Yesterday I did nothing. I had been planning on going out at night, get some dinner, stroll around, but the landlady asked me if I could stay here and wait for the other student who was coming, and let her in. I waited all night, and she didn't come. I was pretty worried, but turns out she was coming today.
Anywho, today I figured I should go see Madrid. I had done very little research on Madrid, so I didn't know much about the touristy spots. I thought, perhaps I should go to a park, so I searched on the map for any green areas. The nearest metro station to the Jardin Botanico was Plaza del Sol, which apparently is THE touristy place. I think watching the tourists was more amusing than the sights they were awing at. After passing by them, I got to a park. (I'm still not entirely sure which park it was, after I left the metro station, I lost my bearings, and if you walk west you go to the Jardin Botanico, and east it's the Campo del Moro). I also I realized I really don't like sight seeing. It got me in this mood of thinking that the world is unimpressive and mediocre. Which is strange given how often my mood is in the opposite direction. I lay on the grass in the park to reflect about it and decided I should go do something about it, go out and buy a book (the one I brought from home was pretty stupid), and enjoy reading on the grass. On the way out the park, I started noticing all these species of birds I'd never seen before and it got me back into a good mood. I kept exploring the park, laid down to reflect, although later a guard came up to me and told me I wasn't allowed to go on the grass (which is stupid, what's the point of a park if you're not allowed to interact with nature?).
Anywho, I decided to go home and have a siesta. Now I'm finally in a country whose sleep schedule resembles mine: afternoon nap and then no sleep until 1 or 2 am (although I hear the siesta is going out of style in larger cities like Madrid because of the demands of a globalized economy). According to my Swiss culture prof, swiss people go to bed pretty early. As a result, almost everything is closed by 7pm. Here, people start going out at 10pm.
I followed suit and went out for dinner around 9(although I had forgotten that lunch was the main meal). I went to Plaza del Sol, but it was too touristy. I decided to go home thinking, given my tendency to get lost finding the apartment, maybe I should go back before it becomes completely dark. I didn't get back before dark, and I did get lost. But I got to see real Madrid life. Everyone was out. I'm not entirely sure what they do when they're going out at night, in that I could only see the people on the streets, not where they were going. What I did see, was people taking strolls with their families, or hanging out with friends on benches or at the park. Lacking the requirements here for those activities, I decided to go back home.
I met the girl who'll be living here with me. She's a girl from Germany, seemed really nice. Anywho, should sleep now.
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