It’s been eight days since Spain gave us the ‘ok’ to go out for walks twice a day. Businesses that can take appointments have also opened, so my first activity post-quarantine was to get another tattoo and a couple of new piercings for good measure. The country is returning to a new normal by way of four phases, with each province moving through these phases at different rates, depending on how things have improved within each province; for example, the Canary Islands has reported very few deaths/new infections, so they are able to move to the next phase before other regions. Madrid, being the epicenter of this pandemic, has been forced to stay in Phase 0 for at least another week. I’m looking forward to reaching Phase 1, as that will be when libraries open and restaurants with outdoor seating will also re-open at 30% capacity.

Being allowed to go out for walks has been huge in improving my mental health. After roughly 50 days of staying indoors, going outside and walking around my neighborhood felt both exhilerating and strange. It was as if the city had been asleep for a very long time and now the people were awake, rejoicing in the streets, as though a war had just ended. Most people were wearing facemasks, which was encouraging to see, but there were also crowds, and no one was keeping 6ft apart. I have been anxiously waiting to see a spike in new infections, as a result of the government forcing people to only be able to go for walks at specific times (6am-10am and 8pm-11pm–children and seniors have different walking hours). I walked about two miles on that first day, a distance that wasn’t unusual for a typical day before quarantine, but which now left my legs feeling sore, as if they had forgotton the action of walking.

The morning walking hours are less crowded, but as I’ve been sleeping in until 11:00 most days, it’s been a struggle setting an alarm just to wander the neighborhood through bleary eyes. Regardless, having the freedom to get some exercise gives me something to look forward to every day; it’s strange that in just a few months, the simplicity of something that I took for granted is now what I am most thankful for.

Madrid is slowly going back to the city that I’ve grown to know and love in the past nine months, and that gives me hope that in another couple of months things will be as they were before and we can hug one another without this fear hanging over our heads. I still don’t know what the summer will hold for me, in so far as whether I’ll be able to return to New Hampshire for a couple of months; visa and regreso appointments are still on hold, and I am accepting that I will be here until July at least, if not later–although, the idea of traveling around Europe this summer isn’t totally unappealing. But, these things are mostly out of my control, so until I have some solid answers, I’m going to keep enjoying my newfound walking freedom, bake cookies, and anticipate the reopening of the libaries, so that I can stop re-reading Twilight.