Miercoles, 12 de enero: La ciudad de Madrid

Puerto del Sol reminded me of SF, except it's much much more pretty.

Today we had the sweet opportunity to go into the city of Madrid and see a few neat places. Madrid is fantastic. Before we went in, we were all warned about gypsies and thieves that try to steal your stuff. Naturally, I prepared for this outing by carrying my backpack on my stomach when we first got onto the train and then when we were walking around the city. After about an hour, I realized that Madrid didn't even feel as dangerous as San Francisco. There was nothing to worry about. Mind you, we didn't go into any sketch places, but it still felt pretty safe and I didn't have to use any of my kickboxing skills (dang it.)

Madrid is full of colorful apartments

Madrid isn't too far away from Alcalá, we had to take a train (about 30 minutes, more or less) and then the metro (about 10 min.) Their trains and metros are pretty nice, they actually remind me of BART. It shouldn't be too hard to meander around the city through them, and today gave me some good practice and getting the system down.

Kristie y yo a la Plaza Mayor

Madrid trip was with our director and group (20+ girls), along with our guide, a Spanish man who knew his stuff. He took us around the main areas of Madrid, all encompassing Puerta del Sol- the heart of Madrid.

We went to the Plaza Mayor, a square that was built in 1619. It was very uniform, clean, and the sun was shining in on us to make us feel nice and warm. We would freeze going through all of the narrow streets that were shaded by all of the tall buildings, so the plaza was refreshing.

In the plaza there is an equestrian statue of Philip III, who ordered the square's construction. Before the statue was built, the square served as the city's theater. Apparently, much of Spanish history began here: bullfights, fires, and events of the Inquisition. Rick Steve's talked about how during the Inquisition, many were tried for suspected crimes- Protestants, Jews, and Muslims whose "conversion" to Christianity was dubious. The guilty were paraded around the square before their executions. Yikes. You wouldn't think such gruesome historical events happened in such a beautiful square. But history is history, and it makes the places that much more meaningful for its people.

Catedral de la Almudena

We were able to tour a few other neat places and see some interesting things. Overall, Madrid is very fun. There are people everywhere, and we kind of felt like celebrities in our group because of the attention we were getting as Americans in the city. Most of the Spanish people were respectful, but sometimes they were a little funny. Either way, I'm enjoying the opportunity to get to walk the streets of such a rich-cultured country.

For dinner tonight we had pizza! It was awesome! I think Encarna is beginning to understand that we don't like a few things. However, she insists that we try everything. So tonight before dinner we tried this brown sugary fruit on this type of queso. Neither of us liked it. But hey, we tried it. I should mention: Encarna, Roberto y la madre de Encarna, Maria- no hablan ingles. Thus, we can only speak Spanish with them which has helped me feel more comfortable and step out of my shell.

I've been able to blog a lot because we haven't started school. However, one of our classes starts tomorrow, and then on Monday we have all of our classes. It's going to be great! I can't wait to be able to start school and become better with my Spanish.

Buenas Noches.