The First Few Days

7am in England

So it's 1:55 am, and 6:55 in Gatewick, England. I'm waiting to see what gate my flight is in. So far, I've exchanged some money, which was kind of depressing, $320 converted to 190 euro, and some pounds, but I'm not sure how they work, so I guess I have some souvenir coins now. I'm glad I transfered in a country that speaks English, because this whole traveling alone thing is complicated enough as it is. My flight here was great. I got bumped up to first class, which includes a seat that reclines all the way to form a bed and had a foot stool and my own personal tv. The food probably would have been good too except for the fact that I slept through it, and then when they did give me food, they gave me some sandwich and salad that was really strange. It was shaved corn beef, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and grain mustard.. not exactly what I'd choose for food, and then I slept through breakfast. So I just got some starbucks and a bagel I bought at JFK. Anyway, that's it for now. I'll write again later.

3 de enero

Finally got to the hotel after a hellish trip across terminals with 100 lbs of luggage. We got to the hotel around 3 and had until 6 to do whatever we wanted, but they told us not to sleep so we wouldn't get all messed up with the time difference. I fell asleep watching tv and then me and my roommate went out grab something to eat. We stopped to eat at some random little bar and I got a ham and cheese sandwich. Then we went for a panoramic view off the city which was nice. The tour guide spoke completely in Spanish, so I actually had to pay attention, but I basically understood everything. After the tour was when I realized just how many people on this trip don't speak any Spanish. A large number of students actually haven't taken it since hight school and were completely lost.

4 de enero

This morning we got up at 7:30 but since I went to bed so early the night before, I got up on my own around 7 and showered. We had breakfast at the hotel. The coffee is so good. Then we took the bus to el Valle de los Caidos, where Franco and those who died during the Spanish Civil war are buried. It was absolutely beautiful. It's a huge area that used to be a monastery, and at the center is a giant cross. It was really peaceful and grand, in the center of the mountains. Then after, we went to San Lorenzo del Escorial, which is a monastery, a college, and where all the Spanish kings were buried. It was gorgeous, and there were so many things held within. Inside was a library and an art gallery and just tons of elaborate works. That tour was also in Spanish, but we split up into a Spanish and an English group. Only like 12 kids took the Spanish tour, out of like 60 students. Then we had free time for lunch and were told to meet back in front at 3. We were there, but no one else was, and we waited for 45 minutes before someone came and found us, because apparently the meeting spot had been changed. When we got back to the hotel, we had a meeting with the directors about school. Apparently all of our classes are taken with American students, but we can do an exchange where we meet with a Spanish student and practice English and Spanish, so I'm going to do that. Then I took a nap, and went out to eat around 8. I had a calamari sandwich was delicious, but I feel like I should've been drunk to eat it. The food schedule is still kind of weird to be because they eat lunch around 3 and dinner around 9. We went to Sol , which is like the center of Madrid and the amount of people there is ridiculous. It looks like a packed football stadium. It was Sunday though, so most of the stores closed early and we didn't feel like drinking since we have to get up really early for a walking tour. We walked around for a bit, saw the palace and then caught the metro back after we had pretty much frozen. Then we just went back to our rooms and packed up to move hotels tomorrow.

5 de enero

So today we did a walking tour of the plaza mayor and the city of Spain. The tour was again in Spanish and really interesting. The tour guide was great and I understood everything he said. We saw all the important main buildings, which was nice. Then we walked around for a while because we had a lot of time to waste before we went to the museum. It was freezing because the sun wasn't out at all, so we sat down for a really long lunch and then through some tourist shops. There were a lot of street performers in the plaza mayor, but they weren't very good and they didn't do anything unless you paid them first. There was a Yoda and a dancing drag queen. Then we went to the Reina Sofia museum. It was a modern art museum that is partly new, and partly an old hospital. We had the same tour guide as we did for the walking tour so I was interested the whole time. I saw paintings by Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso (Guernica), and Miro (sp?). It was amazing. Then straight from there, we took a bus to Toledo, which is about an hour away to the next hotel. We got some down time and then the bus took whoever wanted to go to the main center. We had dinner in some small little restaurant but the food was great, because for once it wasn't a sandwich. Then we explored for a little while, but most things were closed because tomorrow is the celebration of Los Reyes Magos. There were like huge parades and celebrations, but by the time we got there, they were over. We watched a bit on tv of what was going on in Madrid and that was pretty cool. It was huge, like the ones in New York. And that was pretty much the days. My legs hurt from walking so much.

6 de enero

Today we went back to Toledo, because our hotel is right on the outside due to the size of the streets vs. size of the buses. We did another walking tour and basically, this was the prettiest city I've ever seen. The view was absolutely amazing. We saw a bunch of churches and the second oldest synagogue which was later converted into a Catholic church. We also saw a painting by el Greco, which is located in another one of the churches. The tour was pretty interesting, but it was just really nice to look at. Afterwards, we had a lot of free time to do whatever we wanted, but since the city was so mall, we didn't have a lot of options. The city has a lot of artisan shops that have really beautiful metal work, so it was nice. We had a really long lunch and then went to get some coffee. Then we went back to the hotel, I took a nap, and then we've just been in the hotel since. It's Christmas, kind of, so most things are closed, so we didn't feel like trecking out in the cold in a taxi just to find out all the good stuff was closed. Tomorrow we leave for Barcelona really early and don't get there till like 7 at night, so we're trying to stay up as long as possible so that we sleep on the bus. We meet our host families tomorrow, and I'm kind of nervous, but whatever, I think it should be ok. I'm starting to miss home a little, but I love Spain. I just really want to be settled, instead of this living out of a suitcase thing. �