Welcome to Spain

What a welcome! As soon as I landed in Madrid, I met my Hispanic buddies. While we were going to get our luggage, a Spanish girl Beatriz offered us to have breakfast in their restaurant as her father was going to get her. You can assume my answer I guess...

When we got the luggage and arrived at a car park, Jesus, her dad, was already there. After meeting with him we set off. As I was chatting with Jesus on the other side I was observing the city. Highways of the city reminded me of Ankara. He asked me about terror and coup in my country. While I was answering we arrived.

It was a lovely, like a restaurant and cafe. Once we sat down, they brought us coffee, toasts and jam. We had quite a nice breakfast there and took a photo just after it.

While I was telling myself how luck I was, Beatriz told me that they would drive me to Alcala which is 40 minutes away and that made me feel even luckier. I was really shocked. I could not have had a better start than this to my Erasmus. I was really welcome and Spain gave me a warm welcome.

We were in the car again. Driving about 40 minutes, I was getting ready to ask them to drop me off wherever it was okay to stop. Beatriz asked where my house was. Because I did not know where it was for sure, we looked for it in the city for almost 1 hour. Finally, we found the building. I was going to stay in the apartment 4A. After I thanked them and left my Hispanic buddies who even helped me carry my luggage, it was time to meet new friends now.

Pierro: 22, studying law, from Palermo.

Matteo: 23, studying nursing, from Napoli.

After meeting them, they showed my room with a single bed, rather cute. Considering I paid just 150 euros for it, it met my expectations.

Room, sweet room:

The one on the left is my building:

View from the balcony:

We talked a lot and then, in the evening, we went out on a trip together. We tried to keep the way in our minds and we ended up at calle Mayor, which could be considered the main street of the city. You can consider it Alcala's Istiklal Street or Karanfil Street. A narrow avenue closed to traffic. There are shops, bars, restaurants:

We went out for tapas to a bar called La Espanyola. Tapas means "snacks" in Spanish. More abundant than Turkish appetizers. I paid 2, 70 Euro for a chicken hamburger and a 330 ml coke. It seemed reasonable compared to Turkey.

After having dinner I happened to finish my first day here. After lots of stress and hard process of preparation, my dream came true.

If you are curious about the things I did after, you need to wait for my next post.

Take Care!

Photo gallery