The first few weeks here have flown by more swiftly than I originally thought possible. We began our second week here with orientation in Alcala de Henares, Spain, and spent the weekend before in an Airbnb in Madrid.
To get to Madrid from Andorra, we took a bus from Andorra to Lleida, and a train from Lleida to Madrid Atocha. After that, a few more metros and we had acquired the keys and dropped our things, ready to explore the city. Our weekend in Madrid included the following:
- El Prado art museum (feat El Greco, Velazquez, Rembrant, Rafael, etc)
- The Royal Palace and adjacent Almudena Cathedral
- 3 types of paella in a tourist trap restaurant
- lovely brunch in a vintage-themed cafe
- A building made entirely of glass (Palacio de Cristal)
- infinite placas and puertas
- a run in with casual practicing opera singers in the park
- a Eurovision themed gay bar
- Tapas that are actually included with the price of your drink
a seven-story dance club - a stressful trip to the Madrid apple store when my phone display broke completely!
After a busy weekend (and over a dozen miles trekked through the massive city, we took the bus from Madrid to Alcala de Henares, a UNESCO World Heritage site and birthplace of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote.
Orientation was a whirlwind full of informational sessions, mandatory mingling, handshakes and repeated questions, and far too little sleep.
However, amidst the craziness, I gained a realization of what it means to be a part of this incredibly vast and resourceful Fulbright network. As I met mentors and grantees alike who were headed for Barcelona, Galicia, Sevilla, the Canary Islands and more, I couldn’t help but feel immeasurable lucky to be a part of this program.
Fulbright is a unique and interesting program in that it brings together Americans from all over with a wide variety of backgrounds to serve as cultural ambassadors and English-language resources in a myriad of different types of communities.
Though the Andorran Fulbrighters were a special case at this conference as the only 5 not technically a part of Spain (and thus, luckily, excused from a number of sessions) every step of the way we were included and reached out to. Overall, I met more new people than I can count, and I am thankful for the lingering commitment of many to Facebook usage so I can keep up with their new adventures between now and our mid-year conference when I will be able to reconnect with them.
Also notable that among the 200+ cohort, though I found people from states as wide-reaching as Alaska, Kansas, California and Maine, is that I seem to be the only one from West Virginia. This was fun in a sense, but also left me with a strangely seeded longing for my WV peeps. Overall, I feel lucky we got to attend all these sessions and that I can finally say I’ve been to Madrid!
Appalachia to Andorra 