My study abroad group, ISA, met at the airport to take us to our first hotel at two different times. I was hoping to make the first group, but my flight from London was delayed, so I had to wait for the second one. That wasn't too bad, though. I got a snack for myself in the airport and met up with and talked to some of the other students in my program. It was nice to be reminded that I'm surrounded by people who are in the same boat as me. Once we arrived at the hotel - which was really nice and in a nice neighborhood - I went up to my room to drop off my suitcases and meet my roommate, Cindy. We rested for a bit, and then went for a walk. We just kind of explored one street by us, and stopped in a cafe for lunch/dinner. I ate a bocadillo tortilla española, which was really just an egg sandwich, but it was tasty. After our meal we met up with the rest of our group for a bus tour of Madrid. It was really great to be able to see the whole city while sitting and relaxing. Our guide is one of the ISA faculty, so she understood that we were all tired, and she spoke in a clear, slow Spanish so we could follow along. After the bus tour we had a couple information meetings, and then I went to bed.
Our hotel was located right within "el triángulo de arte," between three famous art museums. Yesterday morning, we visited two of them, El Museo Nacional del Prado, and Reina Sofia, named for the Queen. We split into two groups, each with our own tour guide. Mine was an art history professor, and she was really good about speaking in Spanish we could understand, and explaining some things in English too. In el Prado we saw works from el Greco, Diego Velazquez (including one of the most famous works of art of all time: Las Meninas), and Francisco de Goya. El Museo Reina Sofía had more contemporary art. We spent a lot of time looking at Picasso's works, such as La Guernica.
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| Las Meninas, Diego Velazquez |
After the museums, we had the rest of the day to explore Madrid. My roommate and I decided to take some time to relax before heading out for lunch. In Spain, lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and it's usually in the middle of the afternoon. A lot of restaurants have a "meal of the day" special, where you get two courses, bread, dessert, and a drink for about 10 euro. We had a salad, eggs scrambled with mushrooms and tomatoes, and cheesecake for dessert. The cheesecake was a lot fluffier than the kind you get in the States, and it was served with jelly on top. After lunch we went for a walk in the Botanic Gardens. It was really pretty, as expected.
No trip to Madrid is complete without a visit to Plaza Puerta del Sol. It is the official center for all the streets in Spain (kind of like State & Madison in Chicago), and all of the streets in the country branch out from there. It's also a plaza like any other, a place for people to meet up, with street performers and vendors all over, and lots of shops and cafes nearby. This plaza is also home to the clock tower where people gather on New Years for the tradition of eating 12 grapes for good luck at the stroke of midnight.
From Puerta del Sol, we picked a random street to walk down. It was pretty crowded, with lots of shops and things like that. Soon we came on to a huge, really pretty building, so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be the Royal Palace of Madrid. There was another plaza here. This one had a lot more greenery, as well as lots of statues of royalty. We got there just in time to enjoy the sunset over the mountains in the distance.
On the way back to our hotel room, we got frozen yogurt to enjoy while sitting by one of the fountains at the Plaza Puerta del Sol.
Today started with a journey to Toledo. It was only about a 45 minute bus ride away. We went for a short bus tour around the perimeter of the city (which included a stop at a place where you could see the whole city from a cliff). It was absolutely gorgeous.
Then we started a walking tour of the city. First we went to the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes. It was built for King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel, and was decorated mostly with their symbols. They originally planned to have their tombs there, but when they conquered Granada, they decided to be buried there instead.
Our next stop was to a Jewish Synagogue. At one point, Toledo had a huge Jewish population (it was considered by some to be a second Jerusalem), but today there are only two synagogues, and they are both museums now. After that we walked through some really narrow streets to a Plaza with a strange name that comes from the Spanish-ization of an Arabic word. It is really interesting to see the mix of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim cultures in one place, such as all kinds of decorations in a church. All of these religions have had a hand in shaping the culture of Spain. I'm excited to go to Granada and see that to an even greater extent.
Our walking tour ended here, and we had some time to eat lunch, relax, and explore before getting back on the bus to our hotel. In the evening we had an informational meeting about our homestays and academics and all that. (Which is good to know, because our actual study abroad is starting tomorrow. This has really just been vacation so far.) After the meeting, I was hungry for dinner, so I joined up with some other girls from my program. We took a taxi from our hotel back into the city to enjoy some tapas. It was a lovely night.
Tomorrow morning we are off to Granada, which will be 4-5 hours on the bus, and then we will meet our host families. I am really excited to get settled in and start living like a Spaniard (as opposed to the tourist I have been lately). On Monday we will take a placement test, and we will start our intensive month of Spanish class on Tuesday.
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