Busy 3 days

¡Hola otra vez! Judging by the title, I bet you can guess I have had a very busy Friday/weekend. This is true. It feels like I have been here so much longer than just a few days. Not even a full three yet. Sorry it has taken me so long to update again, buttttttt now  I will.

Well, Friday morning, the start to my first full day in Madrid, I woke up at a nice 7 AM... very strange... and had a nice breakfast of cafe con leche in the downstairs restaurant before deciding to go out and explore the part of the city I was in (the north). I had to deposit money in the bank for Etor, a roommate in my *future* apartment, and I needed to see where my work was. It was fun to just wander though, and the weather was perfectly breezy. eeee and the part of the city I saw, the northern and more residencial part, is so beautiful. I will post pictures at some point but I just left my computer at said apartment until I move in Wednesday, so it will have to wait until then SRY.
When I returned to my hotel I had a roommate! Anna, another participant in CDS was there and we talked in the room for a while as it began to POUR rain outside. After a trip to the grocery store (I made 3 trips that day because I´m COOL), we met up with ALL THE OTHER PARTICIPANTS. Oh wait, there were 2 others. We were all quite surprised. And the orientation was also very different than expected. Astrid, a CDS representative, met up with us at the hotel and we talked over drinks for an hour. And that was orientation. Oh well.
After another trip to the grocery store, three of us went down to Sol, the downtown area of the city for dinner. We went to a place with 1 euro sandwiches and 1 euro cerveza. It was great. Then we wandered the winding streets of downtown Madrid until we stopped at a little bar for more cheap beer. The best part of the night was catching the last metro of the night home by total luck.
We woke up Saturday morning to room service breakfast, more cafe con leche and croissants, and then later went to a really great lunch with Astrid at a very nice tapas restaurant. We had maybe 6 courses of very authentic Spanish food... like tortilla española, gazpacho, and finished with gelado obv. Astrid is a German woman who lives in Madrid, and was very interesting. Very well traveled and smart... I liked her a lot. Plus she knew 4 languages and could speak them all nearly fluently.
After this lunch, however, I took a very intimidating trip downtown with all of my stuff to find my hostel. It ended up being fine as I traveled during siesta so not many people were out on the streets. This whole hostel experience is VERY different than something I have ever done before. At first, I was tempted to just leave and find somewhere else, but it is growing on me a little, and I ended up talking with a lot of really interesting people last night. I only slept maaybe 3 hours though, which sucked. There are 6 people in my room, it was very hot, and the street was VERY loud. I´m hoping tonight is NOT the same. eek
However, since my bag did not fit in the locker here, I was able to take it to my apartment a few metro stops away AND see it for the first time last night! Its perfect. So cute and in a great location. That has made the shitty hostel feeling go away a lot. 
Anna has now gone of to Majorca to work for the summer, which is a bummer, but me and TJ, another U of M student and CDS student, went exploring for dinner last night. We saw yet another part of town that is new and ate at VIPS, which seems to be Spain´s version of a diner in the city. We did have a cerveza at a really cute bar between our residences after wandering the streets some more, but it was just too tiring to still be out after the stress from the day, and I went back to the hostel fairly early.
So, after like NO sleep last night, I went on a *four hour walking tour* today. It was very long and hot as you can imagine (PS Its hot here...) but we saw SO much of the city. Pictures forthcoming :) It was offered by my hostel, and only cost 7 euros in total, getting a water and jamon y queso croissant along the way.
Afterwards, I returned to my apartment to bring my computer there til Wednesday, as there are computers here in the hostel that work fine. Its not worth the risk if it doesnt need to be here.
And tomorrow... I start work! holy crap. I am very nervous to begin, but I guess that is just part of this trip. So far I have just been completely out of my comfort zone here, and that will continue tomorrow, but thats okay! Todo está bien. 

And now I´m back at my hostel! 

Things people might care about(?)....
-The Metro system here is amazing. Its super efficent and so easy to navigate. I truly feel confident going anywhere in the city because of how simple it is to use their Metro system.

-This city is HUGE. I have seen a lot of it now I´m sure, but there is just so much to discover. Downtown, metro stops function almost as the center of spider webs. There will be a plaza where the metro stop is, and from there streets expand in every direction from the plaza. It leads to many winding streets and paths (that cars still go down!) but I love it. Many of the streets are just filled with people at night, or so it seemed on Friday night, and people just eat and drink at cafes in the street until 1 or 2 AM. Then of course every goes to the clubs and such. Anyway, so much to see and try and comprehend. From the walking tour today, I now have a grasp of the main historical areas, plazas, palaces and museums, but its still just crazy. After three months, I do think I will know this city very well.

-Everyone is "cool" here. Seriously. I am the only big loser.

-I´ve been following the whole eat dinner at 9/10 thing, and it is very strange. Its 830 now, and I am starving, but I dont think anything is even open yet. Actually, because it´s Sunday, I will probably struggle to find a place to eat :/

-This place is SO expensive. I am so eager to buy my own groceries and such so I don´t have to continue to eat out. There are places you can find that are cheap, as previously noted, but most everything costs a lot. Lovely right?

Okay this thing is long. I will update about work tomorrow :)