My life as a European!!

This was an AMAZING weekend!! The trip was organized by my program. Madrid is the capital of Spain and has SO much to see and do that a weekend was definitely not enough time spent! I thought Barcelona was an active city--until I got to Madrid! The hustle and bussle of the city, the architecture, the parks...everything was so great!

Friday when we arrived, we took a general tour of the city. I can´t really recall much that I saw because it was a 3 hour walking tour, but all of it was so cool!

Saturday, we went to El Prado. For me, this was such an exhilerating experience...I can´t even explain! I studied Spanish Art history in high school (one of my favorite classes ever!) and my interest in this subject led me pursue Spanish in college, which further led me to Spain. I got the chills when I saw the paintings I had analyzed so carefully right in front of me and it made me feel so accomplished, like everything I had gone through in life-the struggles, the stress, etc-all happened for a reason because it all led me right there. Wow, that sounds really corny, but it was a very personal experience for me and one that I will NEVER forget!!

We also visited the Royal Palace of Spain which was sooo cool! The palace has over 1000 rooms, fully decorated, each with a story of its own. We went to all of them! ...just kidding, we only fit in 20 in the 2 hours we had...but it was all so beautiful. The King and Queen of Spain don´t actually live there, but they visit about 2 times a month. Saturday night I went to one of the biggest discotecas in Spain. It had 7 floors, live entertainment, great atmosphere and A LOT of fun!!

OH yeah, one big thing I have left out...I had a 26 year old girl named Mónica living with me up until 2 weeks ago. She is from Madrid but was working in Barcelona. She recently lost her job so she moved back to Madrid where her family and friends are. This was really sad for me because we had gotten really close living together for a month and a half. She was a really good friend of mine and much easier to relate to than Eli. She would spend hours telling me about culture in Spain and asking me questions and teaching me...she was sooo great!! I was really sad when she left, but was lucky to see her the following weekend when I visited Madrid. She came out to the discoteca on Saturday with my friends and I and had a great time!! (She calls me once a week to catch up and she´s planning on visiting Barcelona once or twice before I go back to the US!!)

Anyway, Sunday I went to a big flea market and spent time with Mónica before I left!! She even went to the train station with me to say goodbye!! How cute! That concludes my weekend in Madrid! One of the best weekends yet!! (Don´t worry, I still like Barcelona better!)