Welcome, to Europe. It's raining.

For those of you who didn't know, I'm in Europe! Did you get the title? I've decided that I am going to try to document some of the adventures here for those of you who want to know. And I've decided to try to be better than I was last summer in Seattle.

In order to try and keep this blog maintained, I've realized that I don't NEED to write long, elaborate stories about each and every detail. This is probably why I stopped writing last summer, since I started to view it as a chore. So I'll probably work with a few formats. If you don't like it, too bad! Sorry, I meant, please comment that you don't like them and I'll work out something else. Without further ado, here are some thoughts from Day 1!

• God decided to remind me right away that I forgot an umbrella. Fortunately, he also placed a man with a mustache outside the subway who was more than happy to take my money in exchange for one.



• Madrid does not wake up on Saturday until noon. Showing up at 8:30 may not have been the best choice.



• Which hostel should I stay in? The one in the dark, graffiti alley, or the converted 17th century palace? Luckily, the alley had no vacancy.



• Spain seems to be pretty proud of being famous for it's bar food,tapas. I mean it's good, but what does that say about the amount of time Spaniards spend in bars?



• Why do I feel so tired? I've had lunch and it's sunny outside...and it's only 4:00AM California time.



• Just because someone is a native English-speaker, does not mean you will understand them. Also, Australlians talk a lot.



• Do you remember what happened when the Lakers won the championship? Well Spain does all that times 10 and they only made it to the semi-finals. Seriously, shooting flares and fireworks, stopping traffic...i was afraid I would end up as a newspaper headline.



• Normal Americans eat dinner around 6:00. The Lyons family eats dinner around 7:00. Grandma and Grandpa eat dinner around 5:00. In Spain, everyone eats at midnight.