Panther’s Milk

I arrived in Madrid on Monday morning to a completely deserted airport. After a 10 mile hike to baggage claim, I made my way to the cab line with four bags in tow. One of my roommates, Alex, randomly found me before the group flight, so we headed off in our cabs to find our home for the next few months. In the shock of entering a new country, my entire body of knowledge compiled by years of Spanish class flew out the window. After giving the address, the only exchange between the cabbie and myself was “Cuanto cuesto?” “€31.20.”  Alex and I met our host mom, Sol, in the midst of our “how do we get our bags upstairs” crisis. She is quite literally the most precious, sassy, hilarious Spaniard in existence.

I spent most of the day unpacking, napping, and bonding with my new family (sorry, Radsliffs), which at this point included my 2nd and final roomie, Allie. Around 2 or 3 hours later, I realized that I left my purse containing my computer, all my euros, my ID, credit and debit cards, and my passport, in the hallway outside of our apartment. Whooooops! Luckily nothing was taken, but that would certainly have made life more interesting.

I was surprised that I actually had no trouble falling asleep Monday night, despite the 9 hour time difference from home. I woke up on Tuesday completely free of jet lag, ready to bond with my fellow displaced Americans at SLU Madrid orientation. We drove about 40 minutes away to a little town called Guadarrama. Orientation and activities lasted from 9 am to 7:45 pm. Let me tell you, that was just about the longest day of my life. I could barely remember my own name, let alone the names of half the people I met.

Hey look! A field! Anyone care to laze around for, oh, I don't know, 11 hours?

Later that night, despite the draining day, my friends and roommates and I decided to go out for our first legal drinks in Spain. We first stopped at a very cool little bar called El Chapandaz that looked like a cave. Six of us shared a ridiculous 4 liter drink: the Leche de Pantera (“Panther’s Milk”). Have you ever heard of anything more badass? Probs not. The drink is made with milk (which pours out of a stalactite hanging from the ceiling), cinnamon, gin, rum, and (according to the website), the “final touch that makes it famous.”

Later in the evening we set off to another bar, La Fontana de Oro, which was a great place to meet new people from all over. My friend Britta and I talked to a guy from Belgium, and later we ended up hanging out with some people from London. All in all it was an amazing first night out, and an amazing first few days of my study abroad experience.