Life with a host family

I am incredibly lucky for everything that I have here, heck to even be here. I am especially lucky to have been assigned the woman that I have. She is a middle-aged nurse with two children. Her daughter is 24 and lives with her, which is perfect since we are close in age. She studies fashion, so it will probably be a lot of fun to go shopping Las Rebajas (huge sales) with her. Her son is 30 and is staying here temporarily as he just lost his job in London. He has been living in London for the past 6 years and so he speaks very good English, just with a British accent. The rest of the family does not speak English.

They live in the suburb of Moratalaz, but this is not the type of suburb that we would imagine. There are no cul-de-sacs with nice houses. Instead, there are blocks and blocks of apartment buildings as far as the eye can see. And these suburbs are not a short drive from commercial life, there are small shops below all of the apartment. Just outside our apartment is a dentist, a bread shop, a pharmacy, a fruit shop, and other small shops.

Our host mom is supposedly a very good cook. So far we have only had two dinners here. The first night she made us Paella, which is one of the most famous Spanish dishes. It is rice with either seafood or meat. She used shrimp and small oysters. It was absolutely delicious. Last night she made us some sort of hard boiled egg filled with tomato sauce and tuna. It sounds like a very odd combination, but it was absolutely delicious.

View from my window

Sunset over the city from window

This is a very nice apartment in that it has heating, air conditioning, and underground parking. My host mom has her own car which is convenient when she offers to drive you into the city. There is also a close metro station and bus stop.

I share a room with another American named Patty. She is from outside Chicago, but attends school in Oregon. The family has an 8 year old golden retriever named Zar. He is very sweet and adorable. He would not hurt a fly.

My bedroom, Patty is on her bed

Our closets and door (isn't this adorable?)

Our own bathroom, complete with bidet

Electricity here costs a lot more than in the United States, so when you walk into the apartment building the lights in the halls and outside the elevator are off until you trigger the motion sensor. Utilities in general cost a lot more than we are used to in the United States.

Also, many people sleep in later (since night life literally lasts until dawn), and so they have hurricane shutters that are basically metal shutters that are found between the two panes of glass on the window that completely seal out all light from entering the room. I love them.

For the day of Los Reyes (the kings), our host mom, well technically "Los Reyes" bought both Patty and I scarves. Scarves are INCREDIBLY popular here. They are probably even more popular for men than they are for women. Just all around the men dress incredibly well.

New scarf

It is completely normal for a man to be very fashionable, in fact a man would stick out if he was not. For young men the most popular hairstyle is definitely to shave the sides and back, and have a spiked-up look on top. It looks pretty good. Everyone is always dressed up and the women always have nice boots and pea coats. Fashionable purses seem to be the rage as well. Heels are very popular and you actually will stand out if you are not dressed up as we may to go out in the US, but certainly not how we dress for class or our daily lives. I don't think I've seen a single person wearing jeans and a T-shirt here. Granted, this is Madrid, one of the fashion capitals of the world.

Zara, for any of you fashion lovers, is a Spanish fashion company that is very elite. Once something is on the shelves, it is removed 2 weeks later sold or not. Then they sell it at their other store "Lefties" like left-over. This is a store that I will probably frequent more so than Zara. There are other popular stores such as Mango, and then of course, the Swedish H&M.

Madrid

The lifestyle is definitely different here. The rumor of "Las siestas" (the naps) during the middle of the day is only partly true. Some stores and most restaurants will close from 2-5pm for La Siesta, but most people will work straight through the day as corporate life is trying to keep up with other countries.

I feel like most people must need siestas in order to function because most clubs don't even open till around 1 or 2 in the morning. And the metro starts its last train at 1:30am and there isn't another one until 6am.  Due to this, it is pretty common to just stay out in order to not pay for a taxi home. The nightlife in Madrid is supposed to be the best in Europe, and is rumored to be in the world.

Another big difference is meals. Because people stay out so very late, it is not common to eat dinner before 9 or 10pm at night. Our host mom serves our meals at 9pm. Most restaurants won't even open until 9pm for dinner. It is normal to eat a very small breakfast as well, like a piece of bread and a pastry with some coffee. Because of this, I often feel like I'm very hungry. I'm going to need to bring snacks with me everywhere. Also, I have learned that walking around the city it is a good idea to bring water with you if you like drinking water as much as I do.

Last note: I feel much safer in Madrid than in US cities. You do not see the "sketchy" looking people that you do in the United States, which means that the pick-pocketers look like regular people of course. But what's different is that US cities have a LOT higher murder rates as well as rape rates. The main thing to worry about here is getting robbed. I'd much prefer this to being raped or murdered. Also there are just so many people around, being grabbed would be much much more difficult than stealing from someone without them knowing it. Just hold your purse at all times.

Madrid is wonderful :)