Day two of our trip to Madrid was a day full of exploring the unknown of a new city. The plans for the day according to the API itinerary included a guided tour through the Royal Collections Gallery. After Fran and Professor Z, will guide us to El Rastro, Europe’s largest open-air flea market. Since those were our only two planned activities for the day, the rest of the evening was free for us to explore the city.

Waking up in a hotel room is always exciting to me, it reminds me that I am away from home and I get to experience a different area than I am used to. Due to an exhausting Day 1, full of traveling and classes from the day before, I overslept a tad and rushed downstairs to be greeted by Fran, the best API Resident Director in the whole program. Fran explained that we would walk to Puerta de Sol, there he would help us take the metro for the first time in Madrid, to the Royal Palace. Outside the Sol metro entrance was Spain’s Zero Kilometer point. This signified the geographical center of Spain, to me this was fascinating that it was a guide point used to navigate the city. Better yet it meant that we were within a five minute walk from “the center of Spain”. After snagging a couple of quick photos, Fran led us down the escalators into the metro. In Madrid, their metro’s seemed to be way cleaner than most I have seen in the US. A short metro ride (literally 1-2 stops) brought us right outside the Teatro Real, an opera house built in the early 19th century.

Another short walk led us through the Plaza de Oriente, where we got our first view of the Royal Palace. It truly is stunning to look at especially for the first time, I myself had never seen a palace before, so to see Europe’s largest palace as my first was incredible. Fran led us around the Royal Cathedral to the back of the palace where the entrance to the Royal Collections Gallery was. Fran wasted no time and introduced us to our tour guide, unfortunately I do not recall his name, but he was an incredible tour guide. He led us through the whole museum, explaining the history of the palace, how Madrid was shaped to be the way it is today, he explained how the city expanded with time to grow as the population grew and technology advanced. I have always enjoyed learning about the past, but I can’t express how excited I was to learn about the past while viewing artifacts and pieces of art from an expert. As we progressed through the tour, we reached the second floor. This is where our guide stopped the tour and explained to us the Spanish enlightenment period. He explained that the art created on the second floor was around the time that Spaniards began their quest for knowledge, how as humans we need to keep driving to learn more every day about anything that sparks our interest. To me these words resonated deeply with me. He labeled the importance of learning in order to keep your mind young.

After several hours in the museum our time there was up. Fran led us to the Plaza de la Armeria, where from there we walked South towards El Rastro. Professor Z and Fran gave us some tips on fun things to do in the area, then they let us explore the market on our own. Lana, another student on the trip, and I decided to just jump right into the market and start exploring the streets. There were so many pop-up clothing, jewelry, handbags, and sunglasses shops. But the further we got, the more interesting the booths became. They became more flea market shops rather than touristy shops at the beginning. Most people were selling antiquity items, or random knick-knacks. Luckily, I was able to refrain myself from buying every cool metal piece I found there. Due to all the walking we had been doing, we decided to try and find a restaurant to rest and fuel up before doing more walking. However, time is a little different in Spain, around two to four in the afternoon most stores closed up for a relaxed lunch and a siesta. This means the restaurants and tapas places get very busy. After checking lots of restaurants on our walk back we found a place that looked busy and interesting. The restaurant was called Cerveceria San Millan, since this was only day two of our trip, I was still a tad unsure on how restaurants were different in the U.S. compared to Spain. Luckily our waiter was very patient, he recommended to us, Carrillada de Ternera estofada or braised beef cheek. He did not lie when he told us it was one of their best dishes. After eating to our stomachs content, we decided that this planned nap time after lunch was a magnificent idea.

Something that stood out to me the most from my first full day in Madrid, was even though Madridians do essentially the same thing as Americans they do it at a different, slower pace. Now this isn’t a bad thing, it’s just a different way of doing things. It was very relaxing to just unwind and not be rushed around my day, in the U.S. I feel as though we live every minute with the thought that if we aren’t being productive, we are wasting time. Especially as an engineering major I feel that way, but it was so calming to take a nap during the middle of the day because that’s simply what people do to stay happier. It was small moments like these where I was able to just compare the two lifestyles that I enjoyed the most. Neither one is objectively better than the other but rather it is a different way of living, suited for different people.