And it begins......

After a day in Madrid, it has officially set in that this will be life for the next month. Summing it up in a few paragraphs is completely out of the question so I’ve decided on a few short lists

Top Things I Never Expected

• The food is ridiculous. Unbelievable. Every meal leaves you with the feeling of “Wow, this may be the best meal of my life.” What’s weird is that I’ve become so accustomed to eating until I can hardly breathe back in the states that I was worried about portion size, but I quickly learned that eating in Spain, while it may not leave you completely stuffed, will always leave you thoroughly satisfied.

• Gypsies are not dressed as such.

• Spaniards never sweat. The weather has been a perfect ~60 degrees the whole time we’ve been here; warm in the sun, cool in the shade. But the locals are always dressed in long pants and jackets, never sweating. #don’tgetit

• The ATM will eat your card if you put a credit card instead of a debit card inside. Happened to Nick last night.

Food

• Breakfast was, to me at least, the best meal we’ve had so far. We went to this ‘cerveceria’ (can’t remember the name) and ordered “tostones con bacon y queso” as well as “tostones con smoked salmon, queso, y oregano.” Wow. Best breakfast of my life so far. Every bite had my taste buds bowing in appreciation. Nick ordered croquetas con jamon (ham) and was in heaven.

• Lunch was equally as wonderful but pleasantly different. We went to “el Mercado de San Miguel” and sampled food from various local merchants. Prized item had to be the cabrales bleu cheese though. Best (#commontheme) bleu cheese you can imagine. Close second goes to the sangria made with whiskey, rum, coca cola, cognac, and fresh fruit. First sangria we’ve had, and boy did it not disappoint.

• Dinner was, to Nick, the best meal we’ve had so far. Dinner here is different. Their biggest meal is lunch so dinner usually entails numerous light tapas. Last night we each chose a tapa to split. I chose, as expected, the calamari frito (fried calamari). The calamari were a lot thicker and had a lot less breading than we’re used to back home, and also didn’t come with a dipping sauce. A friend selected croquetas (3 jamon, 3 chicken) and in my opinion, came out a lot better than the ones from breakfast, especially the chicken croqueta. Lastly, it was Nick’s pick. After a brief reassuring sales pitch, he chose braised oxtail. Naturally I was skeptical, seeing as I never pictured myself eating oxtail, but wow, I was wrong. It was perfectly cooked, the meat literally fell off the ox vertebrae it was wrapped around. The sauce that it was served over became the dipping sauce for every thing else on the table #amazing

Top Things I Am Now Expecting

• We will eat food we never imagined eating, often.

• We will get roommates from all over. Last night we roomed with a young woman from New Zealand who had been traveling Europe for the past four month. She was real nice and gave us plenty of tips for the journey ahead.

• Nick will get hit, or at least clipped by a car

• I will dream about the food here for some time to come.

Off to go siesta at a local parque (park). Miss you all! Adios!

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Joe thelakeshow24

Nick nick.castellano