I do not know how long I have been in Spain. I do not know how much sleep I have gotten in the past three days. I never know what time it is. And I never know when to eat. But I am going to consider this my first official day in Madrid.

After an obnoxious hassle with security, a two

hour delay once we had already been seated and on the runway, a stressful transfer, being woken up after only half an hour of sleep by bright lights and random breakfasts because it was 8 AM in Spain and 1 AM in my cabeza, and a completely nauseating plane ride that forced me to whip out

some mad pilates breathing skills to prevent vomitarse in public, we arrived safely in Spain.

I was shoved into a taxi with some random 6'10" boy and essentially had no idea what was going on. I don't care how fluent I am. I was running on half an hour of sleep and my

contacts were mad at me and resembled a dirty fishbowl. Excellent. We arrived at our hotel and had to pay...ready for this...61 USD for a 15 minute cab ride. Please send money. Love, Erin.

The hotel was gorgeous. Kati and I were running around like idiots. The most idiotic, however,

had to be the fact that we could not, for the life of us, figure out how to get the lights on. After peeing in the dark I demanded help. We went down stairs to ask for assistance. Apparently Europe is actually serious about being green rather than it being the cool thing to do, so you need to put your hotel room key into a slot in order to activate power. Schnazzy, eh?

Also, while we're mentioning Spanish culture/customs, there were no clocks. None. Seriously.

Not surprised. Also, there were no locks on things such as bathrooms and the shower only had half a door. They truly have completely different ideas on personal space and privacy.

Oh PS - I may have forgotten all my bras...

We had an amazing meal in the hotel where we met some cool students, we had to dinner and followed people around to restaurants for tapas and drinks, and we

walked the beautiful streets til about one in the morning and the streets were packed. It was a

Monday night. Amen to things being open and people being out past 8 damnit.

We checked out of the hotel in the morning. Kati and I had used a free calling card to make a 4 minute call hom

e. When we checked out, they said it cost us 63 dollars. About 8 bucks a minute. Not free. Not okay. Please send money. Love, Erin.

We met our host families before we started bawling and causing a scene.. They, and the home, are absolutely

adorable. Kati and I are sharing a room with some rad bunk beds, complete with fenced in area to prevent death while abroad y arriba.

We had to take some pathetic test today. A great thing to give to completely jet lagged, hungover, and for a lot of people, both, students. Afterward we were standing around with a bunch of guys, all of us holding our 3 x 3 foot maps of the city. It was so touristy, I wish I had had my camera out to top it off. None of us knew how to get home. En serio. One kid a

s trying to find his way back on a metro that would take him 40 minutes. Yah. That's unfortunate. Kati and I live about 5 minutes away on the bus, so we guessed. And yes, we made it home.

We just got back from exploring our own little street. When I say little street, I mean there are hundreds of taxis, people, a palace, parks, and a mall that looks nicer than anything the United States has ever created. And it's just a frickin mall (in photo). We couldn't afford dinner, so we ate McDonalds. And we couldn't afford that. Kati

sandwich cost her ten bucks. At McDonalds. Yah. And she spilled her drink. Please send money. Love, Erin.

So between buying phones, buses, stupid phone calls, meals, and all around making mistakes like it's going out of style, I hope to be well on my to running out of ideas to mess up in the first place and become a Madrileña.

Perhaps next time I right I'll only be 100 euro shorter instead...

Paz. Todo el tiempo.