As we took the train into Madrid today (Thursday) we talked about how we could not believe it has only been 10 days since we’ve been here. We have done so much in such little time it really amazes me. But I can feel my body starting to wear out.
After classes today, Ashley and I hit up the computer labs again to start planning our trip to Paris the first weekend in February. We are setting budgets and we are limiting ourselves to under 200 euro for this excursion which includes absolutely everything – airfare, room and board, food, shopping etc. We’ve found the cheapest airfare and a nice hostel to stay at so our goal is definitely in sight. We wandered around the plaza for a bit and split a kebab three ways (I don’t know how we did it but it’s definitely possible). After coming home to do homework, eat with the host fam, I helped Andres with his English homework! It was the strangest assignment ever but I guess it was helping him get better acquainted with describing directions by counting tiles on a pathway and dictating if they go “strong” right, “strong” left or “straight on.” With a Spanish to English dictionary we were able to translate everything accurately.
A group of us met at 4pm to go to the “blind museum” (literally a museum made for blind people), National Archaeological museum and the Reina Sofia (which houses Picasso’s Guernica I’ve been dying to see.) After we did that, we planned to go to a local cerverceria to watch the Madrid game. We ended up taking a longer time walking through the parque retiro. We took pictures, wandered and got to know each other a lot better. We mixed things up and went with people we haven’t spent as much time with which was great. The archaeological exhibits were really cool – I love imagining the people you made the things displayed whether it be jewelry, intricately sculpted vases or sandals. It’s unbelievable how well things can be preserved from so long ago. We didn’t spend a lot of time walking around because there wasn’t as much on display as the Prado, but I have always found historical artifacts very interesting. We figured that we didn’t have enough time to visit the other places so we found a convenient pizzeria to sit down at before we went to go watch the game. The pizza was amazing. European pizzas are nice and thin so they’re much lighter but incredibly flavorful. They tricked us by putting the bread down and then charging us individually again for it. We found something even worse that stores charge for out here which seems absolutely insane. We went to a local Haagen Daz. The lady asked if it was to stay or to go and we all said to go. As we were waiting for everyone to finish making their orders, we sat on the benches and talked. The lady told us that if we wanted to stay we would have to pay 50 centimos more – that’s why she asked us in the first place. We all couldn’t believe it! We now had to pay for sitting down in an ice cream store? That’s unheard of I’m pretty sure.
A couple of us then headed to a recommended Irish pub to watch the Madrid rivalry game – Real against Athletico. The pub had tons of screens and we got there early enough to have a table to sit at. It was fun to be in the atmosphere and watch the game with locals. Of course I didn’t mind seeing Ronaldo on a big screen. We were able to make good time on the walk back to Atocha train station. The train ride back was hilarious for some reason: from awkwardly feeling sympathetic for the recorder-playing woman, to talking about scandalous missionary stories, engagement ring cuts, inappropriate jokes about babies, and our long-desired night at club Kapital our train ride was filled with laughter and getting know everyone better. Tomorrow we have our first group trip to Segovia, which is only an hour away from Madrid. Apparently there is an impressive aqueduct that it is well known for. It’s supposed to be really cold which I am thrilled about. The cold here is humid cold like home but without being cold enough for snow.
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