Hola! (That pretty much expends my knowledge of the Spanish language.)One of the fun parts of study abroad is having other friends studying in far off places. Last weekend I got to jet off to Spain to see what my buddy Mick has been up to all year. I was greeted by a Spanish band as soon as I got off the Metro. Mick said it was “all for me” to welcome me to Spain. I’m going to venture a guess he’s full of sh*t. But, either way, pretty cool. Thursday night we went to a really small tappas place. It was literally shove your way through, stranding room only crowded, but the food was fantastic and it was kind of fun to be right in the middle of so many Spanish kids my age. I woke up Friday morning and was shocked to see…no one. Madrid seemed to have emptied out overnight. I gave my self the Sol walking tour and found coffee. I also found yet another country where my name produces some problems. In Ireland people tend to think it’s spelled Elisa. In Spain they think it’s Alice. All of these new aliases…what fun. I started walking back to the hostel and someone stopped me to ask for directions, in Spanish! I was so happy about being confused 
for someone who might speak Spanish that it took me a few seconds to realize there was no way I could break out enough Spanish to help the poor girl. I even knew how to get to the metro stop she was asking about! Sad! I headed back to the hostel and shocked Mick with my ability to order coffee “how did you do that?!” (I’m resourceful!)
So anyway, apparently Spain doesn’t really wake up until 11 or 12. Which is why I felt like no one was out and about. I mastered Madrid underground…via Madrid’s ridiculously extensive metro system. We went the Prado, which is a very very cool art museum. The royal palace (King of Spain gets a pretty sweet set up, let me tell ya). And wandered Madrid above ground. Found the US embassy, Real Madrid stadium, and the national library! (Was that a dead give away that I’m a nerdy English major??)
Saturday we went to Segovia. A very small, very cool Spanish town about an hour outside Madrid. There’s an amazing Roman aquaduct, an absolutely beautiful cathedral, and the castle that Disney land based Snow White’s castle off of. You can climb all the way up to the top and it looks out over the whole city of Segovia and the mountains. That’s right, mountains, real, snow capped mountains. I missed the majority of winter in Iowa, so seeing snow, even from far away, was actually kind of exciting.
Sunday was an adventure all in itself. Mick’s brother in law is from Madrid, so his parents still live there. I got to see the more “residential” part of Madrid which was neat, there’s a really pretty neighborhood right in the middle of the city. They made lunch for us, having any sort of home cooked food when you’re studying abroad is wonderful, but when you get to try something new it’s even better. Only downside was that I don’t speak any Spanish at all, and they don’t speak any English! Funny thing though, is that even though I have no idea what they said, I could still tell that they were amazingly nice. Weird how that works right? Mr. Gutierrez gave us a ride to the airport, with a detour to point out the bull fighting arena. Turns out Spain drives on the right hand side of the road (Ireland and the UK drive on the left). I’m now thoroughly confused about which side of the road cars belong on and which side of the car drivers belong on. American drivers…beware. I’ll be home June 1st and I’m guessing it’ll be awhile before I’ve got the whole side of the road thing figured out again.
for someone who might speak Spanish that it took me a few seconds to realize there was no way I could break out enough Spanish to help the poor girl. I even knew how to get to the metro stop she was asking about! Sad! I headed back to the hostel and shocked Mick with my ability to order coffee “how did you do that?!” (I’m resourceful!)So anyway, apparently Spain doesn’t really wake up until 11 or 12. Which is why I felt like no one was out and about. I mastered Madrid underground…via Madrid’s ridiculously extensive metro system. We went the Prado, which is a very very cool art museum. The royal palace (King of Spain gets a pretty sweet set up, let me tell ya). And wandered Madrid above ground. Found the US embassy, Real Madrid stadium, and the national library! (Was that a dead give away that I’m a nerdy English major??)
Saturday we went to Segovia. A very small, very cool Spanish town about an hour outside Madrid. There’s an amazing Roman aquaduct, an absolutely beautiful cathedral, and the castle that Disney land based Snow White’s castle off of. You can climb all the way up to the top and it looks out over the whole city of Segovia and the mountains. That’s right, mountains, real, snow capped mountains. I missed the majority of winter in Iowa, so seeing snow, even from far away, was actually kind of exciting.
Sunday was an adventure all in itself. Mick’s brother in law is from Madrid, so his parents still live there. I got to see the more “residential” part of Madrid which was neat, there’s a really pretty neighborhood right in the middle of the city. They made lunch for us, having any sort of home cooked food when you’re studying abroad is wonderful, but when you get to try something new it’s even better. Only downside was that I don’t speak any Spanish at all, and they don’t speak any English! Funny thing though, is that even though I have no idea what they said, I could still tell that they were amazingly nice. Weird how that works right? Mr. Gutierrez gave us a ride to the airport, with a detour to point out the bull fighting arena. Turns out Spain drives on the right hand side of the road (Ireland and the UK drive on the left). I’m now thoroughly confused about which side of the road cars belong on and which side of the car drivers belong on. American drivers…beware. I’ll be home June 1st and I’m guessing it’ll be awhile before I’ve got the whole side of the road thing figured out again.
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