Madrid, Day 1

I flew in from Barcelona yesterday. Today is my first full day in Madrid. The family I am staying with consists of two people, a mother and a daughter. Carmen es la madre and Estrella es la hija. Estrella is 16. The language barrier is somewhat difficult, because although I speak a lot of Spanish, there are many things I do not understand and the people here speak extremely fast.

My last night in Barcelona was absolutely amazing. I hung out with a group of like 15 kids from all over Europe and the States whom were working as club and bar promoters to stay afloat. We walked all around Las Ramblas until about 6am when the metro reopened and I could catch a ride back home. I wish I could have stayed in Barcelona longer to get to know these kids more. They were amazing and definitely my favorite part of Spain thus far.

I fell asleep at like 7pm and slept until about 7am this morning. Too much sleep. I feel kind of strange now and I have to get into the groove of Madrid. It is much easier in Barcelona because it is smaller and everything flows into itself. The metro is more simple and being on my own I could do whatever I wanted when I wanted. Now I am under the roof of Carmen and I have to respect her home and her wishes. She is at work right now. I imgaine we will talk about rules and expectations when she returns. I am really nervous today because I am afraid that I will not live up to the expectations of the family. I have to start working on my lesson plan and I´m not really sure where to begin because I do not know what Estrella´s level of English is. I guess this is the challenge, right? I feel like a little kid again. I forgot about all my responsibilities for a few days having fun in Barcelona. I forgot why I was here. Although I had an amazing time my last couple nights before coming to Madrid, I think it is best if I forget it now so that I can press on and do what is needed of me. What a hard thing to forget.