LO SIENTO!

Sorry for the delay! I flew into Madrid Thursday morning (which honestly felt like the middle of the night Wednesday and all day Thursday felt like the extended version of Wednesday because I slept two hours in those two days) but anyways, Thursday was a pretty relaxed day. My roommate Kaylee and I went to eat and I got bread with sausage and brie on it. Their cheese is literally one of the most awesome things in the world. It's so fresh it seems and just has flavor. Compared to cheese in Spain, cheese in the US has absolutely no taste. So we did that, and a nap was absolutely necessary for survival even though they recommended to stay up into the night. Regardless, we slept until our meeting where we got our Spain phones. Those are cool, I'm glad I got one. Then, I went out to dinner with some other people I had met. I have no idea why, but most of the people in my program are from the south of the US. Seriously, Texas, Georgia, Tennesee. So not only will my Spanish improve, but I will more than likely return saying y'all. We had dinner and sangria and rather than going out with a few people I went to sleep because I felt like a dead person.

On Friday, we had lots and lots of tours in Madrid. We did a city tour, walking and by bus, saw lots of really old buildings and got a bit of history. None of it is interesting enough to tell you about, but I made a good academic decision and took the tours in Spanish. I got 90% of it and I guess the other 10% was just sort of fill in the blank. Then after a delicious lunch of an omelette and sangria, we went to the Prado museum. I wish I was more happy about his, but it's difficult to be. It was a guided tour and we only saw select paintings and there were millions of tourists everywhere. I would've wandered around by myself for hours but instead Asian people were everywhere bugging me and it sucked. I did see Las Meninas though and it's one of the most awestriking things ever. Like I've learned about that painting on so many different occasions and it's always been in the Prado but to actually myself be in the Prado staring at it... pretty cool.

After that we returned to the hotel to clean up (it was a lot a lot a lot of walking that day I was so tired) and then we went to shop. I actually didn't buy anything and I have no idea why. So we went to dinner and it was only 7 which is like going at 2 in the US like people look at you like why are you in this restaurant it is not dinnertime yet. But anyway, none of us girls were hungry so all the boys ate and we drank more sangria. I keep mentioning it, but it's really good here. Then we returned to the hotel and waited for one of my friends Madrid resident friend Dan to arrive to take us to a good spot for our last night. We went to an Irish pub and drank too much Guinness. (In Madrid, I know it makes zero sense) This was the night of the Copa del Rey which means King's cup for soccer. Soccer is life here. The two teams playing were Barcelona and a team from a bit north of Madrid. ENORMOUS RIVALRY. Literally the entirety of Madrid was a party and we were all invited. Also, my friend Brian has an internship for the summer in Madrid, so he met up with us and took us to some really cool places that he had been to. For whatever reason, they don't begin going out until midnight, and they never close except for Sundays. You could sit at a bar in Madrid from Monday at 9am to Saturday at 6am and I honestly think they would just keep feeding you alcohol. It's insane. To say the least, getting up the next day to make the bus for Toledo was a challenge.

But after us all being pretty late to the bus, we made it. Toledo is about 45 minutes out of Madrid and the most beautiful place in the entire world. Every single building looks like a castle. I'm going to make someone buy me one someday. Because we only got one day/ night in Toledo, this was another day of many tours. The cathedral of Saint John was beautiful, with two chapel areas and an enormous garden between them. Then we went to a mosque and looked at a painting by El Greco (a painting I've never heard of and still didn't really see because, you guessed it, more Asians in the way) Then we walked the streets and seriously I can't tell you enough how beautiful this city is. It's on top of a hill and you can see for MILES everywhere. I'll have pictures somewhere shortly, but for some reason Facebook doesn't want to upload them. Anyway, I ate paella for lunch and it was fine. Seafood still has a head. That sort of bothers me, but I powered through because as it turns out, I hadn't eaten since the omelette the day before. Then we returned to a newer really nice hotel in Toledo where I did a lot of sleeping. We had a meeting that night where we learned about what we'll learn in classes and how to treat people here and to let people kiss you (on the cheek as a greeting) and that people are freaked out by bare feet. Then I went to eat with my roomie and I had a really weird crab cake consistency roast beef patty that looked like dog food. Not my favorite meal.

This morning we left for Sevilla, which was an enormous relief. We left at 9:30 and arrived here at 5, with stopping for a total of an hour and a half. There's a law in Spain that says no public driver (bus driver, taxi, etc) can drive for more than four hours without stopping for 45 minutes. I think that's brilliant. No drowsy driving!! No idea how that would be enforced, but it's a nice thought. Anywho, everyone else met their host families and then us independent kids were taken to our apartments. The apartments are nice, they seem clean and bug free, and we even have a dishwasher. As of current, our stove top doesn't work, which is an enormous issue, but I'm confident they'll have that solved by tomorrow at this time. (By the way, I'm probably six hours ahead of you currently) It has been very nice to unpack and not live out of a suitcase anymore.

Somehow in those four days (mostly the first 3 days) I spent $300 which simply just can't continue. Food in Madrid was pretty expensive but I'm told that Sevilla's prices are much kinder. Plus, we have a kitchen now, so I'm not going to be eating every single meal out. That's a good thing. There's no open container laws here. Which is weird little Chinese men sell beer out of milk crates for a euro. (Awesome price, think NYC designer purses from Chinese men) And no worries, they're sealed in cans and in no way contaminated. Sevilla is for some reason bigger than I expected but WAY smaller than Madrid. The population is 700,000 and for some reason none of them seem to run on the streets. I went for a run this afternoon and people looked at me like I had eight arms. It was nice though, except extremely hot. If I had to describe the temperature of Sevilla to you, I would say hell. Today it was easily 100 degrees. The nice thing though is it doesn't feel as brutal as Pittsburgh 80 degrees because there is zero humidity. It's dry heat. Pretty cool. I got a little lost on my run, because maps don't really help around here. The roads are tiny little barely able to fit a car on them alley way thingys so like 50% of them aren't named on the map. I unintentionally made an enormous circle.

One thing I did literally run into, however, was the cathedral of Sevilla. I can honestly say I've never seen such a beautiful thing that was so massive in my entire life. The cement wall that the stakes that guard it alone are taller than me. I can't wait to go in it. It's so gorgeous. But I found my way back to my apartment and ate a delicious dinner of free corn flakes and a yogurt (ps their yogurt here is awesome!) and now I'm probably going to go to sleep.

Tomorrow we must be at Plaza Nueva at 8:45 to take our placement exams for classes, which is about a half hour away. I'll know my class schedule tomorrow!

Sorry this is a long post, they'll be shorter in the future. I just had spotty Internet for the first few days with all the traveling. I have Wifi in my apartment, so life just got much easier.

Adios mis amores!