La noche en Blanco

I finished my internship this week. I wanted to write a few things about my feelings at the end of this experience, but I can't really put anything together. I can't even write my internship report...and this isn't because everything was bad, but because it left me sour and without words. I feel like a person who gets out of a relationship and instead of still loving or hating, doesn't care. That's how I feel after three months as an intern at the Romanian Embassy in Spain I don't care. I will manage to put myself together these days and at least write the internship report.

"La noche en blanco" marked Marketa's and Edita's visit. After 3 months of leaving Aarhus, seeing them brought a feeling of warmth back into me. I felt like we've never been a part and we just went on one of our trips from Aarhus. I hope this type of meetings will happen every three months because I love the feelings they bring back into me. They bought me a super cute mirror from Paris, because they know I love little things that seem insignificant to others, instead of big, posh gifts. I managed to mix them with all the others here and we hanged out internationaly. With them I also finished my tour of Madrid, seeing everything a tourist could. 

Cold September

Along with September the warmth of Madrid disappeared. The wind started blowing cold, shifting everything that comes in its way. The city and its people have no mysteries to unravel...it just became another city I have been living in, and discovered without playing the role of the Japanese tourist. One more week of playing behind the desk, and two more before becoming again a Romanian student abroad. The end of an experience that became difficult to conclude on paper for my internship report. Three months of living a life I have interacted with before and maybe will do it again...next time, if there will be, as the one holding the golden feather. Trust is rushing through my veins, but not in the people around me...only in the star I have carved on my skin and believe in. I changed my status and dare to do more than before. I have no hidden feelings, only hidden purposes. Another page is turning like every three months in my last two years. Another page full of friends, laughter and sleepless nights. Unlike before, my clothes are still in the closet waiting to be nicely put in my traveller’s bag…and I’m still acting like a person living here since forever. I hope that next weekend will help me make up my mind once and forever, as a part of the life I have left behind a few months ago is coming back, Marketa and Edita.

Last weekend of August

I feel a bit confused and unable to change anything in what and how I am. Though it may not be the best solution…I will just ignore everything and continue playing the game. This time last year I was leaving for Aarhus and saying goodbye to things I still miss and probably never be able to recover and catch up with. This time last year my life changed completely and I became a roomate. Life is different and the way I act towards it changed...

After a great week with horror movies and people I'm starting to love as days go by, yesterday I wanted to stay home and rest. The boys were supposed to return this weekend and I wanted to get ready for their crazy ways. But, 2 hours after going to bed...at around 3 a.m. Alex arrived with two of his friends from their 9 days - 9 countries tour. They were a bit tipsy and wanted to go out.

The Romanian state is continuing to take advantage of my free work...so this weekend I have to work from home.

On Sunday it was my Saint name day, a day a never celebrate because that is my name only in papers and I don't feel related to it. Still I went with Alex to Rastro, in La Latina, which is a street market full of colour  I bought myself a small, short, my new trade mark dress and some rings...and a nice Breakfast at Tiffany's wallet :). We also had Indian food at a restaurant in Lavapies. I loved the market...I will definitely go there again before leaving. I remembered today Irina telling me to visit Madrid, because it's a nice city to see and it hides lots of treasures. I realised that I cannot visit a city I live in, because I don't feel like in holidays and I don't feel like a tourist...I'm even shy to take out the camera. I never visited Bucharest, or Kiev and I never actually visited Aarhus either. If somebody would ask me what are the best things to see in these three places...I wouldn't know what to say. I will never probably see more of Madrid than I get to see while living here...and I don't mind because it already is a special city for me.

Lost in Madrid in August

Even though work at the Consulate takes more that half of my personal time and the boys weren't home this month...I still managed to spend some time out of the apartment. Summer doesn't seem to be as strong as it used to be at the beginning of July, when I arrived in Madrid. The Romanian news announced storms in Spain, but this happens mostly in the East, as I saw on the news here. I can feel the change in the morning when I go to the Consulate...I always think about taking something to cover my arms, but then when get to the never ending metro, I feel like loosing as much clothes as I can. I started using the normal stares at the metro, because since I started working at the Consulate I didn't have any time for running...so I am doing my exercises as I can, when I can.

Soon I will start writing my internship report. My classmates are announcing their return to Aarhus, and the end of their holidays...I still have no idea what I am going to do...my status is pending.

Out with Irina, Alex and others, the usual walking from bar to bar night (every time I'm going out with Alex and Andre we have to enter at least two bars, depending on how long the night is going to be, you never really drink two beers in the same place).

Plaza de Toros, sin corida (Plaza de Toros in Madrid is announced, by a big advertisement in front of it, as being the greatest in Spain. It's pretty close to my house and they seem to have coridas every weekend. The cheapest ticket is 5 euros, the view is bad and they announce you that you have to stand the heat of the sun though out the show. I would like to go, not till the end, because it's cruel, but at least to feel the vibe of the show) + Sushi night with Irina :)

With Andrei, Cristina and Florin at "El templo de Debod" at sunset (this is an original 2200 years old Egyptian construction, dedicated to Isis and Amon, which has been given as a gift to Spain by Egypt in 1968).

In love with Barcelona

The second city in Spain and Madrid's main competition. Full of colour and architectural styles, full of tourists and of noise... We left on Friday with the night train, which looks pretty much like a normal Romanian train...we were a bit disappointed when we saw it and the super uncomfortable night we spent in it, gave us the chills when we were thinking about the way back. We walked through the whole city and though our feet were killing us we kept discovering every corner of the city. The only two little days we had didn't allow us to visit everything on the outside, but we saw kind of everything Barcelona had to offer us. This is a super must see city, but maybe it would be better to visit it off-season to see everything. Catalan is different from Castilian and the people from Barcelona are different from the ones in Madrid...while there, I was thinking again about the remark I made with the differences between Spanish...and I continues to think that every region is totally different and they are a bit divided. The prices were extremely high...especially for museum and other tourist things and they were a bit taking advantage of everything they were offering. The beach was extremely dirty and the water too hot and blurry. I am the kind of person who likes to splash around but this time I didn't feel like it. The waves are super strong and you could feel the depth of the water immediately.

Still we saw the best of Spain and ate the best Paella, Pulpitos and Patatas Bravas in Spain :)

Lazy Madrid

An empty apartment and the silence of a Sunday. A double bed with a corner covered by the strong Spanish sun. A curtain slowly moving, blown by the hot wind of Madrid. The street under the window is quiet...a woman can be heard from time to time, moaning with pleasure...and another one calling somebody across the street. No footsteps, no cars...just the calming silence of nothing... disturbed by my hamsterish friends, that make squireling sounds from time to time. The air is dry...my lips are constantly dried and I even get nose bleeds here...Andre´s room is bigger and it´s easy to enjoy the breeze on his huge bed...huge comparing to mine. I´m already sleeping in his bed and enjoying the space it offers. Tomorrow Irina is coming and I will have to share my ocean of softness...I had a hard week...and I deserve my weekend of laziness ..I cleaned everything I could clean, except my mind...which keeps creating dreams that are difficult to understand in the morning.

My international studies

I came to Spain because I wanted to improve my knowledge in the international field. My internship is suppose to help me apply the information I learned through my studies. What I didn't think about before was that in this period I am trying to apply the Western style of teaching in Romanian methods of work. It's been a month since I've been in the embassy, between well-trained people. Unlike Ukraine, the people in this embassy are young and easier to communicate with. The work and procedure though it's pretty slow. This month I didn't have so much to work with...just translations, studies, a few meetings at the ministries and culture houses and reading the media daily, for news about Romanians. The problem is that people are on holidays in this period. I was expecting this, but I thought that they would still find something interesting for me to do. Till now I didn't apply any of the stuff I've been learning, but I learned a lot of great new stuff...which also applies to daily life...like paying super attention in everything you do. I begged them to send me to the consulate also...and because I perused and stressed them out they took me there today. The first thing I saw was a priest somewhere close to the consulate’s building, begging for money for the church. The image continued with people lying on the grass across the street in the shadow...waiting to come in. Inside there was noise...a thing that was missing at the embassy. Everybody seemed to be talking at the same time. I realised that I was behind the cashier’s office. They took me inside a room full of papers and registers. A woman greeted me...she said that she knows me from somewhere...and she actually has the same family name as me. She told me to sit and gave me one of the registers...for 9 hours I wrote down numbers and names of people applying for papers to go home. Because it's holidays and they want to go to Romania they realise that their legal forms have expired and they need new ones...and since the Consulate is the place where they are being released, this is where they come. People work together here more, and so the atmosphere is very different. I don't know if I like it more or not...but at least I get to observe the people from the diaspora. They tried to do the whole system by computers, but some people didn't agree, so even if the ambassador thinks that computers do everything, people write down everything by hand.

I will be here for one month at least...I will see...but I don't think I will stay there for 9 or 10 hours everyday.

White Party

Spanish celebrities, cameras, a fancy club and lots of white...this was my yesterday night. I and Alex went to a white party in Madrid, close to our home. Some of his friends from Galicia were promoting some alcoholic drinks they are producing and had invitations to this pretty posh party. Of course I didn't know any of the "celebrities" there, most of them being TV celebrities, but it didn't matter because they didn't know me either :P

Galicia

My first exit from Madrid since I arrived was this weekend in Galicia. We left on Friday afternoon, after Alex picked me up from work. It took us almost 2 hours to get out of Madrid, because everybody is leaving on Friday. So, all in all the road took us 6 hours...it was awful.

First stop: Cortegada

Andre's home to be exact…a small Spanish village, where, just like in Romania, everybody knows everybody. The area has a beautiful landscape, it's surrounded by mountains and the houses in the village bear the mark of history. This weekend was the days of Galicia, so the village was wearing celebration clothes. This is a good time for family meetings and partying together. And so it was. On Friday after we arrived, we had dinner with his sisters and then we went out. The club/bar where we went was pretty good and the people wonderful to observe. I stayed mostly with Andre's younger sister...and I spoke Spanish :D...We...or at least I...didn't drink a lot, but we stayed up till 8 in the morning, so the next day I felt completely wasted. It was the day when I had to move to Alex...but only after eating a huge launch with Andre's family. I thought the food would never end...it was delicious, but way too much for me. I had to get back to my senses for my next city...and so I did...for a while.

Next stop: Verin

Verin~Alex's home. Still in Galicia, but this time in a city. The city reminded me a bit of Aarhus, in size and maybe the atmosphere of the Festival. There was a water fight festival and we had our huge water guns, which we forts tried on the streets of Madrid on Thursday evening. I went from leaving with 2 boys to leaving with 5...which definitely raised the fun level of the day. The festival was great and at the end I was completely wet and cold. I had so much fun that for a few hours I forgot about how tired I was. But the evening it all came back...and I didn't manage to stay up later than 4 a.m. I slept for 10 hours...from 4 am till half past 2 pm, with a small break when Alex’s brother came to sleep next to me. On Sunday I was fresh, while the others were zombies...but the road back home killed me...6 hours in the car again...

People definitely love colours in Spain...and so they like to colour their life and make it a tiny rainbow. They enjoy everything they do and when they have fun nothing else matters. I am truly jealous for not being raised with the same spirit, because I love the rhythm life has here...and I have to admit, even the Danes had different festival where people were out on the streets.

Sad news from home, as it was happening when I was in Denmark. Ana had an accident in Greece and she's been in the hospital for a while and she will have to be there a bit longer. These things cannot be predicted and unfortunately they happen. I had a dream of her on Saturday...so the news today really struck me. I hope she's going to be ok.

Choose Madrid

In a few days, my first month in Madrid will end. A month that passed by so fast, that it makes it feel like a week...my days end in a glimpse. As I said before I was actually expecting to feel good here, especially after my Danish experience. Now, my problem is whether I should remain here or not. The pro's for this would be: living in a real European capital, earning enough money to live normally and becoming another person, culturally. The con's would be missing the people at home and constantly thinking about some of them, not being able to work in my field of studies...but on the other hand I am not so convinced about what Romania can offer me, so either way the only thing that would really change would be my social life. I already started looking for a job, so probably if I manage to find something in the next 2 months and nothing tragic happens, I will not go back home for a pretty long time. I am putting my future in the hands of serendipity, again :)

Ah, yes...Alex and Andre have been reading my blog and I have to correct some stuff:

1. Spain is not torn apart by it's political division, I read that in a newspaper...one...and the media here is politically manipulated...so one media source of information and no knowledge about the internal history of Spain is not enough;

2. My neighbors are not Spanish, they are Latin American...so my room doesn't have a Spanish sense and the music they/I listen to is not Spanish;

3. The apartment was not very, very dirty....it was a bit dirty and they were very good at cleaning it...considering that they are boys;

4. The post I deleted was not about my love life in Denmark, Andre!!!!

This weekend we are going to Galicia!!!

My "rummys"

I almost finished my first weekend with my new roommates and I think I will have a hell of a good time in Madrid with them. It was absolutely crazy...Yesterday I was at the swimming pool the whole day, and came back at 12 in the night, not expecting them to be home...but they were and a bit tipsy already. I drank with them at home and then we went out in a club...a good club...but I was too busy with our own thing to notice the club. We had some markers from home and we ended up fighting each other in the club and got totally painted. My official nickname in the house is Rummy...because: I come from Rumania and Rum (it could have been any other drink, but this worked with the name)...

Today we cleaned the house because it was very, very dirty and they are pretty good, I was surprised.

Here come the gays!

This Saturday (04.07) I was at my first gay parade. I am open minded and I don't like to judge things by their cover, but I have to admit that I felt myself a bit homophobic. It as a bit yucky to see a lot of guys kissing guys, I think girls kissing girls is much better. The parade in Madrid is one of the biggest in Europe and usually there up to 3 million people participating (crowd included). I have no idea how many were this year, but it sure was a lotttt of people. It was very hot, like every other summer day in Madrid…but this didn't stop anyone from going out on the streets, where they were having water fights or people throwing water on them from balconies.

The parade is full of colour and costumes. Of course the most interesting are the guys...lesbians are a bit boring and normal considering that nowadays all girls wear pants...but the guys were amazing. Not just the drags...who had absolutely fabulous costumes, but also the others. I have a feeling they look so good on purpose to agonies girls...and the main song was "Dragostea din tei"...which I guess is some sort of gay anthem.

I went with Sara and Diego and ended up with Diego and a bunch of Erasmusers I knew from Denmark. We had a few drinks (a bit too many maybe) and the best was the mojito in a 1l plastic glass, of which I had two because it was absolutely delicious. The result was a bad hangover...again...and every time I do this I say I will never do it again...I spent my hangover day with Diego's family by the swimming pool and we developed a nice theory...20s=1 day, 30s=2 or 3 days, 40s=4 days and after 50s you should be crazy to drink that much and not learn your lesson :P

Espana y politica

The Autonomous Community (Comunidad Autónoma) is the first-level political division of the Kingdom of Spain, established in accordance with the Spanish Constitution. The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "regions and nationalities" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".

Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communities. These regional governments are responsible for schools, universities, health, social services, culture, urban and rural development and, in some places, policing.

- Andalucia

*Sevilla (Government)

*Granada (Court of Justice)

- Aragon

* Zaragoza

- Principado de Asturias

* Oviedo

- Islas Baleares

* Palma de Mallorca

- Comunidad Autonoma Vasca

* Vitoria

- Islas Canarias

* Santa Cruz de Tenerife

- Cantabria

* Santander

- Castila-La Mancha

* Toledo (Government)

* Albacete(Court of Justice)

- Castilla y Leon

* Valladolid (Government)

* Burgos (Court of Justice)

- Catalonia

* Barcelona

- Extremadura

* Merida

- Galicia

* Snatiago de Compostela(Government)

* La Coruna (Court of Justice)

- La Rioja

* Logrono

- Madrid

* Madrid

- Region de Murcia

* Murcia (Government)

* Cartagena (Parliament)

- Comunidad Foral de Navarra

* Pamplona

- Comunidad Valenciana

* Valencia

The problem is that thses communities instead of making the country stronger they tear it apart. There is a very strong competition between them and the national spirt dies with this. People don't see themselves as Spanish, but as representatives of their own region. The Spanish are the ones in Madrid.

First 7 days in Madrid

Day 1:

I am extremely tired, because my flight was too early in the morning. I had to fly from Baneasa Airport and I was so sad to be there. I pitied all the people there, people who bring half of the value of the country's budget by working outside Romania and leaving their families behind, and were given really low and uncivilised conditions for and before travelling. I no longer have any problems with sleeping on the plane, I guess routine just had to kick in to make me comfortable. I slept most of the flight and woke up just as the plane was going above the Iberic Peninsula. Spain is beautiful from above, it’s not green like Denmark it's super colourful, and I enjoyed looking out the window as we went towards the great capital. Ahm...nobody was waiting for me at the terminal, though my coordinator from the embassy told me that somebody would. I spent 2 hours in the terminal walking from one place to another hoping to find somebody with a paper with my name on it, but nothing…at one point I even started asking people. I tried to call the embassy from the public phones in the airport and nothing; they don't work on Saturday at all, because I tried to call all offices. You can't imagine how pissed I was. My luck was that Sara was there with a friend and I called her to pick me up too. She came...and she is great...she looks similar to me in everything and I got along with her from the 1st second :). I was no longer tired, so we went shopping. She works in PR and she has some events this week, so she had to buy some stuff...and this is how I found out that the sales period just started...and will be till the end of July or August (depends on the shop). Her apartment is great, it’s a dream place for me and I really don't mind sleeping on her couch for a few days. I also met her boyfriend, Antonio :).

Madrid...I feel weird. I don't feel like a stranger anymore. I feel like I blended in just as I put my foot here. I understand what people are talking, the weather is just like in Bucharest and the design of the city makes me feel like at home. I will take thousands of pictures of the narrow streets I just love. I feel like I'm in a small city, a small city that is actually big and has everything. Spanish people speak loudly on the street and you can hear absolutely every discussion...and they don't mind...they love to talk a lot anyway...a lot and fast...especially shop assistants, which I remember loving 3 years ago also :). Today I ate my first typical thing in Spain: GAZPACHO (Spanish cold creamy vegetable soup)-which you actually drink as juice, with ice cubes. I saw an apartment today and I will see another one tomorrow. The one from today was ok, but she was asking for too much as deposit...tomorrow I am visiting a guy's nest...I think I would like to stay there actually, so I can't wait to see it. I think these three months will be more than great and the greater they will be the better I will feel and come home fully charged and active…wake me up when September ends, but slowly, because I don’t want to forget the details of this soon to be, hopefully, beautiful dream.

Day 2:

I slept so well last night...I couldn't believe it. The street where I live now it's a bit noisy, but I didn't mind that at all. In the morning we went to Sara's aunt because her mother was also there and they helped her with a project she has this week. We had typical Spanish breakfast: chocolate pudding, porras and churros.

I love the way they design their houses...everything is Ikea, but so much different than it was in Denmark, because everything is somehow unique. I saw the guy's nest today and decided to move there. So, from the 2nd of July I will have two flatmates, this time, guys. It will be a good way to compare how is living with two girls and how is living with two guys :)...and 5 hamsters. We also had typical Spanish aperitivo...a glass of beer with lemonade and tapas.

I love this city...and the people...I feel really good here and I cannot compare it to Denmark, because it's like comparing people from two different planets. They have pets, the dress differently, the talk loud, they hug and kiss...The cultural shock wasn't so strong here, and I don't feel as depressed as I did in Denmark, even after living there for such a long time. I think at the end I will compare the four countries I know so well now (Romania – Ukraine – Denmark – Spain). Tomorrow I’m going at the embassy, I can’t wait to see how it will be…I hope they will give me stuff to do.

Day 3:

Today I had my first day of work. I left home in the morning with Sara, because she wanted to help me with the metro and also I didn't know at what hour I should be there, so I just left with her. The metro in Madrid is incredible...it's impossible to get lost and the metro/bus station I took today (Avd de America) had 4 floors underground...so it takes a long time to get to the right platform, but the metro is very fast.

My first day of work was a bit confusing. Everyone wanted to give me something to do, but I ended up getting a bit bored. Though I never said I am an expert in Spanish they were expecting me to make super translations, I managed, but it wasn't easy and fast...but they are patient. They are all young and easy going, but they don't really know what do with me yet...anyway...I have to be there from 10:00 to 17:00 so it's ok for me. I also have a colleague, a Romanian girl who lives in Spain for 10 years. She is not very pleased with the system and would like to move to Germany with her boyfriend, but she said she would never return to Romania (she brought her whole family here). She's very nice; I hope she will work with me for a while, even if she comes only two hours per day. I don't know what to say...I didn't really make an impression yet...but I will these days. Tomorrow I will receive the protocol, Romanian and Spanish. Today I went to see the other apartment I found, which is much cheaper, but they don't have internet and don't want to have...and to my surprise it was dirtier than the place where the guys were living. It's a bit closer to work, but pretty far from where I live now and the centre. Even if it's cheaper I prefer enjoying my stay here...and I need internet, so I am going to stay with the guys. I made my budget and I am on the limit, so next step is finding a job. P.S. I think Spanish people like me :)

Day 4

Today I went shopping for some food and other house stuff, so I will write something about price differences and goods. So, we went to Alcampo which is a sister company with the Auchan in Romania. The prices are tricky, because you see small numbers which make you want to buy everything. Because I am an impulsive shopper, even when it comes to food, I always tranfrom it in Lei and after that I realise how expecive it really easy. Still the prices are a bit smaller, and considering that their minimum wage rate is higher than in Romania, you can say that food is pretty cheap in Spain. They also have a lot of products that they produce here, and not only are they natural, but they are also cheap. The have a lot of sea food...and I love it...and olives and cheap olive oil. I think I'm only going to eat salads and fishy stuff here. As I was expecting they have very good food and to make sure I don't eat too much I will try to constantly weight myself. At the moment I am 50 kg, and I want to stay here..:)

Ana had her bachelor today and though I asked them to tell me no matter what, I don't know anything. I hope it's not bad news...it would be sad. I hope I will hear something about this tomorrow... Today I talked to the embassy guys, the ones I know, and told them that I don't want to work with papers but with people, and want to also work in the Consulate. They agreed because they need people there as well and though I have been worn that the work there is horrible...from my point of view perfect...chaos. Diana told me that she will help me find some work, maybe babysitting or cleaning. If I manage to find a job during the internship, I had a great ideea to stay here till February and also try to apply for a job at the Consulate, because they take people from the diaspora and if I will practice there I will know procedures and everything...and maybe if I can write my thesis from here, stay here forever or till i get bored, because I absolutely love it, and at home, except for my family and my few freinds which already have their own lives and their own stuff, in which I am not that involved anymore, I don't have anything to miss. And from here if anything happens it's easiertotake a plane or a bus and vice-versa. But this is just a thought, becuase I don't know how things will be...I am no witch, I'm just a devil in training. Tomorrow Diego is comming from Aarhus. I can't wait to hear the latest news and see pictures and talk about Aarhus stuff and have lemonade beer and tapas :) Ah, there are so many Romanians here, I hear them every morning in the metro, some of them singing there, others going to work. It's different than in Denmark, they are different and they fit in. It have a different feeling towards the Romanians here...I know they work hard and they don't do it for money, but for a better, happy life.

Day 5

My 5th day in Madrid and I feel like I've been here since forever. Work was normal, boring...I started writing the guide for the new diplomats in Madrid, but it's not very exciting, so I don't feel like I'm doing something fun. I can't wait to move to the Consulate and work with the Diaspora. They have a lot of salons, so I had my hair cut today. For 20 euros (including tip 5 euro) I had my tops cut and the hair around my face a bit shorter, because my Aarhus bangs had a little error on the sides and now t isn't visible anymore. I was sorry to cut it but it had been 6 months and it was a bit burned from the straightening iron. Now it will grow faster and more beautiful, hopefully. As I was saying Diego came today. I missed him somehow and he brought the Aarhus air with him. He was pissed at the heat in Madrid so we went to take an ice cream...which turned into a McFlurry. Because it's Wednesday and they have a big family and friends dinner usually, I was also invited...and a big dinner it was...15 people, all family members and neighbours in one balcony and a lot of Spanish food. I loved it and it was great to see them together. I even started communicating with them a lot better than before and Diego was helping me with the words :P...

Tomorrow I am moving...

Day 6

I moved...yeyyy...I finally moved to my new apartment/room. It's a very Spanish place, but I love it. The boys went playing football and when I returned home they were already sleeping. After moving my stuff, I went out with Antonio and Diego only, because Sara had an event with Kylie M. and had to stay there late. We had lemon beer and some Spanish food stuff. I don't know how people here can stay skinny if they have dinner at 11 in the night and eat all these super tasty stuff. So...I have a hugeligt room...I will have to clean a bit around the house, because there is a funny smell and it's not the hamsters...but all in all I like it. It's not so hot at night and it's very quiet. I guess my life in Madrid is just starting now. My window doesn't have a great green view like in Denmark, but it has a great feeling. My neighbours listen to old Spanish music and the mother is always singing the songs she knows, and the noises that come from their house give me a special feeling of normality and carino. For this special window I took the room actually...

My first week is almost over...and it has been good till now. I hope it will not get boring and depressing like Denmark at some point. Three months of this to go...

Day 7

My first week of living and "working" in Madrid. First impressions: I am in love with this style of life and with this city.