first week in Madrid

Ok sorry it has taken an incredibly long time to post something. The internet in our hotel hasn't been very good. So far, Madrid has been a lot of fun. There have definitely been some cultural things that have been weird to get used to. For one, the service in restaurants is much different than at home - it is slower - because no one is in a rush to be anywhere. You actually have to ask for your "cuenta" (bill) when you are ready to leave. It's also nice because you don't have to tip! Our class is done by one o'clock every day, so we have all done a lot of site-seeing. I'm pretty sure I have shin-splints from all the walking we've done. It has to be about a half mile we walk to class. Madrid is very pretty though and I actually like the walk. The streets are very clean and you see a lot people out with their dogs. Nothing like Chicago. In the plazas, the owners literally let their dogs off leashes and they run around until the owners find them when they are leaving. We had a few dogs over at our tabel the other day! Also, when people walk in the streets the will stop right in front of you to have a conversation with some one. La plaza del sol has been under construction, so the sidewalks have been pretty crowded.

Below I have posted a few pictures from this past week of some of the places we have been. In most of the museums and some of the cathedrals we aren't allowed to take pictures, but I bought post cards with pictures of the inside instead! Enjoy!!

inside la Iglesia de San Tome in Toledo..this is El Greco's most famous painting (We also went to El Museo del prado en madrid and saw painting by el greco, goya and las meninas by velazquez)

inside La Catedral Primada in Toledo

Toledo

Tapas!! this was fried calamari

inside of La Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena (my favorite cathedral so far..very colorful. It was built in 1993.)

outside of La Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena

El Palacio Real (just as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside!)

first post?

Okay. So, I've never had a blog before and this is all very new to me. I'm sure it will take me a while to figure everything out (kind of like when you first get a facebook and you have no clue what you're doing...that's pretty much how I feel).

Aside from that, I finally realized today that in a week I will be leaving for Spain. I haven't gotten nervous yet, but I'm sure once I'm in the airport, by myself, waiting to board the plane, the nerves will hit me. Other than that, I'm really excited! I've always wanted to study abroad in Spain and I'm hoping this will turn out to be a great experience. I'm most looking forward to living with a host family. When I was in third grade, we had an exchange student from Spain and I always thought it would be really cool to live with another family in another country for a while. The only thing I'm worried about is saying something wrong in Spanish and embarassing myself infront of my family. However, that is part of the reason I chose to study abroad...so that I could improve my communication skills. Anyways, I'll be posting again soon before I leave!