Segundo dia de clases y descansa

Today after class we just took things a little slower. I took a nap during la siesta, laid out and tanned for a bit. This evening we had an event where we met up with students of the University of Alcala who are learning English. We spoke with them in Spanish, then they spoke to us in English. It's getting to the point where I understand most everything I hear, probably like 75 or 80% and I can usually like extrapolate the rest. The thing that I'm still working on is my speaking, but tomorrow I've decided to institute "No Ingles Miercoles," (No English Wednesday), to see if I can go a whole day without speaking English. I'll probably fail miserably but hey I'm gonna give it a shot! Here is a picture of the soup that I loved so much yesterday.

Primer dia de clases y Madrid

Today was our first day of classes! I had literature and then a conversation class today. My literature professor Sonia is super spunky and in my conversation class we talked about the ethics of the running of the bulls and bull fights. For la comida today we had this super yummy Madrid soup called cocido. I had two bowls it was so good. Then this evening we took the train to Madrid. We went to El Prado, walked around some skyscrapers, and got gelato. I had hazelnut and it was so so good.

Day Five: El Escorial, Valle de los Caidos, Manzanares El Real

Today was fantastic! We went to the different places. The first was El Escorial, a gigantic palace! The coolest part to me was the tombs of the royalty underneath. It also had a gigantic cathedral and a convent. Next we went to Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) which is a tomb/monument for those who died in the Spanish civil war. It is huge and cut into the mountain and they don't let you take pictures inside, but there is a very somber and a little creepy feeling about it. The last place we went to was my favorite so far, a castle called Manzanares el Real. It was so awesome and you got to go up on top to the towers! It's in the mountains, next to a lake, and it just feels so medieval to be there. A couple of us were running around singing Frozen songs.

Day Four: Toledo

Toledo! A medieval city. It was just... incredible. You can't capture it in photos, try as I may. First we took a tour around the city on our bus. Then we took a walking tour of the city with a guide, seeing la Plaza de Zocodover (which name none of us could remember) and la catedral. After that we had like 3 hours to explore. They have like 574 million shops, almost all selling Damascene jewelry and swords/daggers. A few of us paid a couple euro to climb this bell tower in a church in the middle of the city, which gave a fantastic view! We also got to try Mazapan, which is almond candy.

Day Three: Dia festivo

Today was a holiday (dia festivo), basically the Spanish equivalent of Labor Day, so there's no school or work. We went to the mall with some of our group, but all the stores were closed! So we found other stores nearby that were open. I bought some sweet pants that I think I'll wear tomorrow, and we got churros y chocolate. The chocolate is basically hot chocolate pudding. It is fantastic. And the churros are more fried and less sweet, like a scone or something. For la comida today our host mom made a soup/stew with albondigas (meatballs) y patatas (potatoes), also fantastic! We walked around Alcala this afternoon after la siesta. There were lots of people in the streets with their families and loved ones. I think I'm getting a good mental map of Alcala now. =

Day Two: Alcala de Henares y Madrid

Today was a busy and really fun day! We started this morning by taking a written/oral exam to see where our levels of Spanish are at. After that we had a tour of Alcala de Henares to see where las clases will be. After that we returned home for la comida, then took the train to Madrid! Anthony gave us a walking tour. We saw La Plaza del Sol (the main plaza, the heart of Madrid), several cathedrals, El Palacio Real (the royal palace) and La Plaza Mayor (another major plaza). We were standing and watching some breakdancers in La Plaza del Sol, and I got roped into 'volunteering' to join the show! I'm sure there will be videos of that circulating amongst my fellow study abroad-ers for the next few weeks.

Day one: arriving in Spain!

Well my laptop internet is sketchy so I just typed it out on there and will take a photo of that! The other picture is of the view from my bedroom if the neighborhood.