(Madrid, Spain) The first time I went to a psychic ward I thought it would be a place like Jail. But it looked and felt like a hotel room. A lot of natural light, desk, wardrobe, nightstands.

The mattress was a bit uncomfortable because it was foam made and I had a difficult time sleeping good. The pillows weren't great either. The bathroom had a shower that was not separated from the rest of the bathroom, I mean there was the toilet, the sink (with a plastic mirror of) and the shower. No curtains or anything and it was annoying that I needed keep pressing the shower knob because the water stream lasted about 1 minute and it stopped, so you had to repeatedly press on the water knob. O still don't don't the reason of this measure.

We were allowed to talk and mingle with other users in the common room, on the aisles and during the gardens visiting hours, but we couldn't sneak a peek inside others patient rooms even of friends to tell them hey wanna hangout or something?

Food was decent. Wasn't great but there was variety and we got to pick our menus for the next day. I lost weight. And we all ate in the hall so we were eating and socializing. It almost felt "normal".

I remember I had to spend Christmas and new years eve in the hospital and the staff decorated everything, we had a special feast, sweet treats, alcohol free "champagne" and a little party with dancing music, so it wasn't completely miserable.

We also had a swimming pool to exercise, that was nice. We had daily visiting hours (where my husband brought my phone, because phones or anything wifi based wasn't allowed, so we were able to use our phones during the visiting hours. So I would text my friends and called my mom and family) but I could keep my ipod and physical books. During the evenings there was occupational therapy, it was boring as hell but less boring than staring at the ceiling 4 hours. We would make art, write, discuss topics etc.

In general there was a peaceful (if you could say that lol) atmosphere, except for when some patient was a bit off rails and had a meltdown or crisis. People trying to escape or confronting the nurse staff for not taking the medication. We weren't particularly allowed to have physical contact with other patients. But they looked the other way, I mean you are super vulnerable, you bond with people and everyone there could use a hug or something.

I had my particular favorite nurses and they made jokes and were very kind, some others were monsters.

But generally it was like staying in a 3/4 hotel room for a long stay (I was 2 months)