Belated Hello from Madrid!

I've been in Madrid for officially two weeks, but I am finally writing about Madrid.
What to say? It's a pretty compact city, and everything you need is within 30 minutes, thanks to the awesome metro system. The people of Madrid are weirdly proud of their metro system, and there are posters of famous international monuments (such as the pyramids or the Statue of Liberty) marveling at the metro system. I don't really use the metro system, since I walk to school (gasp!), so I appreciate the metro more when I use it.

So, I walk to school. It's a 25 minute walk. Normally, a "Susan walking for more than 7 minutes" isn't an actual figure, but somehow that figure emerged in Madrid. In fact, I could barely make the trek from Dodd to Greylock. Walking in Southern California was pointless and walking in Williamstown was tiring/cold, but walking in Madrid is actually enjoyable (my señora thinks I'm crazy) and a new experience every time.
-Like in most major cities, there are street/metro musicians. These musicians are usually older people who play classical instruments (not to bash on the young people who play guitar). For example, when I walk back at night, I always see an old man playing the clarinet with a recording of accompaniment. In the subway, I see an old couple playing the violin. Now, I don't know if that's normal since I've only lived in the suburbs and Williamstown, but classical instruments on the streets/metro make walking a more pleasant experience :)
-I feel like everyone owns dogs and walks them when I walk to school. This means: 1) there's a lot of dog poop and my eyes are glued to the ground, and 2) the dogs add another interesting feature to my walk. Most of the dogs are ugly (no joke - really ugly). One dog - surprisingly not that ugly - did not have a leash, and was behaving like a human. Whenever it reached the crosswalk, it would stop and wait for its owner to start walking when it's safe. Isn't that amazing? Most humans have issues with this.
-I practice my Spanish by reading random signs on the streets, and people have given me weird looks...
Main conclusion: I guess walking isn't that big of a pain (although the weather has been freaky and cold); in fact, I actually enjoy...walking!

Well, I guess I wrote about useless things, but next time...maybe it'll get better?

Susan

PS It snowed in Madrid on Sunday. Snowed?!
PPS My English has gotten worse. I forget tenses, words, spelling, etc. This means that I am not capable of speaking any language...