Angela's Adventures: Hello Spain.

Hola!

I have arrived in Spain! What a culture shock this is, lemme tell ya. And it is starts before you even begin your flight to your destination. I sat on the plane and everyone is speaking Spanish, even the flight attendants. I knew I was coming to a Spanish speaking country, but it hit me sitting on the plane that this will be my form of communication for the next three months.

So, you can probably guess that my Spanish hasn't really been rockin' since I have been here. Here is a small example of just how bad it is at the moment.

Tonight Real Madrid played Manchester City in soccer here in Madrid. We have been seeing lots of Machester City fans (English fans to be exact) around yelling, singing chants, doing dances, drinking (and lots of it), and being as loud as possible. It was awesome. So, we thought that it would be fun to go to a place where they show the game for dinner with some die hard fans. Easy, right? Not so much. We walked around for a few miles (literally, no exaggeration) and finally succumbed to our hungry bellies and stopped at a breakfast sandwich shop. I thought hey, I am going to order first and that's what I did. But then I realized I didn't want what I ordered so I changed my order. Difficult, sorta. Then my friend across the table ordered a water and I say, "Yo tambien". Because, in all honesty, my thirst was quenched.

He came out with two sandwiches. He thought I was saying I wanted the FOOD my friend ordered instead of the AGUA that I actually wanted. And then none of us knew how to give the food back and say that I didn't order that, when in fact I did said, "Yo tambien".

So there. That's my story. Now onto some activities that we have done.

We did a walking tour of Madrid which was awesome. Saw great architecture and lots of government buildings which are absolutely beautiful. We also went to the Museo Nacional Del Prado. It was really cool! We saw lots of paintings that I actually studied in my fine arts course at SNU! Goya, Velasquez, El Greco!!! It is really kind of exciting to know that what you study in school is real and that you get to see it not only in a textbook but in real life. And let me just say that a picture doesn't do a painting justice.

Two of my friends and I decided that with our free time we were going to go to the Royal Palace. The outside is beautiful and has an amazing view of Madrid, but then we thought it would be a great idea to tour the place, so we did. OH. MY. WORD. I saw maybe 1/3 of the place and it was absolutely breath taking. I saw the insides of some really beautiful castles in England, and this was just so crazy. Painted gold on everything, rooms filled with silver and gold, chandeliers every time your eyes gaze up, and wall paper made of silk and embroidery. Words can't do the inside of a palace justice. Like I put in a previous post; please travel.

It has been a fun experience to meet new people and explore a new city, but exhausting at the same time. Tomorrow we set off for Toledo so look for an update in the next couple of days.

Here is the song of the day (fitting, right?):