Seeing the light

My flight left Dulles airport at 7:00 pm EST and I arrived in Madrid about 13 hours later. Sick with a cold and hopped up on Sudafed, I felt like death by the time I arrived at my hostel here. They're doing construction on the building and when I walked in there was no one around and the place was covered in dusty marble and sheets of plywood. Exasperated, I called out "hello" about twenty times until an annoyed manageress told me to come up to the third floor, which in Spain is actually the fourth floor, and I think by that time I had lost all my ability to speak Spanish.
Long story short, I slept for about 6 hours and then went downstairs to get some dinner (I hadn't eaten since the flight to London Heathrow, my layover stop). There was a really cute tapas bar downstairs from the hotel and it was crowded with fans watching a soccer game. Standing there felt just like being in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and even Maryland. Things were looking up.
Not an hour later, other things started coming up too. Let's just say my digestive system still dislikes Spain even if my heart is willing to give it a chance. I spent the entire night sick and finally at some hour before sunrise I fell asleep again. I woke up around 3:00 pm (remember Dad I'm still jet lagged too!) and decided it was time to see some Spain, so I got dressed, and feeling much better, headed out to buy some food that I recognized. My first awake and alert impressions of Madrid are fantastic. The buildings are the type I've seen in movies- tall apartments with wrought-iron balconies, there are little pastelerias with the most mouth-watering cakes and pastries in the windows, and people sit at sidewalk cafes smoking and drinking espressos. It's sunny and warm outside and now that I have left my dark hostel bed and my sickness behind, I'm truly enjoying the light.