First Day

I'm riding on a weak signal I'm getting from my hostal. It's really cute, a tiny room with a tiny bathroom. This old lady runs it in this old building on a little street in the old area of central madrid. I'm surrounded by little bars that all advertise mojitos and caipirinhas and other drinks. This lady, as well as some other people I've met, don't speak english. I need to start studying my spanish. I feel shy trying to speak, hopefully it will start to come naturally after a while.

I got in yesterday afternoon and Air France lost one of my suitcases. Thankfully they dropped it off at my hostal and I got it this morning. The two partners from my design firm, Richars and Sergio, picked me up at the airport, they are pretty young and seem fun. After a nap, I went to this party they invited me to. It was such a great first night! This movie theater was celebrating its 20th anniversary and they rented out this old train station for the party. It was packed with people, some from the local film industry. I met a lot of Richars' friends and everyone gives you a smile then the kiss on each cheek thing, it was funny. There were snacks and an open bar and really good music. Ska Cubano, a group from London played, they are mostly Cubans playing fun salsa and other songs. We danced there amidst some crazy people wearing costumes and dancing dramatically.

I took a taxi back at around 1 am and the area around my hostal was swarming with people, and not just like college kids. Everyone stays out really late here, when I left the party last night there were a lot of older ladies still dancing crazy, I heard the party went until 4 am.

This internet signal isn't cutting it.