Hello Madrid!

June 16 - Hello Madrid!

The flights from Tbilisi to Istanbul to Madrid were easy and I was asleep before we even took off. I was a little embarrassed deplaning in Istanbul because I woke up when we landed, but then fell asleep again as everyone was getting off so the stewardess had to wake me up again and the bus had to wait for me while everyone else was already on. I made it without incident to the cafe, navigating the Madrid metro fairly well, and finally met up with Anna again after years apart. It’s like no time has passed and we can just pick up where we left off, as if we were just meeting up in the square between our two houses in Valpo like we did most days during our study abroad six years ago. Six years! We were both such different people when we arrived in Chile, and so young. For my first afternoon in Madrid we wandered Retiro park, I met some of Anna’s friends, Fernie made us fajitas and guac, we decorated carrot cake cupcakes for Anna's friend's birthday, and drank a lot of sangria before I fell into an exhausted sleep at an early (for Spain) 1 am.

High: Just being around Anna again and getting to talk again is wonderful. She was one of my best friends in Chile, and continues to be a person who constantly inspires me, makes me cringe-laugh, and challenges my worldview.

Low: That constant nagging stomachache and tiredness that always accompanies my first day of travel.

Glitter: Madrid, or what I’ve seen of it, is a great city and it is amazingly fantastic to be able to understand what everyone is saying all the time.