Hey Everyone,
This weekend was the Madrid weekend! The excursion began on Friday at 8:45am when we left for Madrid. About 100 students went on the trip. It was really rainy all day so I got to wear my rain boots :) The first place we went was the Palacio Real. It was a royal palace in the early 15th Century. After taking a tour through many rooms of the palace, we headed to Museo de Jamon (The Ham Museum) for lunch. They funny thing was…..we didn’t even eat ham! We ate salad, chicken, French fries, and for desert we had a chocolate and vanilla popsicle.
After lunch we were free to leave the rest of the group. Brittany, Derek, Jake, Katie, and I stayed the night in a hostel named Las Musas. On the way to the hostel we found out that 2 other girls from school were also staying at the same hostel. So all seven of us were traveling through downtown Madrid….Not the best idea. We had to take the Metro to get to our hostel. This is the subway that runs through Madrid. The subway was completely packed. I decided to turn my back pack around and wear it in the front so I could make sure I watch it and that no one could get into it with out me seeing them. Let me tell you that wearing about 15 pounds on my front was not appealing! If that is anything like being pregnant I can wait A LONG TIME!!! My back was sore, I was getting side aches and my feet hurt!! NO THANK YOU!!!
When it was time to get off, Lisa (one of the other girls at our hostel) was trying to get off and there was a lady that had her arm across the door not letting her get off. We were all screaming to let her off and she finally dropped her arm and let Lisa off. It was shortly after that when Lisa discovered that her wallet was missing out of her purse…The girl on the subway was blocking Lisa so her partner in crime could get into Lisa’s purse. Lisa lost everything. She had 250 euros, credit/debit cards, and her social security card. I think Lisa was in complete shock because she didn’t even get upset. I was more upset for her than she was. I felt just terrible. From that point on, the rest of the trip I was so paranoid!
Thank goodness the hostel was extremely nice!! Everyone there spoke English. It was soooooo clean, too!! There was a lounge area right next to the reception desk. In our room there were 4 bunk beds. With only 5 people in our group, there were 3 beds open for “random” people. We all locked our things up just incase the other people were weird! Then we left and went to the Prado. It is an art museum in Madrid. It has the most famous paintings from Velasquez, Goya, and many others. I couldn’t believe how large some of the paintings were!!! It was really neat to see the original works of art from over 500 years ago!
After the Prado, we met up with two other students from St. Norbert, who are studying in Madrid. We also met up with our study abroad advisor from SNC. We went to the grocery store to buy the items needed to make spaghetti. We thought it would be cheaper to make food instead of going out for dinner. It cost 2 euros a person for salad, spaghetti and sauce, bread, and wine!! You can’t get a dinner this good at a restaurant. It was by far my favorite dinner since I have been here! When we went back to the room, a girl was in there reading a book. I said hi and introduced myself. When she introduced herself I could tell she wasn’t from around here! She had a thick Australian accent. Her name was Dani. She was so nice and funny!! She fit right in with all of us!
When we woke up this morning, we got breakfast from the hostel. Breakfast was also included in the price of the hostel. We had toast, orange jelly, corn flakes, and coffee! It was also a really nice breakfast J After breakfast, the hostel coordinated a FREE walking tour around Madrid. It lasted 3 hours. It was such a nice tour and cost very little (I tipped the tour guide because he was so funny and didn’t make the tour boring!!!) After the tour we got lunch at McDonalds!!! When I was in line waiting for the bathroom Brittany and I were talking to the lady behind me. Brit asked where she was from. I laughed when she told us she was from Tennessee! What are the odds?!?! She lives in London with her husband, but they are both originally from Tennessee! What a small world J After lunch we just walked around and looked at shops and stores.
We caught the metro to the bus station in order to catch our bus back to Toledo. It only cost 4.82 euros to travel from Madrid to Toledo. It was an extremely short bus ride! It only took us 45 minutes to get home! Of course I fell asleep so that helped a little!!
I am extremely tired from walking around all day today!! Good thing dinner was chicken and rice! I didn’t know if I could battle any bad food tonight J Other than the pick-pocketting issue at the beginning of the trip, meeting a new friend, staying at an amazing hostel, and learning tons about Madrid, the weekend was great J
Now starts the planning for London next weekend!!! I am most excited to see Swan Lake!!! We just need to find a hostel and everything should be planned!!
I hope everyone’s weekends are going well thus far!
Have a great rest of your night and Sunday J
Besos y Abrazos
B
P.S. I would like to thank my uncle Steve for telling me about Slingbox. I am currently watching a Lifetime movie right on my laptop! This box allows me to watch all the shows everyone is watching back home at the exact same time! Thank you so much this is a life saver J
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