Madrid

Flew to Madrid today. The customs part of security is the most lax I've ever seen. I wait about half an hour in line (there's only one guy attending), when I go up, I hand him my passport, he doesn't even touch it, he just glanced at the cover and point for me to go ahead and go through.

Mom: sorry I didn't post immediately, but didn't know the password for the wireless.

I really wish the language school had given me more information about the accommodations. All they did was give me an address. I went to it, but had no idea who to ring up, whether the entire building was student housing. I rung up 5D, which I thought was my room number. In very broken spanish I say I have reservation, unsure whether I'm talking to another student with whom I'll be sharing the apartment with or what. I'm buzzed in without any instructions. I come in and am not sure if I'm supposed to stay in the lobby or come upstairs. Eventually I go upstairs. I rung the doorbell. There was some loud music coming from within, so I figured it had been just another student, and I'd have to try elsewhere. Turns out its the landlady. She owns a 3 bedroom apartment and rents out 2 of the rooms to students. I don't think she speaks English. Communication for me was strained in that I have no vocabulary in Spanish (I never know whether I'm just saying a portuguese/english/french/italian word with an accent or I'm using a word that I recall from what little Spanish I studied way back in gr.9) and I had no idea what was going on. I did understand what she said though. But it makes me wonder what that silly Lingua School would expect if I was a complete novice. I mean, surely they should've provided me with a bit more information.

Brief impressions of Madrid (which may be entirely inaccurate in that all I've seen is the walk from the metro station to here): reminds me of Brazil again. At first I was thinking that it reminded me of Rio, but then as I was going through the side streets, it was reminding me of Sao Joao, but that's too small of a town to be an apt description. It's much less busy or crowded than I would've expected. (But then again, I had been talking to Rosa from my french course and when I told her I was going to Madrid next when week she seemed surprised. She said I'd be the only one there. All the locals would be traveling, trying to escape the heat.) It seems like a nice place, although my expectations weren't particularly high.