The other day I was walking to the metro at 8:15 in the morning and was suddenly struck by how different and lovely everything looked at that early hour. Until I started working, I obviously never saw Madrid so early in the morning, with the sun barely coloring the tops of buildings orange and the sky a faint pink in the distance. I realized that I have, to some extent, been taking the city's beauty for granted, and so I decided to deliberately pay attention to the pretty things I pass every day and take a picture of them, both to remind myself to be more appreciative, as well as to share with all of y'all a little part of my daily routine here.
My commute is really not as bad as I had suspected. It takes between 35 and 45 minutes door to door, the variation caused by whether or not you catch the metro at the right time. During commuting hours, you hardly ever have to wait more than 5 minutes for the next train, but as I change lines halfway, that could add another 10 minutes! Usually this does not happen, and I rarely spend more than 2 minutes waiting. The only downside to taking the metro in the morning is that it is always PACKED! Not only are there no seats, but sometimes there's hardly even room to stand.
Since sitting is rarely an option, reading is not really possible. However, the BBC has 30 minute podcasts that they release daily summing up 6 or 7 important events from that day. It's a great way to make productive use of this otherwise wasted time, and for once in my life I am actually keeping abreast of developments in world news!
So with that I will bring the description of my commute to a close and end this post with my pictures. Here are some of the things I see every day going to and from work. Enjoy!
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| This is my street, Calle de San Agustín (Saint Augustine, if you couldn't figure that out) |
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| My street |
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| I literally live only a few feet away from the street where Cervantes lived, as well as the monastery where he is still buried |
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| Plaza de las Cortes, at the bottom of my street. That's a statue of Cervantes! |
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| Congreso de los Diputados |
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| I don't know what this is. I think just shops and offices |
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| I'm pretty sure this is a church |
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| Sevilla, the stop where I get on the metro |
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| Arturo Soria, the stop where I get off the metro |
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| Some of the houses in the neighborhood around my school |
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| My school, Colegio Público Luís Cernuda |
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