Let Real Life Begin…

Welp, my days of summer fun have come and gone. It is time to assume responsibilities, complete paperwork, apply for residence and sanitary cards, buy groceries, a towel, and other things I’ll be needing for “real life”.  No more mamá, from the U.S.A. or from Spain to do such things for me.

I left Valencia on Thursday morning (Sept. 31), arriving to Madrid around noon. Getting to the hotel was easy enough, in spite of the giant and broken suitcase I was dragging behind me.  Out of laziness in the metro station I had decided not to carry my suitcase down the stairs, rather to drag it. The result: a broken leg on the bottom that allows it to stand up properly.  The bad news:  my suitcase is now a bigger pain to lug around. The good: I’ve still got wheels and a handle! 

Before I reached the hotel I passed a girl, clearly not from Spain, reading on a bench. I wondered if it was an auxilar. I quickly noted that she was carrying a hiking backpack and guessed it might be a friend I had made on facebook.  And, it was… JILL! The girl I had facebook stalked, and decided was a good match for a friend as her pictures showed interests in photography, traveling, adventure, and an active life. It turns out my facebook predictions were absolutely right, Jill is not only an avid climber, who enjoys photography, but is very kind, and someone I get along with quite well! We spent a lot of time together in Madrid, as we had ended up in the same room(along with a little frenchie, named Marie).

The Madrid orientation was awesome, in the sense that I met people from all over the world: Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK. (There were people from Austria, and Australia as well, I just didn’t meet them). While I did enjoy meeting young people from all over the world, the content of the orientation was not so thrilling. It could have been easily reduced to 3 short sessions instead of 5. Although, the meeting with the U.S. ambassadors was entertaining! I mean, I now have a number to call the marines at ANY TIME for ANY NEED. Lose passport, call the marines. They will fix it! It will cost $130, but they will fix it! Unfortunately, the Marines do NOT do paperwork, home cooking, or any of these new responsibilities I face.