Seven days without writing, makes one weak. That much is true for me. First let me begin by apologizing profusely but not posting more sense I’ve been here. Though in my head it seems as if I have tons of free time everyday to go about my life, to write, and explore, the minutes easily turn into hours which slip into days which  transform into a week and I find myself at a complete loss for time. I guess the saying “time flies when you’re having fun” really is true.

My first week in Madrid was definitely one to remember (if only I could remember it all). Each morning was not only a struggle to get out of our beds, but a struggle to find our place in Madrid, our little blip on the map in a city of millions. Each day was an adventure, a new set of challenges faced us and we conquered them (ever so majestically, might I add). Orientation at school began on Monday and consisted of crash courses in Spanish slang and Spanish cultural history, along with  visits to Segovia, the Reina Sofia Museum, walking tours of Sol, a scavenger hunt and a ton of information to get us back on nuestros pies (our feet). I promise to have a blog to recap everything but in the mean time, I think it’d be appropriate to introduce my roommates because you’ll be hearing about them many times throughout the blog, they are absolutely amazing and you probably, most likely, definitely should meet them!

Los Chuptios

Jess: This chica (whom I share a room with) hails from the city of Chicago (the actual city) and is never without a smile. She seems to be my partner in crime everywhere we go and we constantly find ourselves being asked “How long have you known each other?” We immediately begin to laugh it off, knowing that the answer is of no importance to our friendship. Jess loves chocolate con churros (like duh!) and we have recently discovered baguettes, strawberry marmalade and cured cheese as our favorite post school snack. She enjoys taking pictures but much to the rest of our apartment’s disappointment, she does not like posting on Facebook (I promise this will be changing sooner than later).

Alina: Also known as #twitterlessalinah in my tweets about los chupitos (our nickname), this girl is la reina (the queen) when going out at night. She may be the last to get ready when we head to school, but without fail Alinah is always dazzling. She’s from Nueva York (NY) and has the style and outgoing personality to match. I know I can always count on her to have a fun time and to quote pretty much anything ranging from our favorite songs,  “The time I studied abroad” tumblr, and “Midd Kids”. Between Jess, Alinah and I we all tend to be bad influences on each other when it comes to food (shown by her love for Pizza, what New Yorker doesn’t?)  but as the Spaniards say “de perdido al río” (from lost to the river – we don’t know what it means either!)

Erin: Another native from Illinois, Erin is from the suburbs of Chicago. She is always prepared and has been to Spain before so she helped us along the first few days with some of the customs we weren’t used to. We’re in 3 of 4 classes together, but I promise her Spanish is much much better than mine and she’s always helping me to with my tarea (homework)! We have bonded over our love of traveling and have found ourselves in deep conversations over coffee back home in the city (She’d never heard of NoHo Deli!) Even when we are “de perdido al río” she’s always smiling and looking on the bright side of things!