Week Two in Madrid

  

   

     Another week has passed in beautiful Madrid! So far I am immensely enjoying my time here, and adjusting to the culture has not been as difficult as I presumed. My host family is fantastic, I could not have wished for better people to live with while studying abroad. They are very nice and extremely accepting of me and Alex, especially when it comes to my Spanish, which still needs a lot of work. 

Massive Spanish flag outside
of the National Library

Me in front of
El Palacio de Ciebles

    This week was my second week of classes. I am studying at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, a large university to the north of the city, where I take Modern Physics, Differential Equations, and Electric Circuits. I also take Spanish language and culture classes at the International Institute in Madrid, which is only a fifteen minute walk from my apartment in the heart of the city. It is hard to gauge as of yet how difficult my classes will be, but here in Spain there is a much stronger emphasis on individual effort in classes, so I am expecting to have to work hard to do well.

     This was an exciting and eventful week for me. Now that classes have begun, I'm over those 'first day of school jitters' and ready to settle into living here. This weekend, I walked around El Parque del Buen Retiro, the largest park in Spain, which is approximately the size of Central Park in NYC. As you can see, it is beautiful there and extremely well maintained.

Me in front of the statue of Alfonso XII

Some pigeons chillin

Rear view of Statue of Alfonso XII

Right in front of Alfonso XII statue.
Very popular place for locals and tourists to relax

Sup kitty!

Me in the Palacio Cristal, an all glass
 palace in the park

Me in front of a random monument.
Thanks for the crooked pic Alex!(jk)

The Puerta de Alcalá, a monument located just outside of the Parque del Buen Retiro

    Last Friday (1/31/14), the entire BU Madrid group took a trip to Toledo, Spain. Toledo is a city that experienced its height of importance in the early Renaissance period, where it was a center for the Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim cultures in Spain. It is only about an hour bus ride from Madrid, and we spent most of the day there doing touristy things. Walking through the narrow cobblestone streets and touring Churches and synagogues, I was reminded of my time in Italy. Toledo is a fairly small town located on a hill and surrounded by a river, and our bus drove us to a beautiful vantage point of the city before we entered.

Panorama of Toledo from the hills above the city. 

     Toledo is home to one of the most important churches in Spain, the Cathedral Primada Santa María de Toledo. It is the second largest cathedral in Spain, and was built over a 250 year period and finished in the late 14th century.

Side view of the tower of
El Cathedral Santa María

Front view of the tower. They original plans had
two towers on each side, but the church ran out of money
and had to settle for a dome on the left side. 

View of the front door of El Cathedral Santa María. 

An organ constructed in the
17th century in the Cathedral. 

The altar of the Cathedral

Not a bad looking room

Me intently listening to our
teacher and tour guide Ray Green.
All info and facts attributed to Ray. 

Another nice looking room. I've only seen more gold
at the Vatican

Painting by the famous Franisco Goya
in the church. 

Golden tabernacle. 

  We also visited El Monastario de San Juan de los Reyes, a monastery finished in 1504 and founded by Isabelle and Ferdinand to commemorate the birth of their son, John. The Franciscans later took over the monastery and dedicated it to Saint John the Baptist. 

Nice garden in the courtyard with orange trees

View of the altar

Second floor view of the courtyard

View of the river from a bridge crossing out Toledo

     I had a fantastic time learning about Toledo and the rich culture of Spain. From what I have observed, Spain is not all that different from America on a day to day basis. Some differences that I did notice are that Spaniards are not afraid to talk about politics and religion with people they do not know very well, as I learned the second day in my house from a conversation with our maid, Empeatriz. Also, it is not at all that uncommon for a family to have a maid, most of the home stay families housing BU students have them.
     People seem much more relaxed here, not always in a rush to get to work or get home like back in the states. They wake up later (as the sun doesn't even rise until 830 in the winter here), and they stay out later. On weekends, most clubs and bars will stay open until 5 or 6 in the morning. It is not unusual for people to go out for the night, eat breakfast at 7 am, and then go to bed. Probably the most difficult thing for me to adjust to is the meal schedule. Spaniards eat a small breakfast in the morning, then lunch at around 2 PM, which is the largest meal of the day. Dinner is served anywhere from 7 PM at the absolute earliest to 10 or 11 PM, and I find myself wanting snacks throughout the day to satisfy my cravings. But, the Spanish are not big on snacking, so I buy my own snacks from the store so as not to walk the streets looking like a hungry gringo.
     Sorry this post took so long for me to make, I will keep the updates coming on a hopefully semi-weekly basis, depending on my schedule. I hope you enjoyed!


(P.S. Also sorry about the terrible formatting, it looked way better before I published it and I don't have the patience to fix it.)