Tapas, move in, get lost...

I finally got internet at my apartment! Yay! My frustration from yesterday was that they wouldn't let my roommate and I get it because we don't have our NIE (Foreigner's ID Number) yet. Pretty frustrating, but everything's fine now!

That said, I have this blog post that was written last week, but I couldn't post it since I was using internet cafes. Enjoy!

26-29 September

I went for a tapas walk the other night (tapas are like appetizers, but wayyy better because they’re Spanish!). It was organized through the hostel I was staying in and it was pretty fun. They took us to three different places, each specializing in different kinds of tapas: general/mainstream Spanish tapas, tapas from the southern part of Spain (Andalucía), and tapas from the northern part of Spain. The last place we went to had a cider called Pachu that was absolutely repulsive! But the interesting thing was that the cider had to be poured from a distance for the liquid to settle right (since I know that description was pretty weird, here’s a picture of the guy who was pouring it). Even with this unique way of pouring the drink, I would definitely have to be paid like a gazillion dollars to drink that again! Ickkk! 

Some good news: I’m no longer homeless! I moved into my apartment last Saturday! It’s a pretty nice place – there are three bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. The owners just painted it and are also in the process of getting some random new things (lamps, cupboard handles, etc.). It’s located in a more residential part of town, so it’s very quiet compared to the centre of Madrid; it’s on the 5^th floor, which is like the 6^th floor in the USA since the ground floor is 0 here. In the case of this building, it’s also the top floor, so I don’t have to worry about anyone learning their flamenco choreography in the flat above! There’s no internet right now, which is kind of hard when you’re trying to figure out where things are in the city and you rely on Google to tell you these things… but that’s okay…I think I’ll survive…maybe…

Other than the tapas walk and moving in, I’ve been exploring the city. I get lost at least 10 times every day, but I eventually find my way back to something I recognize. The other day, for instance, the metro stop near my apartment was closed so I had to get off one stop before mine: Ventas, which is the name of Madrid’s Plaza de Toros (the bullring). It turns out that I timed it at the worst moment because I arrived in front of the Plaza right before the corrida (bullfight) started so I was thrust into a crowd of people scalping tickets to the corrida, throngs of people filing into the Plaza, a bunch of booths set up selling touristy items, and animal rights activists protesting the bullfight. In the end, I think it should have taken me about 30 minutes to walk home, but it ended up taking me about 2 hours because I had no idea where I was! I realized that one of the few good things about Reno is that you always know which way is North because you can see the mountains to the West and the brown hills to the East all the time. Hopefully I get better at remembering some street names soon! 

I finally found my way across the street and realized that it’s a pretty amazing looking bullring from the outside. I apologize that this picture doesn’t show the chaos I had to get through just to get across the street!