Every day feels different from the day before. It both feels like I just left Philly and like I have lived in Madrid for forever—it's hard to believe that it's been a month!

In the time since my last letter, Turtle and I have gotten to try loads of new things and explore a bit of Spain. Unfortunately, I do mean BOTH of us.... shortly after the photo on the top left was taken, Turtle realized there was no screen on the window and decided to take a stroll in my building's hallway 🤦‍♀️

In this email, I've decided to highlight just a few of things that have been the biggest changes in our lives since making this move across the ocean.

1. Being social

I've certainly had to become comfortable with the uncomfortable since arriving. I've never been totally adverse to spending time alone, and even practiced going to bars alone to prep for what I knew would be a more solitary lifestyle, but it's definitely been harder to get used to than I expected! I don't think I could have prepared for how strange it would feel to be the odd one out on a regular basis.

Fortunately, Spanish people are as warm and friendly as the stereotype says, and I've had a lot of fun arriving to a bar to order a caña (small beer) and then seeing where the night takes me. I've even been fortunate enough to make a friend whose English is at least as bad as my Spanish, and we've been meeting up weekly to get a drink and correct each other. Despite somewhat stubbornly avoiding touristy / expaty areas, I have also met a few expats who I've gotten to spend a lot of time with since being here—we've even having a little Thanksgiving!

Very unfortunately, however, holidays and bad weather have prevented me from playing a single pickup frisbee game since arriving! I'm hopeful that I'll at least play one game before I leave the country!

2. Working remotely 🎉

I've been either working in a very cool Google-owned co-working café, my apartment with Turtle by my side, or various coffee shops around the city. I even tried out an office space while I was in Sevilla this past weekend.

Right now, I typically work a split shift, working later in the evening (4 - 8pm) to have better crossover hours with the east coast. I wasn't sure if it would feel strange to work so much later, but the mealtimes in Spain make this especially doable. Overall, I've found that being remote suits my working style quite well, and I certainly feel more productive.

3. A new lifestyle

There have definitely been some adjustments Turtle and I have had to make since coming to Spain.

Turtle's mainly include:

• Not having a good windowsill to perch on. Don't worry, this is something I'm going to make sure he has in future stays.
• Lots more noise from other apartments. Clearly our time living right above Woody's has been utterly forgotten.
• Fancy different Spanish cat foods to sample. Mainly he gets his normal food, but I think he's been enjoying getting to try some of the brands local to here.
• A terrifying new broom. He's never loved 'em, but this one is bright red and has stripes—Turtle is NOT a fan.

On my end (ignoring language):

Eating hours.

In Spain, people tend to eat a small breakfast around 9am, something small again at noon, a large lunch at 2pm, and then a small dinner around 10pm. I've mostly stuck to their schedule, though it has been tough to figure out when restaurants and bars are serving food.

What has not been difficult to get used to is it being perfectly acceptable to have churros con chocolate for breakfast or getting to sample lots of little tapas.

Old-school laundry

So it's definitely true that dryers are less common out here! I've put my clothes out to dry in the rain only twice so far, which I think is pretty good for a newbie. I do miss that warm-out-of-the-dryer feeling, but I think my clothes will appreciate this shift.

Living out of a suitcase

This has been considerably less difficult than I thought it would be... guess it goes to show that I really had more stuff than I needed. I actually feel like I may lighten my load in Madrid. One travel tip I can't stress enough: packing cubes are a god-send.

New modes of transportation

In Philly, I biked almost everywhere, and loved it. Here, I've had to get used to being a pedestrian, and supplementing with other forms of public transport like the metro, docked bicycles, and high-speed train (to Sevilla). The city bikes, known as BiciMAD, were particularly satisfying to figure out because it took two failed attempts before I ended up at my destination in a reasonable amount of time (round abouts? non-existent grid system???).

Anyway, it's been such a wild ride so far, certainly more highs than lows! We'll chat to you again soon. Thanks for reading!