So, I got to Madrid at about 7 pm on Thursday September 21. I was so tired.....Going on about 36 hours without sleep. It didn´t even occur to me at the time to take a taxi....I had thought about it while in the states, and I just didn´t want to spend the money.

Anyway, to get to my hostel I was supposed to get off the Metro at the Plaza de Espana stop. I got off, but I got all confused in the tunnels and ended up exiting the Metro one stop away at Noviciado. I was a little disoriented, walking down the street with all my luggage, trying to figure out how to get back to Plaza de Espana. It´s starting to get dark...and I´m walking down a kind of quite little back street. So, this guy, who looks like a typical student with a bookbag comes up to me and tells me in Spanish that I have something on my back. It didn´t even occur to me at the time that he had walked up to me facing me....so how should he have known what was on my back? Anyway, he handed me some tissue paper to clean my back and walked away. I didn´t really care too much....so I stopped walking and started trying to figure out what he was talking about. Suddenly, a woman comes up to me and she seems all flustered. She tells me that I´m dirty and so I keep turning and twisting to see where I´m dirty...She seemed to be getting mad at me, took my arm and tried to show me. Anway....she walked away and I was just standing there thinking "what was her problem! why does she care so much if my shirt is dirty!?"

Well, turns out she was worried about it because she was trying to distract me and steal my bag. Which is exactly what she did. Next thing I knew, she was gone...and when I looked down I have only 3 bags rather than my original 4. There went my passport. all my money. all my credit cards. my brandnew laptop. my brandnew ipod. my reading glasses. and so much more.

Well, that was my first experience in Madrid. Needless to say I spent my first week battling deep depression. I felt lucky, however, in the fact that I ran into a lot of people who were extremely generous and helpful. Family and friends from home, as well as people that I came to know in Madrid were great. So, all in all, I feel violated and was really sad, but I still felt safe and the goodness of others made up for the "ladrones" that took my stuff.

I also want to add that anyone who is reading this should take from it merely that when traveling one must be very careful with their belongings. It is easy to be taken advantage of, especially if you have "naiive and exhausted foreigner" written across your forehead as I am sure was the case with me. I don´t want anyone to misunderstand my meaning and be afraid of traveling to Madrid. You just have to be careful and more aware than me!!!!!!