Chapter 2: Golden Arches, Sangria, Siestas

Sorry for the long post but I will fill you guys in.  I will try to add some pictures later to break up all the text. We have accomplished a lot in the past two days.  Yesterday was our only full day in Madrid so we had to make the most of it.  It was a very nice day – it gets hot but there is no humidity so we catch a nice breeze.  Our day started at our favorite landmark: the golden arches.  McDonalds was our key point and we knew how to get most places from it.  The McDonalds was the nicest McDonalds I have ever been to.  The upstairs looked like a night club; the eating area had leather coaches and modern stools.  They even served beer which you could get as part of your meal. We were craving an ice cold drink so that is where we found ourselves in the morning.  The night prior we had eaten dinner at a cool little restaurant that was at the corner of the fork in the main road coming from La Plaza de Mayor.  We want back to the plaza for lunch.  It was relaxing to sit outside in the plaza, share a pitcher of sangria, and watch the activity in the plaza.  For lunch we ordered various tapas (small dishes of food) to share and tried a lot of different dishes in Madrid.  After lunch we found a busy market with variety of fruits, meats, desserts, and tapas.  There were a lot of people there shopping for produce, and having afternoon drinks and tapas with friends and coworkers before siesta.  We then wondered to a small cathedral and sat in on a Spanish mass that was interesting to see.  It was Wednesday afternoon so there were a few older women there.  The inside of the church was very detailed and ornate.  We then walked to the palace and a larger cathedral.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to go into them because the cathedral was closed for siesta or the palace was having official events.  We did however get to see the changing of the guards which was neat.  Later that day we went to an older palace and got to go to the top of the main tower to see the entire city.  Looking out onto the city, I did not realize how large of a city it was without a notable skyline.  There are maybe three or four sky scrapers in the business district.  They pride themselves on keeping their traditional buildings that have a lot of history.  I also didn’t realize how mountainous part of Spain was.  In the distance we could see mountain that still had snow on the top, and when riding the train to Sevilla, I noticed this even more as I passed through much of the Spanish landscape.  I left Madrid for Seville at noon yesterday and got to Sevilla at 2:30 but had to wait for an hour since I rode the train by myself.  My friends couldn’t get a ticket for the same time that I had pre purchased, but it was a good experience to ride the train by myself and figure out what I was doing by myself.  I really got to experience real immersion into a culture.  And speaking of culture, Spaniards are extremely open towards nudity and sex.  The movie they played in the train featured many scenes of naked women while there were about four kids in my cart let alone.  Very interesting to see.  After my friends arrived we went to check in at our hotel provided by the school (which was actually nice), and then walked through one of the many gardens, back through old streets and found a little restaurant to have a glass of sangria and tapas, and of course, followed up with a siesta.  Last night we had an orientation and a group dinner and this morning we meet our host families.  Unfortunately we have to wait until 1:00 because our Senora works at the beauty salon she owns until then.  She moved here from Argentina to be with her two sons.  I will let you know more about the family once I meet here.  It will be interesting to live with her as we are the farthest from school (about a 35 minute walk).  I will keep you guys updated.  Comment with questions!