I’ve safely arrived in Madrid, and I’ve been extraordinarily off-center since then.

When I’ve come to Europe in the past, I’ve managed to sleep on the plane on the way here — this time I didn’t manage. So I went almost thirty hours without sleeping before crashing last night, sleeping eleven hours, and then waking up wishing I hadn’t. I had the strangest, strangest dreams. I can’t remember a single one, but I know that when I woke up at 1:54 AM here-time, I was convinced that I was in my bedroom at home, and not sleeping in a strange bed (the fact that I had the fan on didn’t help, since it sounded like my air filter). It took me several minutes of not knowing whether I was hot or cold, or knowing where I was, and then I realized.

That said, it’s good to be here. I’m staying at Aitor’s flat, since he’s still in Miami, and it’s good to have a room that’s sort of my own, just so I’m out of the way. I’ll be here until he gets back in a few days.

What’s not good is that I need to figure out where I’m going to live for good. I’ve called a few places, and emailed a few people, but finding a room to rent is surprisingly difficult. I’ve got two appointments set for this afternoon, which is swell; I am optimistic but not very much so. Craigslist is not very useful, since almost nothing is posted there. Instead, I’ve been mostly looking on idealista, which is actually much better than craigslist, albeit much-trafficked. One of the places I’m seeing, for example, was posted at almost-11 this morning, and has already had over one-thousand views. Ugh, says I.

When I woke this morning, I went out briefly and bought some credit for my phone, and walked around a bit. This flat is in one of the parts of the city I actually know somewhat, which is kind of nice, but I still like walking around and seeing things. I found a tea shop, which is probably grossly expensive, but which I like knowing about; Pier later showed me an alimentación that sells Nutella (on Calle de Las Infantas, a few blocks east of Hortaleza, across from the estanco (tabacco-shop) where I got phone-credit (I need to figure out how to change my phone plan.)). Woah there, over-use of parantheses.

But no, or rather yes, it’s good to be here. I’m looking forward to the next few weeks — but it’ll be a lot more exciting once I get settled in a flat, and start work, and meet some people. And figure out my sleep schedule.

I wrote a few things while I sat waiting in the airport for Emily to arrive, so we could split a cab. I wrote an essay (well, expanded on one I had written on the plane) about adventurousness, which I may well post here at some point. And I started working on my personal essay for graduate applications. Mayhap I’ll work more on that today. But for now, I think I should go back to room-hunting. Luck to me, yes indeed.