Greetings From Madrid Redux

As some of you already know, I now have a new apartment in the city! Located near th Spanish parliament building, I am a three minute walk (timed it) from Sol and just under a hour by train to campus.
The apartment searching process was very long and stressful. Just as my friends were finding new places, I was stuck in the dorms searching. And some of my friends found nice places too!
My criteria was simple (ok,not really): close to a metro station that served the Atocha train station directly or at most one change by light rail to Atocha (e.g. Sol). I wanted to live with at least 3 other people none of whom smoked. Th building had to be in generally good condition, hot water working, full kitchen, wifi, and washing machine. I lowered my expectations for clothes dryers because almost no apartments have them (air drying for the win).
Pedro, the landlord, had shown me a few places and offered this one just as my search got a little desperate. He told me everyone was a student and, coincidently, an engineer. My room is one of the smallest, but has a somewhere-between-twin-and-double-bed (someone can tell me what that is), a balcony overlooking a quiet side street, half closet, dresser, desk, and shelves. For heat, a electric radiator which I do not know how to use.
To move out of the dorms, I took the trains to Sol and walked to my place. Quite the adventure with two large bags and my backpack. I could not fit everything in my bags so I left some with my friend Javi in the dorms.
When I got to the apartment, no one was there! Quite a welcome wagon. I got some pizza for a late lunch and started doing laundry.
I hung around for a few hours doing laundry until the first person arrived. Her name is Lisa, from the alps of France. She tried talking to me in English, but we started conversing in Spanish as she showed me how the place works. Getting near dinner time, she offered to cook me dinner. I must have looked confused and miserable enough to warrant some sympathy. Over a meal of rice and vegetables, we talked in Spanish the whole time. Everyone in the place converses in Spanish, though a few know enough English.
I met people as they started returning. Missy actually shares the room with her boyfriend Florent. I did not know this. Now five people live here. He is also French and knows more English.
Piere is another French student who I met. His room is next to the bathroom. The last person is Connie from Mexico. I met her when I first visited and she attested to the quality of the apartment. Her English is also very good.
The process of moving in was mentally exhausting and I was glad to take a hot shower to finish the day. I also prepared a list of things to buy, like my own food.
To finish the day, I attempted to figure out my materials science class in some non existent building. Luckily, the professor responded to my email by the time I woke up that morning with enough time to get to class.
For breakfast, I stole some bread slices from one of the roommates.

Update: for shopping, I went to a local grocery store about a 10 minute walk from the room. From there, a trip to El Corte Ingles (the English store), the specialty store of Spain. I was not able to find everything, so another trip is in order.