going to have my customary siesta. Classes start tomorrow, so that should make my life a little more interesting. [Slash] busy. Stay tuned for the next installment of Brian's Adventures in Spain!

Brian is in Spain!

Hola amigos. So, I'm finally here in Spain. Which is awesome, BTW's. Let me tell you about how I got here though...

I woke up at the butt-crack of 5 AM and Shelby drove me to the airport. (Thank you again Shelby!) My flight was to leave at 8:30, so I got through security and found my gate. There were 30 minutes left before the boarding, so I got in line at McDonald's to get some breakfast. (I had half a banana in the car before that.) Then, right as I'm sitting down to enjoy my breakfast sandwich, they announce that they're actually going to be leaving earlier. So I had to scarf down a few bites of my beloved breakfast sandwich and board the plane. After an hour of waiting for slow people to board, we finally get ready to take off. But then they announced that there would be a 4-hour delay, which would cause me to miss my connecting flight in Philadelphia. Long story short, they reduced the delay to 1 hour, so by the time I got to Philadelphia, I only had 5 minutes to get on my next flight. Turns out the gate was on the complete opposite end of the airport, which is huge. I ran and ran, and barely made the final boarding call... then they announced that there would be another delay. So I ran to McDonald's and got a happy meal, then got on the plane for Madrid. I couldn't sleep at all during the 7 hour flight because the lady next to me was snoring SOOOO loud.

But lo and behold: all that is behind me. I AM IN SPAIN!!! This is where I am living:

First impressions:

• The landscape in Madrid looks almost exactly like  Bakersfield. Weird.
• The city we're staying in, Alcalá de Henares, is exactly how I pictured an old-timey European city should be: narrow cobblestone streets, tall buildings (usually with shops on the ground floor and apartments above).
• My host family is AWESOME. They are Fernando and Pilar, and are super nice. Pilar owns a shop downstairs where she sells women's clothes that she makes. Their house is beautiful and old (about 400 years old) quirky and in my room I have floor-to-ceiling French doors that lead to a balcony over the street. Their son owns a churrerría, so I will probably be dropping in there every so often. Yesh.
• We're within a 5 minute walk of just about everywhere in the city. Oh, and good news: Alcalá offers free bike rentals as a public service, and the depot is across the street. I think I will be riding around a lot! :D
• Speaking Spanish full-time is hard! I don't know how native speakers do it! :P JK. But seriously, I've been studying Spanish for 9 years now, and I suddenly feel like I don't know anything. But... Fernando and Pilar are very patient with me.

We have the whole evening to ourselves, so my roomie Nick and I might end up going on another walk around the city to check things out. Tomorrow's plan: our whole group is meeting at the train station here and going to Madrid to hang out. Awesome! I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Well friends, it's definitely time for a nap. But I just wanted you all to know I made it here safely, and that I'm already in love with Spain. I'll take some pictures later tonight and post them so you can appreciate how much I love this place! In the mean time, here is a picture of the Plaza Cervantes that is a few blocks away:

The hour cometh!

Hello friends. I'm presently at home in the lovely Bakersfield, CA. And guess what? I'm leaving for Spain in 3 days! Anyone that knows me well should know that my greatest desire since I was 14 has been to go to Spain. (Well, greatest desire after inventing a negative-calorie ice cream. I'll let y'all know how that goes.) Since I've been awaiting this adventure for SO long, I figure it's only awesome that I should share it with everyone!

Currently feeling nice and relaxed... for the first time since 2008. It'll be nice to be at home for the next few days. I just have to not think about how long my flight to Spain will be... (Which is about 15 hours, BTW's.)

Any followers of my other blogs will note that I'm terrible about keeping up on my blogging... I promise to do better this time! For reals. Expect pictures, stories, and magic. Okay, maybe not magic. But the pictures and stories will be magical.