¡Madrid, Encantada!

These past three and a half days have been insanely jam-packed.

• sorting out a local number
• apartment hunting (!!!)
• walking tours
• soccer
• ordering food in spanish
• meeting friends of friends
• mojitos

I am absolutely exhausted! We have seen 11 apartments in the last three days – pretty sure we’re burnt out. We’re done. *continues to browse ads on idealista.com* But seriously, I think I’ve found my future home. Apartment after apartment, question after question, commute after commute, I think I’ve found it. I’d say there was a solid toss up between two, and whichever one I didn’t choose, Michaela would get. It was pretty much, “Awwww this location is actually AMAZING – everything is pretty and I’m close to the Palace and I’m pretty much on the main strip to the city centre” vs “Omg this apartment is so pretty and newly renovated and clean and there are other students here and omg, there’s cleaning lady every week!” – exterior vs interior. Interior won (cleaning lady!!!). Don’t worry, the location is still pretty sweet and it’s only about a 5-10 minute walk to the city centre so I’m pretty happy. I should be moving in in a few days! Qué emocionante! Fun fact: 51% of the population of Madrid aren’t actually from Madrid. This means that communicating (thus far) hasn’t been ridiculously hard (as expected). This also means, however, that my Spanish isn’t being well practiced. I have to make a conscious effort to speak it myself. I’m not as surrounded by it as I thought I would be – Maybe this will change once I start university next week. Fun fact: Spanish is A LOT easier when a couple of drinks have been had. I personally feel we’ve been pretty well introduced to the real Madrid way of life thanks to a number of people who have openly welcomed us into their life here in Madrid. We’ve been to places that give you a 1L drink (for next to nothing) and with each drink, you get a huge plate of tapas y pinchos… what even?! We’ve found our way into little hidden restaurants with cute interiors, welcoming owners and the most delicious food (3 course meal, complimentary alcoholic beverage and basket of bread, all for 10€ or under!). One adorable restaurant has taken Michaela and I under their wing and said that we have a new home there now and we have a regular table to go to – bless. We’ve also experienced our first soccer game (RMA vs ATM oOoOoohhh) at a bar accompanied by drinks and highly passionate madrileños screaming at a projector screen.

This is just a very brief summation of the past few days. But in all seriousness, I absolutely love Madrid. The city, the culture, the food, the architecture, the people – everything.

Til my next post, Besos para ti xx