Six weeks already??

It’s hard to believe, but this past weekend was the six-week mark for my semester in Spain. Time has been flying by, and the next month will be over before I know it...that’s what happens when you travel somewhere every weekend for 7 weeks. That’s right. SEVEN weeks! This past weekend was week 2 of 7, and I traveled to the Spanish cities of Toledo and Madrid with my program. It’s really nice having a trip completely planned for you every once in awhile and I was pretty excited to spend a weekend not having to worry about making sure everything flowed perfectly as I always seem to whenever I travel whenever I do anything.

Our entire group of about 40 students plus our program director, Verónica, and our tutorial teacher, José, came along for the trip. We left on Friday and on our way to Madrid stopped in the city of Toledo. Despite torrential downpours, Toledo was a beautiful city of cobblestone streets, gorgeous views, and a rich religious history. The city contains an enormous cathedral, two synagogues and a mosque! We only spent a couple hours on a tour of the city, but we were all ready to get back in the bus and out of the rain.

We arrived in Madrid, Spain’s capital city and home to about 4 million people, in the evening and had the rest of the night to do whatever we wanted. A friend of a friend recommended a local, hole-in-the-wall tapas bar not too far from our hotel so a couple friends and I headed to El Tigre (The Tiger) for some drinks and tapas. The bar ended up being great and we talked to a couple of Spanish students who overheard us speaking English and thought we sounded like we were from an American movie! They also complemented us on our Spanish, which always surprises me because I feel like I am still not nearly as fluent as I want to be.

The next morning started off perfectly-I was able to take as long of a shower as I wanted, we got free breakfast at the hotel, and I got to reunite with one of the things I miss most about the US...STARBUCKS. Well, any American coffee actually. I’m a big coffee drinker and the coffee in Spain is just not the same. It’s so, so tiny and although it’s called “café con leche” (coffee with milk) it’s definitely more milk with a bit of coffee.

So with a venti café latte in hand and sunny skies above, the group headed to the Royal Palace for a morning tour. The palace was so regal and impressive-unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures inside so I have no proof, but the outside was gorgeous as well. The King of Spain and the Royal Family don’t actually live here, but it is where the King greets all foreign visitors and it is also where the document was signed to add Spain to the European Union in 1985. We got to see the table where it was signed!

After the palace, we had the next 8 hours to ourselves to do whatever we wanted. While many members of the group went back to the hotel to nap, my friends and I put our explorer caps on and headed out into the city to see all the big things. Our first stop was Retiro Park, where we decided to try our hands at row boating! It was cold and windy, but still beautiful and a great arm workout. 

After grabbing lunch and sitting in the park for some time, we walked to the National Library, which is actually a museum, and shopped for a bit. We also got caught up in a nationwide protest about everything under the sun, which sounds scary, but was actually just really cool. At night, the group all went to see a show at the theatre called “Hermanas” or “Sisters.” It was pretty good, and I was surprised at how much of it I was able to understand. A quick cultural observation: Spanish people, and Europeans in general are much less sensitive about nudity and sex than Americans are. To know what I’m talking about, you just have to turn on the news and see the images they show here, or the commercials that are allowed to air, or just watch the play “Hermanas.” I’m not going to elaborate much more, but all of us American students were quite shocked by a couple of the things in this play. Always new learning experiences!

Sunday morning we visited the Prado art museum to wander and explore the works of Velázquez, Goya, Greco and others. To sum it up in one sentence: I really enjoy art and art museums, but one can only take in so many portraits and paintings of Jesus in one day. Also, Goya was seriously disturbed.

In the afternoon, we shopped a little more and headed back to Granada. It was a fantastic weekend, and I was surprised at how beautiful Madrid was! The architecture was not what you would think of when you think ‘Spain’ but it was stunning nonetheless. I am continuously wowed by the history and the surprises that exist throughout Europe. I can’t wait to explore the next city on my list this weekend! Look for another blog post next week.

Abrazos y besos!

Hugs and kisses!