Three Spanish cities

Today marks my fifteenth day in Madrid. I feel more and more comfortable every day. I'm starting to settle into my classes, even though I have a ton of homework every night, and we have not gotten lost at all in Madrid in the past week. We were able to navigate our way through our first trip outside of Madrid last Friday and our first nights away from Madrid this past weekend. Last Friday, we took a bus and spent the day in Toledo, Spain. We had no particular plans but ended up experiencing some amazing sights.

The first thing to note about Toledo is the hills. We did a ton of walking and the hills made it harder... but it did make for some amazing views! We made it to "La Piedra"- a giant rock lookout atop a hill across from the city. The six of us sat down on the edge, ate our marzipan (a typical dessert from Toledo), and stared at the beautiful view of the city. *See amazing picture below*

Toledo in the background!

One of the other best parts of Toledo was visiting a monastery. We were standing admiring the cathedral when a man came over and suggested that we go see this monastery to see people making artesanías (honestly I can't really translate that word... kinda like crafts or handmade goods). Anyway... we ended up following this complete stranger to a monastery. It ended up being worth the sketchiness however! We witnessed monks carving plates of gold and silver covered in iron into amazing scenes. They were really friendly about letting us watch and explaining everything but it definitely could have been all just a ploy to get us to buy something... which worked.

Here were some of the finished pieces. The plate in the back is siting in plaster waiting to be ready. 

Toledo was amazing just exploring the city. No other significant incidences happened other than our encounter with a baby lamb who appeared to have been born very recently. It chased my friend around a little bit, but the mom was the only scary one. I guess its normal for shepherds to bring their herds of sheep to patches of grass right outside stores. No injuries were received from the baby sheep or mother though. And so ends Toledo.

This past Friday, my friends and I took the first metro of the morning to catch our flight to Barcelona. We packed our weekend full of all of the amazing sights and lots of lots and LOTS of exercise. Lets say my legs are sore from walking and my butt is bruised from the bikes we rented. I hope my butt heals before the camels we plan on riding in Morocco this weekend...

We visited over 5 churches this weekend. One of which we are still unsure if it was Catholic. We couldn't tell whether the language was Catalan, Latin, or Ukrainian and I think we walked in halfway through. It was a very interesting experience though. The best church of the weekend was by far La Sagrada Familia though. The unfinished cathedral is amazing from the inside and outside. Here are some pics in front of the door decorated with leaves and butterflies, the outside with all of the construction still happening, and the tall pillars and the ceiling.

On Saturday I met up with my friend Alba after not seeing her for almost exactly two years. She showed us around her hometown. One of the highlights of her personal tour was the port, where the seagulls swarmed and scared us a little but where I also saw one of the most beautiful sunsets ever behind the hills of Barcelona. Barcelona will be missed... almost as much as my friend Alba, who I plan to see again before I leave. Here are some pictures of the beauty of Barcelona.

We used a selfie stick even though we always judge every other tourist for using them. They are very popular here. No shame when using it and posing with "The Fat Cat" though.

The Mediterranean Sea

The sunset on the port with Alba. Bliss.

And the third city of Spain so far is of course Madrid. We have been able to explore some parts of our home city. We've seen the el Palacio Real, la catedral, el Plaza Mayor, el Parque del Retiro, and of course every shop along the roads of our 20 minute walk from school. Once you make it to Old Madrid, the buildings tend to have more character and more of a history. There are so many places we have yet to explore but its been good so far.

One last interesting note... there is graffiti everywhere in Spain. Some of it is meaningless letters to me, but some of it is really impressive. We came across the beauty in Barcelona and remembered our home in MN. Missing it all, except the cold.

For those who don't know this is my roommate Emily, another Minnesotan native.

Con amor de Madrid, Barcelona, y Toledo
Jenna

Madrid so far

Hello from Madrid!

I arrived in Spain early Sunday morning after almost a full day of traveling. And while the city is beautiful and I am so excited to explore every part of it, I have spent most of my time here in bed. As soon as I got off the plane on Sunday, I started feeling sick and I have had a fever every night since. And if that wasn't great enough I felt so awful this morning that I had to miss my first day of classes and went to a spanish hospital! The doctor only spoke a little English so we ended up speaking Spanglish to each other, but it all worked out! Turns out I have a respiratory infection along with my fever. So I got medicine and rested all day. Even half a day later though I feel a lot better! I'm hoping to feel a lot better by this weekend so the adventures can finally commence!

While I have been resting a lot, I have had the opportunity to see a few places. On Sunday my roommate Emily and I explored the streets near our apartment. We ended up at a small cafe and picked random things off the menu which ended up being really good! We also had a nice glass of wine... because why not? We're in Spain now! After our lunch we walked to the nearby park that we plan on running in when I start feeling better!

Yesterday we were able to see the palace and the cathedral and many of the plazas. We used the metro for the first time and saw some friends from school. We got lots of pictures of the beautiful buildings as well! I will post some pictures on here later and write more about my adventures once they actually start happening! Sorry I didn't have much to write about but I wanted everyone who knew that I was sick to know that I'm feeling better already and hoping to be a ton better by this weekend!

Con amor desde Madrid
Jenna