Bienvienidos A Miami

Hey! Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. This weekend I went to Madrid not Miami so don't get confused haha, Miami was just the name of our hostel. It was actually my first trip of the semester outside the UK, the first of many.

View from hostel room balcony

Let me just say that I was so excited to go to Spain. I made the horrific decision of skipping our AP Spanish trip to Spain in high school so I could finish a yearbook deadline (per usual) and have been dying to go ever since. And honestly even though we were only there for 3 days, we covered pretty much the whole city. My now hideous feet are the proof. They are full of blisters and probably bruises from walking miles and miles each day in either 4 year old boots or cheap primarck flats, neither of which were made for walking. My post-Spain exhaustion is also proof because I think we got an average of 3 hours a sleep per night. Nonetheless, I am glad in the long run for all of that walking and lack of sleep because that will be my only time in Madrid for a long time if not ever so I wanted to experience as much as possible.

Instead of telling you every little boring detail of what I did and where I went and what I ate, I'll try and make this post a bit more interesting by giving you my overall impressions of Madrid with a few little anecdotes along the way.

(1) The weather in Madrid is far superior to the weather in London. And while the weather channel predicted rain all weekend we lucked out and had only one day of rain and the other two were beautiful and sunny and warm.

(2) Madrid has beautiful parks, which were made even more enjoyable considering impression #1

Parque de Oeste in the beautiful sunshine

(3) All wine should be made into sangria. I think Spain agrees.

MMM Sangria!!!

(4) My high school Spanish is really rusty. Trying to communicate was embarrassing. I would ask someone something then they would respond and I would have no idea what they said.

(5) The architecture is beautiful and everything is colorful.

Beautiful buildings at the Plaza de Oriente near Palacio Real

(6) The Museums are huge and while they usually cost money they also have times when they are open for free so look into it ahead of time.

Picasso at Reina Sofia

(7) Chocolate is best eaten by the spoonful.

The chocolate portion of chocolate y churros a favorite Spanish snack/dessert. Too bad I'm allergic to churros

Yep, those were my biggest takeaway points from Madrid. I am heading to Barcelona in about 2 1/2 weeks so I am excited to compare the 2 and experience even more of Spanish culture that we didn't have time for. Bull fights and flamenco dancing anyone??