After spending a week in a foreign country with a bunch of strangers, I really feel like I am immersed in the Spanish culture. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that this experience was once in a lifetime. I have made lifelong friendships, and made memories that I will remember for a long time. I believe that throwing yourself into the culture of a different country is the best way to experience it. My week in Spain has truly been incredible and I would recommend this to everyone.   

We started off the week jet lagged from the plane ride, hungry from not being adjusted to the eating culture, and soaked from all the rain. We were all so tired. Despite that, we trudged on and did a lot of exploring and walking around the city. Everyone was getting to know each other. The group that I spent time together with played a lot of games to get to know each other. I thought it was funny, I felt like I was in a summer camp.   

The second day was much more interesting. We got to go to the Reina Sofía Museum which was so cool. I loved seeing the art, especially the large paintings. I enjoy figuring out what the artist’s message was behind the painting. I was impressed by the painting by Picasso. I thought it was amazing to see just how large the painting was. My only complaint was that we did not spend enough time in the museum. After the museum we went to a flea market which was so fun! It was also the biggest flea market I have ever seen. We spent over an hour there and we still only brushed the surface of it. My group of friends had plans to see a castle in Segovia, but we ended up missing the train. I was disappointed but it goes to show how traveling is so unpredictable and even though we are disappointed, we prevailed, and we went to a good tapas bar instead and had a fun day.  

On Monday, we took a bus to Toledo. I thought that this trip was amazing. There were beautiful views of the city. I enjoyed that we got to learn about the areas around Madrid, like Toledo, on top of learning about Madrid. The architecture was beautiful, not only in Toledo but in Madrid too. I loved seeing the old buildings and the art that was created so long ago. It is astonishing that people were able to create such detailed and massive works of art with much less materials than we have now.  

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had informational morning lectures where we learned more about the history of Madrid and the cities significance in the Spanish Civil war. I was especially interested in how the war still affects Madrid currently. After the lectures we had time to explore the city on our own. By the end of the week, we became professionals at navigating the metro. I appreciate just how easy navigating around this city was. Navigating the subway in Boston is easy if you know where you are going, but the metro in Madrid is easier. I was much more confident in my navigation skills after this week.   

The nightlife in Madrid was fun, too. Dinnertime in Spain is from 9:00-11:00 at night, which is quite different from what I am used to. It took about half the trip for my body to get used to the different eating times. One night the whole group went out to dinner at around 10:00 at night at a rooftop restaurant where we could see the entire city. The lights were beautiful, it was one of the best views of the whole trip. And the food and drinks were delicious! Even when we left at around 12:30, there were still plenty of people out and about despite it being so late at night.  

On Thursday, we went to a bullfighting ring, which was cool. Bullfighting has been a large part of Spanish culture since the 1700s and still happens today. Unfortunately, the bullfighting season is from May to October, so we did not see a bullfight, but we saw the ring where they hold the events. Along with the bullfighting, we got to experience another large part of the Spanish culture, flamenco dancing. As a group we went to a flamenco show where we saw amazing dancers. I loved the show. The show is 90% improvisation! Flamenco is such a large part of Spanish culture, and I was so excited to see it firsthand.   

On our last day we went to The Valley of the Fallen. This monument is where Spain’s dictator Franco was buried until a few years ago. This monument is dedicated to his rule and consists of a huge church on the top of a mountain. People still visit it every week to pray. It had pretty views of the countryside where we took many pictures.  

Later that night, we went to a farewell dinner. This is where we reminisced on our trip, and we realized we were all incredibly sad to leave the next day. Despite being sad that we were leaving, we got to reminisce over delicious paellas. This is a famous rice dish that includes several types of meats and veggies. My favorites were seafood and chicken.  

I am so fortunate to have gotten the chance to experience this study abroad opportunity. This week is something I will never forget!