Hola, Sophie here en Espania. I haven’t had much luck with Internet access here, so if you all are wondering why none of us on the Spanish exchange have posted anything, that is why. We arrived in Madrid Saturday morning after a long and restless airplane ride for the most of us. We all got freaked out when Profe Jorge told us that he didn’t know where we were staying the night. It was a joke. We didn’t get it. When we arrived, we met up with a teacher from the school in Barcelona and after some luggage problems, we made our way to the hotel that we stayed at for the next two nights. Of course though, we only dropped off our bags and then, against many of our wills, headed out to the streets again. By this point, many of us hadn’t slept in about 24 hours, but we couldn’t waste precious time in Madrid. So we went to an art museum, and tried to walk around and appreciate the art without collapsing. After the museum, the teachers thought it would be a good idea for us to get to know the way around the city, so they handed each of us a map and told us to find our way to Plaza Mayor. It took about an hour, but we all found our way and were rewarded with dinner! Being a vegetarian is sometimes very hard here, so I was able to find some good pizza.
The next day, we went to an out-door market, where you could buy anything that you wanted. It was very crowded but was a lot of fun. After that, we went to another art museum. This one was a little better and I actually saw a painting that I knew of Georgia O’Keefe. The streets are filled with beautiful buildings, beautiful sculptures, and beautiful people, oh and tons of Vespas and motorcycles.
On our third and last day in Madrid, we went to a gorgeous and romantic park. We took many photos and walked a lot. Then we went to the Riena Sofia museum which was my favorite. There was lots of work done by Pablo Piccasso and Salvador Dalí. The building was four stories high and made of glass, with glass elevators (a tad bit scary, I must say).
That sums up our days in Madrid. We had some great group bonding in two small groups. We ate good food and got very good at asking for directions en Spanish.
Now, we are in Barcelona. We took a very fast train, about 300 kilometers per hour, and was welcomed by signs from our hosts. We are taking it easy here because our students are on vacation. We are able to sleep in, which is a treat as we try to catch up from what we lost before. It is very hard to understand the people when they talk because they speak so fast and sometimes in Catalan. We are trying and learning new words that are commonly used.
Adios until next time!

Sophie