Adventures in and around Madrid

---

¡Hola!

So I´ve been in Madrid almost a week now, and, wow, it has been awesome so far. I feel like I´m taking a 3 month vacation....maybe that´s because classes haven´t started for us yet. Classes start today (in 1 hour actually) and so I guess that will make it feel a little more like school. 😞

Thursday the rest of my group arrived. I waited in the airport for 2 hours for them to arrive. One girl had lost her luggage (I guess that´s Madrid for you) so that´s why it took them so long. I was so excited to see everyone, to have someone to talk to and explore Madrid with. The first 2 days on my own were exciting, but I was still glad to see my group again.

Friday we had to take "un examen" at our University to place us into our level of Spanish. I find out what level I´m in today. I have met a lot of international students at the University already. Friday night a group of us from Furman went to a bar with some other international students as well as some locals (always good to have around!) It was so fun, but I left at 1:00 in the morning because the Metro shuts down at 1:30 and I didn´t want to be walking back to my apartamento by myself at night.

Saturday was our first excursion with the university. We went to Segovia, which is a little town about 1.5 hours outside of the city. Segovia is beautiful! They have a HUGE aquaduct there that was built by the Romans in the 2nd century to bring water into the city. We climbed to the top of it and you could see for miles from there. We also visited this castle that was the summer home of Ferdinand and Isabel, the king and queen of Spain who united the country together. We got to see the thrones that they sat on, where they slept, ate, etc. Talk about cool... Our senoras had packed each of us a picnic lunch to take with us on this excursion and it was so funny to see some of the food that was packed. One girl had really undercooked bacon on a hamburger bun. Another had scrambled eggs. Luckily my senora made me a "boccadillo," a Spanish sandwich with ham, so I was fine.

Saturday night a huge group of us went downtown to see what the night life was like in Madrid. We were looking for "un discoteco." So we went into one that looked reputable...well, it was definitely the center of the gay and lesbian population in Madrid. After leaving there, we went to another one and it was so much fun! The bars and discotecos don´t open until midnight here, but they really don´t get going until 1. They stay open until 8 a.m. in fact, it´s totally normal to return home at that time. I had heard that the night life was like no other in Madrid, but really, it´s incredible. There were THOUSANDS of people out and about!! I left around 3:30 and I was one of the early ones. Some people said they got home at 7:30 in the morning.

Sunday we went to "El Rastro" which is this HUGE outdoor market. It seriously stretches for about .5 mile with tons of shops all over the place. And the items are so cheap too. I got a pair of nice earrings for 1 Euro.

There is so much more to tell but I don´t want to make the blogs too long. I love and miss you all 😊

---

Comments

[April]

whoa
wow--laura im sooo jealous of u!! but also impressed that u only spent 1 euro when everything was so cheap--i woulda spent like my savings!! wow, it sounds like the best trip ever and i can't wait until we get to visit u!!! ur lovin hermana