A Normal Weekday in Madrid: Metro, Kebabs, and Two Very Different Classes

People ask me what a regular day looks like here, and the honest answer is that it is busier and more fun than I expected before I left. Most days follow the same shape, but the details change enough that nothing feels repetitive. Here is what an actual Tuesday looks like for me right now.

I wake up around 7:30 A.M. and take a shower before getting ready for the day. My host mom Ana usually has breakfast out by the time I get to the kitchen. It is simple but good: toast with jam and cream cheese, a glass of water, and some mornings a croissant or an apple on the side. My roommate Peter and I eat together, lock up the apartment, and walk to the train station. The walk takes about fifteen minutes, and by now we know the fastest route by heart. The metro itself took some getting used to in the first week, but once you buy a 30-day pass, getting around the city stops being a problem you think about.

Classes start at 9 A.M. and I take two back to back. The first is Spanish, and it is easily my favorite part of the day. The teacher keeps the class moving, I get a lot of speaking practice, and I leave every session feeling like I picked up something I can actually use that afternoon. The second class is History of Madrid, and I almost switched out of it during the first week because the opening session felt slow. Then I learned how the class actually works. Instead of sitting in a lecture hall, we meet at different train stations around the city and walk through neighborhoods while the professor explains what we are looking at. We have covered old churches, a stretch of the original Muslim wall, the Royal Palace, and the Plaza Mayor this way. A class that looks boring on day one can turn into the best part of your week once you understand the format, and this is the clearest example I have run into so far.

After class, lunch is usually kebabs with Peter and our friend Alexander, or a pulled pork sandwich from a place near campus that a few of us found in the first week and now go back to constantly. Food here is cheap and good as long as you stay away from the obvious tourist spots near the main plazas. One day this week I went to a local market and bought enough bread, meat, and cheese to make sandwiches for almost the entire week, and the whole thing cost under ten euros.

Afternoons are usually quieter. I take a short nap, work on a startup project I am part of back home, or catch up on messages with friends in the US. Dinner with Ana comes later than I was used to, often around 9 P.M. or 9:30 P.M., and it is worth the wait. Pasta and salad show up a lot, and one night she made a potato and egg quiche that might be the best thing I have eaten since I got here.

Nights are when the city really opens up. This week alone I biked around the park near our homestay with Alexander, watched a flamenco show that started slow but ended up being one of the highlights of the month, and spent a couple of hours sitting by the water in Retiro Park talking with friends about nothing in particular. We took the metro home around 10:30 P.M. and the streets were still full of people eating, talking, and walking dogs.

The biggest adjustment with daily life here has been the pace. Everything runs later and slower than what I am used to, and people spend real time together instead of rushing from one thing to the next. You eat late, you walk more than you think you will, and conversations stretch out in a way that rarely happens at home. That shift alone has been one of the best parts of the program so far.