By Hunter Leach

My experience in Madrid so far has definitely been really interesting. When we landed in Madrid and drove from the airport, the first thing that I noticed were the Spanish flags around the area. “They really know how to represent their country,” I said in the car on the way to our Airbnb. We arrived at the apartment and I found out that the building was 100 years old!!! That was really cool to hear. We got inside and as the manager was showing us around, I noticed a lot of new things that I haven’t seen before, like the 100 year old elevator. We had arrived 3 hours before check-in time, so the manager showed the group a map of what was around. As soon as the manager was finished we went for a walk around the area. As we walked, I was able to communicate with people in Spanish easily whenever I wanted something or needed to ask for help with something. All of sudden, I started to get confident and the nervousness went away. We toured the neighborhood and had the freedom to explore in separate groups. 

The second day, I was able to play soccer (my favorite sport) with my good friend from school, Miguel. I spent an hour playing soccer with him and his team and this was really fun. Another reason why I love Spain is because soccer is popular. After that we went to eat lunch and I ordered a soup that I didn’t know anything about, but I wanted to try something new. When the food arrived I tried it and liked it until Adri told me that it was “pig intestines”. Then, I didn’t like it anymore, but I’m glad that I tried it. I learned that eating with one hand under the table is disrespectful and it tells people that you don’t like the food, but if you have two hands on the table then that shows that you are enjoying the food. One thing that I noticed about the food and the drinks is that they serve big portions of food and they serve small portions of drinks. At the end I had the option to choose between coffee, cheese cake, and flan. I chose cheesecake because I had never tried it before. I liked the cheesecake part but not the strawberry topping. I would prefer chocolate on top. Overall, I like Spain so far. I definitely want to learn more while I am here and get to grow as a person and to definitely learn more Spanish along the way. #WeLiveAndWeGrow