Wow, this is totally overdue!! Madrid and Toledo :)

Ok so this is going to be one massive first post so I apologize in advance. I just haven't had time to set one up until I was all settled so here goes. I'll divide this into different parts for now. I tried to write everything down in a word document so I could remember exactly how I was feeling at that specific time. I promise they all wont be this long!

January 28th-Departure Day

I usually dont have an issue being on my own for an extended amount of time. After I ran off to Pennsylvania for 12 weeks, I can handle myself pretty well. I knew the hardest part for me being abroad would be not having my cell phone and always being in constant contact with all of my friends. I would now have to deal with a six hour time difference and relying on skype to see my friends rather than a walk across the hall or a five minute drive down the street. It still didn't hit me until right before I walked onto the plane that I was seriously going to be living in Spain for the next 15 weeks. I would not know a soul there and everything there would be totally unfamiliar. In this strange way, I was oddly thrilling to me. I knew that my Spanish was no where near the level it should be at since I had not taken a Spanish class since last spring semester which was totally stupid on my part but ready or not, I was off to Espana.

 

This day started off so chaotic. Originally I was supposed to leave on saturday night, but of course being from Boston, we were in for a massive snow storm. I had gotten my flight changed to Friday morning so I would avoid all those issues or so I thought. On my way into Logan, I got a phone call saying that my flight to JFK had gotten cancelled leaving me a sheer panic. My dad manged to get me on a later flight that still got me to Madrid in time. So I had a fun 3 and a half hour flight to Miami of all places then an almost 9 hour flight to Madrid from there. 13 hours later and I was finally in Madrid and thank god so was my luggage. People must have thought there was something wrong with me because even in my extreme tiredness, I could not help but being the happiest girl in the whole world to finally be in Spain. 

Since I had gotten to Spain a day earlier than API (the travel company that I am studying abroad with) required, I ended up getting a hotel with my roommate in my home stay, Kelly. She met me at the hotel but her luggage was not nearly as lucky as mine and was still stuck in Dublin! We were both so jet lagged so we decided a nap was in order. We set our alarms for 2 hours and the next thing we noticed is that we slept literally all day and it was now 7pm. Oops! Oh well. We entertained ourselves with German american idol and CNN specials about ballet slippers and Beijing's secret trash problems. 

January 30th-Madrid with API kids

We met up with everyone the next morning at the airport and realized that out of our group of 52 kids there were only 5 guys. Odds were looking pretty good for them. We traveled to the hotel and everyone was busy chatting and discovering how small this world really is. Once at the hotel, while everyone was sleeping, Kelly and I decided to go discover Madrid. Everything in Spain is so much more beautiful than in the US. You can honestly feel the history everywhere when you are walking around. Madrid's post office is literally an old castle. When Kelly and I were walking around Puerta del Sol, the main square in Madrid, we were thurst into a flashmob and began to dance with the crazy Spaniards. It was so much fun and would usually never do that back at home. After that we ventured to El Corte Ingles, which is this department store that is like Sephora, Best Buy, Macys, Crate and Barrel and a grocery store all in one. We had to buy the essentials like a hair straightner and wine. I am literally floor at how cheap food and wine is here. I got two bottles of wine, a bag of clementines, a can of fanta, a red bull, a box of granola bars and a 2 liter bottle of water for 8 euros! 

The next day we went to el palacio real which is the royal palace in Madrid. Its honestly like the Spanish version of Versailles. We had a tour guide who spoke in rapid fire Spanish so I probably understood like 60% of what she was saying. What I understood was so interesting. After that it was time to embrace the Spanish cuisine. We had paella and tinto de verano for lunch. Paella is a rice dish with saffron and seafood and tinto is basically the drink of choice here in Spain. It is more or less red wine and fanta. So delicious!! Apparently the Spanish love Americans, especially American girls. Walking around, it doesnt matter where we go everyone always stops and stares. We became the main attraction at the local nightclub when we all decided to go out. We took over the dancefloor and people were literally taking pictures of us and high fiving the three guys that were out with us all. We left around 3am and that is early according to Spanish standards. There were flocks of people dying to get into the club when we were leaving which is so different from American standards. 

The next morning we went to El Escorial de San Lorenzo which was about an hour drive into the Spanish mountains. It was like a little Swiss town complete with snow capped mountains and all. El Escorial was the Austrian castle where the Hapsburgs lived when they ruled Spain. They had this crypt where every Spanish ruler was buried. It was so odd to be have all the Spanish royalty surrounding me at once. Once we got back from there, I literally had 5 minutes to say hi to my friend Alyssa from school who is spending the semester in Madrid. It was so nice to see a familiar face even if it was only for 5 minutes. Then is was off to the world famous El Museo Prado. I wish I appreciated art more because we saw the works of El Greco, Valasquez and Goya. For our last night, Kelly, Nora, Kim and I went to this cute little Spanish restaurant for dinner and our waiter was absolutely in love with us. Oh Joseul please come visit us in Sevilla!

Kerry, Randi, Amy and I at tapas

El Palacio Real

Paella and Tinto de Verano

Km 0. Where all distances in Spain are measured from

Mountains at Escorial

February 2nd-Toledo

Gorgeous Toledo in the background

  On our way to Sevilla we stopped off in the city of Toledo. It seriously has to be the most gorgeous city in all of Spain. Its located right in the valley of two mountains and there is a river flowing in it. The landscape is absolutely breathtaking. All of the roads there are so tiny and cobblestone. It made be realize why everyone in Europe drives small cars is because the roads are just so small.  All the hilly streets are really doing a number on my boots! Toledo is known as the city of three religions because there are Christian, Jewish and Muslim influences all around. The most important cathedral in all of Spain is located there. After touring the gorgeous cathedrals and temples we were off to Sevilla. Hello 7 hour bus ride!!!

Toledo from a far

Mountains and river

The Cathedral