Madrid

Yesterday we went into Madrid for the first time! It's about a 30 minute train ride from Alcala. It's amazing! We went to a beautiful, ginormous, famous park. They have some beautiful monuments, including the only statue of the devil in the world. Also, a huge pond in front of a bunch of statues that no one really knew the history behind. But we got to row boats in the pond and it was so much fun. The weather is pretty good, a little chilly but it's ok because no one is out and it's so nice to not have to worry about big crowds. For pictures of Madrid you can see my Estoy en Espana album on facebook. We also got to see the Plaza Mayor which I was extremely excited about because I had presented on it in my Spanish class and I didn't know that's where were going and when I walked in I recognized it and like freaked out. It's just a square with shops and a statue and it's only really used for like big public events and concert and hanging out. Anciently it was used for royal coronations and bullfights and "autos de fe" which were punishments carried out during the dark days of the Spanish inquisition (copy and pasted from my research my friends). After that we were free to do whatever we wanted. We ended up staying together as a group and wandering and checking out shops. They had a huge Sephora which is so funny because before I left I stocked up on my Sephora essentials and then they had one here. Guess I'll just have to buy more ;)
We wandered until we stumbled upon China-town and then we were like ok lets go back. We ate Golfres at a street stand which are just waffles you can get chocolate or jam or whipped cream on.

That's Kate and I eating them. Chocolate and whipped cream on ours :)

Then we figured out how to go back to the train and got home! Once we got off the train it was pretty rough trying to find our way home again. We made it but it took way longer than it should've. Today Roberto is gonna walk us there and back so we know the "mas directo" (more direct) way. 

Then we came home and had chicken and bread with blue cheese for dinner with an orange for dessert. Have I mention we have had an orange for dessert for lunch and dinner every day except for the one time it was yogurt? Which is fine by me because the oranges are from Valencia and literally the most delicious thing in the world. 

Today is Saturday and the first day we had no set plans. I slept til noon which is amazing because I've been exhausted in all our adventures this week. I woke up and we ate lunch (hamburgers and salad, orange for dessert). Then we spent a while showing Encarna pictures from Madrid and that turned into pictures of friends and families and pets. Todo. 

Really funny because when she saw the pictures of our group (specifically the boys in our group) she got crazy excited at how guapo they are. Jumping and hitting us and screaming "Son muy guapo!!! Son muy attractivo!!! Que suerte!!!!" So basically she thinks they are very cute and we are really lucky haha. I told her there were just two and she pointed at Kate and I and said "Perfecto. Para ti y para ti." Essentially: one for you and one for you. Hilarious.

Today we don't have tons of plans so we are gonna take it easy and go out and walk around Alcala!

Hasta luego!