Forget the Piso...I Need a Salad!

I am ashamed to admit that I got my dinner from the Golden Arches tonight. In my defense, I have eaten nothing but bread for the past week (and although I love bread, especially Eurostyle bread), I just couldn't take it anymore and went in search of a salad. I found one at McDonald's...the Spaniards don't exactly eat a lot of veggies. Nonetheless, there's something comforting about the fact that no matter where you go in the world, the hamburger patty tastes exactly the same. The exception to the rule is Argentina - the meat there is amazing, even at McDonald's. Dinner: $2 Euros. Money spent on food today, $9.50 Euros. That's a little over $13 USD. You can definitely eat in Spain for less than $20 dollars a day. I'm not saying you're going to eat well or healthfully, but at least it's economical.

Piso Hunting 101

Based on my piso search in Granada, I assumed finding a place to live in Madrid would take 3 to 4 days max. Suffice to say, I was a tad off the mark. Farren and I have been diligently (walking the streets, combing the internet, making calls, etc.) looking for a place to live since Wednesday. It's now Sunday night and we are still homeless.

There have been a few discouraging hurdles: the Nigerian scheme that apparently plagues Spanish Craigslist, a landlord who didn't show up for our appointment, and the agency that sent us to nasty but expensive places. Farren is quite optimistic and I have decided to adopt a laissez-faire attitude because I don't want to pay a pile of money to live in a place that isn't as close to perfect as it can be.

We have orientation all day tomorrow, so we can't make appointments to look at available options until Tuesday afternoon. That means we're moving to an 'apartment' hotel (a hotel of apartments) on Wednesday. The only bright side in moving to the apartment hotel is it will have a small kitchen so we won't have to eat out every meal.

On the plus side, we saw a really nice (but way too expensive) place today, so we're going to keep on looking. Our new goal is to have a piso by this coming weekend. Cross your fingers and pray on it...

The Wonders of Facebook

When I studied abroad in Granada in the spring of 2005, I didn't know a soul in Spain (American or otherwise). I don't remember being nervous (probably because I was 20 and didn't know any better). This time around, I randomly Facebooked a handful of people with unique names and introduced myself. Out of that little FB blast, I found a roommate for my first week in Madrid (and with a little luck, the whole thing), a very cool dude also named Alaimo and a couple British girls, one of whom taught at the school I'm assigned to.

Although I was already devoted to Facebook for life, I'm now totally in love with it. I'm so happy with the people I met via FB that I've decided if I'm still single at age 32 or so, I'm going to try one of those online dating sites.

***Photo is of my Granada roommates Natalia and Eva (who I met randomly at the Office of International Relations at the University of Granada on my first day there).

Holy S*** this is My Life Right Now!!!

Today was the first day Farren and I took time to smell the flowers and enjoy a Saturday a la los Españoles. After discovering the neighborhood we want to live in, (it's sort of in Chueca but closer to the Tribunal metro stop, don't know what it's officially called), we found a shady table at a pizzeria bordering a plaza full of kids, parents, and dogs and ate lunch. After two glasses of Tinto Verano (sangria's little sister), I felt like pinching myself so I would wake up and be transported back to my real life. I mean seriously, this is ridiculous! I am getting paid to live in Madrid for 9 months! Honestly, everyone who has the balls to live abroad should look into my program. It has turned out to be an amazing deal! BTW, based on the people I've met so far, you don't really have to speak any Spanish to get in.