First days in Spain...

Hello Friends,

After 20+ hours of travel, sitting in airports, and waiting in hotel lobbies, I finally arrived at my hotel room in Madrid on Thursday afternoon. Our first day there, Jim (roomie) and I walked a couple of blocks to a park called "El Parque del Retiro". Not many of the students in our group visited... or really even knew about El Retiro, but it was on of my favorite things I have seen so far. It was built for Spanish royalty in the 1600s and has several beautiful statues and monuments scattered throughout. The second day of the trip, we visited El Museo del Prado and the Reina Sofia. I had never been to a legitimate art museum before, but they were both awesome. We were only able to stay in each museum for about 2 hours, so we didn't get to see much. But instead of just running us through and showing us as many paintings as possible, our tour guides showed us lots of paintings by just a few artists, which I really enjoyed.

Day three took us to Toledo. I don't even want to try to explain this city. It's something you only see pictures and movies, but don't ever think about it actually still existing. Here is a link. Its just what comes up when you Google "Toledo Spain" and click on "Images" http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=toledo%20spain&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

We arrived in Barcelona last night around 7 or 8 o'clock. Our new Spanish mom, Chelo (short for Consuelo) picked us up and drove us to her apartment. Its in a nice neighborhood that is less than a mile from La Sagrada Familia (which I'm sure I'll write about later) and only a 20 minute walk or a 5 minute subway ride to the school I'll be attending. We have a really sweet dog named Daisy and a crazy cat named Susu. Jim and I have to share a room, but we have been getting along great, so I think it will be fine. Chelo speaks less English than I do Spanish, and Jim speaks almost no Spanish, so most of the interpretation and translating duties fall on me. This thought is terrifying if you have ever heard me speak Spanish, but I think it will be good. I am really excited about the prospect of learning Spanish and I think this situation will only speed the process along.

The last few days have been a blur. We have been going and going and going, only stopping to eat... and to try out our terrible Spanish on unsuspecting members of the service industry. Tonight is the first night I have had time to sit and relax since I arrived in Spain. Now that the initial excitement has died down, I can really appreciate the opportunity at hand. As some of you know, I've worked harder to make this happen than anything else I have ever done. I can't wait to see what is going to happen in the months to come, and the effect it will have on the years to come. I would love to hear from everybody, so send me a facebook message or something of the like.

Also, pass this link along to people who may not see it on facebook. Thanks!

Talk to you soon,

LC