Week #1 in Spain

I have now been in Spain one whole week and it has been both the longest and shortest week in my memory.

I left from XNA on Tuesday, May 19 at about 11:30am, had a connection in St. Paul/Minneapolis, then to Amsterdam and after a 4 hour layover there and a 2.5 hour plane ride arrived at Barajas on Wednesday. To start off, my phone was temporarily not working, I was afraid I had lost my baggage and I tried to meet in the wrong place. However, once I found the group everything was really nice.
The remainder of day one I got some tapas for lunch with a few other students, enjoyed a panoramic bus tour of the city, had chinese food for dinner, and finally crashed... only to be awoken 3 times by my roommate´s mother. Está bien ella estaba preocupada.

Day two, Thursday, we toured El Prado museum and viewed three of the most famous Spanish artists: El Greco, Valesquez, y Goya. After that we had a tour of the palacio real which has about 2 thousand rooms and 200 clocks. For lunch we had some typical spanish food and then a typical spanish siesta :). After that, my roommate, Stephanie, and I explored on our own and ate at Rodilla for dinner.

Friday was probably the most exhausting day. In the morning we left Madrid to visit el valle de los caidos y El Escorial and arrived in Toledo that afternoon. El valle de los caídos is where Franco is buried and it was mostly built by imprisoned Republican soldiers. I´m not sure if there is anything more tragically beautiful. The view was epic but the emotional pain for Spaniards must be overwhelming. I know it was difficult for me simply based on my knowledge of Franco.
El Escorial is a monastary not too far away. It is also where royalty is entombed. We had lunch there, I had chinese food again, and then left for Toledo. Our hotel was outside of the center so we had to take the bus or a taxi to get downtown. We had dinner there and then went back to the hotel because it was raining.

Day four started off rainy and then it cleared up into a beautiful day. We had a panoramic bus tour of Toledo and then toured a former mosque, a former synogouge and a church with a famous Greco painting. Toledo is known for it´s mix of religions and throughout history has been a more tolerant city. The tour ended in front of the cathedral, which has the largest bell in the world. It was only rang once because it broke all the glass surrounding and it also cracked. After the tour, we did some shopping, ate some lunch, and returned to the hotel for a siesta. That night, we went back for dinner (we had the best cheese pizza ever), then to a bar, then to a discoteca. The disco was amazing! It was a church that had been transformed. We didn´t get home until about 4am and we had to leave Toledo at 9am. It would have been an amazing night, except for the fact I almost broke my toe dancing.

Day five, Sunday, we left Toledo for Sevilla. We made a stop at the famous windmills, where there is a plaque about Don Quixote. We finally arrived in Sevilla at about 5pm. Of course I was so excited to get here and finally be with Jesús again. Monday I started my classes, and went to the hospital for my toes. Luckily nothing is broken, just very bruised and swollen, however, the swelling has been gradually going down. I´m in advanced spanish and spanish culture and civilization. Both classes are interesting and I especially enjoy the first one.

My schedule is kind of strange. I have class from 9am to 11am and from 4pm to 6pm. So, I leave for class when Jesús leaves for work, come home and am able to have lunch with Jesús, then get home at about the same time or a little later than Jesús. Tomorrow I´m going to tour the Alcazar of Sevilla, which is kind of like a Muslim cathedral.

This post has become ridiculously long, so I will end it for now and try to write more often than once a week.