My apologies for the long delay in this post, but after a long and hectic week I am finally feeling settled into Madrid. I will be living and working here for 6 months (and possibly longer if my company likes me).
I was accepted through an intern program with the "Fundación Consejo España – Estados Unidos" which comprises of 17 Americans this year, although we come from different universities and work for different companies. The objective of the intern program is as follows:
"To offer U.S. citizens, recently graduated from the United States' best universities (BS, BA, MBA, PHD), the possibility of having an experience in a Spanish company in order to provide in-depth knowledge of their companies while at the same time offering the opportunity to learn about Spanish businesses, society, culture and language."
Pretty neat stuff. We had an orientation week together of classes aimed at giving us a crash-course of the country's history, economy, culture, art, food, and everything else imaginable. It was very informative and helpful, although it was taught completely in Spanish. I quickly discovered that my language skills were not as sharp as I thought, but I have found it a strong motivator to study more.
Hotel
During my orientation week, I was staying in a hotel provided by my company near the center of the city. Nice place, but I did encounter one funny story when I first arrived. I found that after I got into my room, none of the lights worked. I strongly suspected that I was doing something wrong, but sure enough not a single light would come on in the bathroom or bedroom. After a few minutes of cursing and anger (I had just crossed the Atlantic on a red-eye and was running on about 3 hours of sleep), I called down to the front desk, where I received instructions on how to operate my room.
I had already notice this little box near the front door, but couldn't figure out what to do with it.
The nice lady instructed me to insert my key and everything would work fine, which it did. I think she has received numerous inquiries from Americans in the past.
They apparently have this system for energy efficiency reasons, so everything shuts down when one leaves the room. Pretty clever I thought.Hostel
Although the orientation classes were during the day of the first week, we were expected to search for an apartment during the nights. Unfortunately the week ended with me still not having a place to live, so rather than extending my stay in the hotel (I felt it was too expensive) I decided to move into a hostel. This was a bigger headache than I anticipated because most places only had openings for a couple of days, and I was unsure how long I needed to stay. I booked a place for 3 nights thinking there was no way I couldn't have found an apartment by then. This is what my room looked like.
You have probably noticed the 3 beds and are wondering about my roommates. I was a little worried about my belongings (most notably my laptop), so I booked all 3 for myself. This turns out to be somewhat common among hostel-goers with a lot of stuff. All together, it cost about 40 euros per night, which was still much less than what the hotel would have cost me. My parents have pointed out that perhaps I was a little too cheap, but oh well.Apartment
Luckily for me an opportunity presented itself on my last day in the hostel, which also happened to be the day before I started work. After much thought, I decided to go with a "homestay" option, which means I integrate and live with a family who cooks & cleans. The family consists of a mother (Maria Jesus), her son (Alejandro), and his wife (Theresa). The couple speaks English quite well (Theresa is a Caucasian born and raised in San Francisco), and Alejandro has also been studying it for quite awhile as well. Maria Jesus speaks only Spanish. The couple is moving to California in a few weeks, so I am feeling a little extra pressure to work on my language skills before they leave.
Although this option is more expensive than just an apartment, I thought the extra exposure to the culture, food, and ability to practice Spanish was worth the money. I'm currently planning on living here for 3 months, but I also have the option to leave early or extend later should if absolutely necessary.
Madrid
Here's a little bit of general info on Madrid, the nation's capital. It is home to roughly 3.5 million within the city, along with an additional 1.5 million in the "greater area". It is located almost precisely in the middle of the country (see map at the top), with Barcelona about a 4-5 hour drive away on the East Coast.
One aspect which confused me greatly was the complete lack of street signs. It took me awhile to realize there are signs - just not where I'm used to. Here's a picture of a typical intersection...notice no street signs anywhere.
But since every street has a tall building on the corner, tiny signs can be found posted alongside them. See example below.
This works fine for pedestrians, but I have no idea how drivers get around on this system. I suppose it says something that every single taxi I've seen has been equipped with a GPS system.Where I live
Fortunately the metro system here is really good, although it seems overwhelming at first. It's very extensive and has been expanding rapidly. Below is a map which is now old and outdated - many of the lines are now much longer.
I live close to the bottom where the light blue and gray lines intersect. This puts me in the southern part of the city, and unfortunately my work office is quite far North. This makes for about a 50 minute commute each way. Not exactly my ideal situation, but again the trade-off was for living with a local family. I initially tried to find such an arrangement closer to work but was unsuccessful. Most of the other Americans in the program ended up budging a lot on their preferences as well (cost, location, roommates), but overall I'm pretty happy with my situation.
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