More Spain Traveling!

Hello all,

Trip season has begun for me. I went to Madrid this past weekend with my program. Madrid is the capital of Spain and is a 5 hour bus ride from Granada. Before we arrived in Madrid, we made a planned stop in Toledo. This city, like every city in Spain, is beautiful and scenic. It is a very medieval themed city because of the castles and history of its origins. There were plenty of shops that had swords and knights armor displayed in the windows. They were also available for purchase, not just for show. We also saw the 3rd largest cathedral in Spain. While there we took a quick bus tour on the outer parts of Toledo where it was the most scenic, and then did a small walking tour through one part of the city. I can speak for two thirds of my group when I say that we can't remember too many facts that the tour guide told us because we were too busy focusing on his good looks. Even our director, Veronica, falls under that category. She bragged that she has his number. Toldedo was a great little trip. It was different than most other Spanish cities I have seen this far. I hate to be repetitive and say how these places are beautiful and picturesque because that doesn't do places justice. I wish you could have heard the birds chirping and the rushing of the river. I wish you could have felt the breeze coming over the mountains and the sun glaring down on my back. I heard a quote once that I really like: A picture is worth 1,000 words, but it takes 10,000 words to describe it.

Then we were off again for Madrid. Madrid is a heavily populated area with a population of 3,273,049 (10 times the population of Granada) and at any given time the streets are full of people. Here is what I remember most about Madrid: eating, hanging out, and the people.

Eating. I went to a Mexican place in Friday night with a couple of friends for some real Mexican. Contrary to popular belief, Spain is not a place to feed your spicy food cravings. There is no space in salsa, chicken, cheese..nada. Unless they put jalopenos in something you're not getting spice. Which is really unfortunate when you get the craving. For this reason, we went to get Mexican hoping to satisfy our lack of spice. It was a very good try and that was all we were expecting. Saturday I had lunch in the park with Roseanna and Shannon. We stopped at a cafeteria, got some pasta and went to a gigantic park to eat and enjoy the sun. That night we went to a Chinese buffet to satisfy our Chinese cravings and you can bet your midwest behind that we satisfied it. Orange chicken, noodles, fried rice, wontons, some other kinds of chicken, sushi, spring rolls, more orange chicken, riblets (yes riblets), and of course the dessert buffet. Chocolate, caramel, chocolate chip, and strawberry ice cream, topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Let's just say we had to sit and let the food digest for about 30 minutes after we were done eating. Sunday I had Kebap for lunch. I don't know the origin of this food, but it's yummy and greasy and really bad for you. You can get chicken or beef in a think soft shell with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mayo and ketchup. Also between every meal we got ice cream basically every chance our stomachs opened up some space. Not to mention the breakfast buffet was great! Mini chocolate doughnuts, bread and jam, mini muffins, fruit, hot chocolate, and so much more. I consumed so much unhealthy food this weekend and I loved every second of it.

Hanging out. Both nights we were in Madrid we had planned to go out to a night club, but ended up not going out either night. Instead we hung out in the hotel rooms and played card games. We never get the chance to do this because we have no where to go in Granada. Our apartments are not available to have friends over. In the hotel, however, we could have 8 people together playing cards. Friday night we got a cheap bottle of red wine and lemon fanta and made our own tintos del verano. Much cheaper than the bars! I enjoyed hanging out with some good friends over going out. Makes me miss my friends back home and just hanging out at a house.

I mean we did other stuff in Madrid as a group, but that's not what was fun about the trip. We went to el Palacio Real which is basically a small Spanish version of Versailles in Paris. We went to the Prado Museum which was just another art museum. I'm sorry, I appreciate art and all, but I am museumed out for like a year. We also went and saw a play which was actually really cool. There were only 3 actresses throughout the play. It was kind of hard to follow, being in Spanish and all, but I got most of the jokes. It helps that there were visuals with the script. It was also kind of hard because they referenced cultural things from Spain that I don't know about. Even our director didn't understand certain things because she is from the far south of Spain and Madrid is in the middle but more northern. One aspect that I noticed about this play was that they don't have barriers like the US does. There was a scence in which one woman was going to the OBGYN. She was given a sheet which she used to cover her front side as she removed her skirt and underwear. To make this scene humorous she flashed her butt to the entire audience. Then she had to get onto the table to lay down. I was not in the audience facing the front end of the table, I was on the back end where she laid her head, luckily. I don't know what they saw over on the other side. The other actress had to put her head under the sheet that was covering her. Obviously she didn't actually do anything, but man talk about an awkward scene. You just wouldn't see something like that for a normal play in the US. It was a hilarious play and the actresses were amazingly good. Top notch.

I don't have much else to report about Madrid. It was a fun time, but there are better cities in Spain. I also don't really like the big city feel. Unfortunately that goes hand in hand with the touristy spots though. They are not places for a nice relaxing weekend trip.

I leave for Dublin this Friday! Dublin, Galway, and London! Bring it on! Plus changing it up and going to places that speak English will hopefully be a nice change of pace.

I'd also like to take this time to give a shoutout to my loyal followers. Specifically Miss Connie at Weitz! Thanks for reading, Connie! I hope to continue the laughs.