The Adventure Begins

May 18-24, 2022

The time has finally come! I remember just submitting my application to study abroad, and now I’m already reminiscing on my memories here.

Saying goodbye to my mom brought tears to my eyes, but I can‘t wait to tell my family all

about my experience in Madrid. It’s the same old life at home so I’m excited to change it up this summer with an experience of w lifetime. Surprisingly, the nine hour flight felt quick, and I was asleep for most of it!

Once we arrived at the Madrid airport, we eventually got on a bus to head to our dorm! Our dorm, Residencia de Galdos reminds me a lot of American dorms. It is very nice and has a dining hall, gym, laundry room, and many study areas. My new roommate is Maddie Doyle! The dorm food definitely has taken getting used to. I’m not a huge fan of it, but I also love trying new foods so I think it’s fun to see what they have everyday. I also learned that broccoli in Spanish is NOT broccolina.

On Thursday we used the metro to arrive to our program center, ACCENT. The metro was extremely confusing to me. I‘ve never taken public transportation before, so I wasn’t really sure how metros even worked, plus everything was in Spanish! The metro is usually pretty busy everyday at almost every hour. It’s so easy just to hop on the train quick to get to places.

After we had a quick orientation, we got a tour of downtown Madrid. My initial thoughts of being Madrid makes me realize how new America is! There is so much history everywhere you look in Madrid. I love how there’s so many different stories everywhere you look. The architecture in general in Spain is so different from America. I love how the city has so much going on at all times. There’s always a honking car, speeding motorcycle, puff of cigarette smoke, and people flying past you whenever you’re in the streets.

Madrid kind of reminds me of a suburban New York!

A picture downtown of a cafe and an apartment

After our tour, we went to have lunch at Jacinto in Plaza Mayor. We shared appetizers of pizza, patatas, and croquettes. This was our first test of Spanish! I thought I would struggle more with my Spanish because I don’t remember every vocab word that has to do with ordering or shopping, but knowing the basics can get you by! After we went shopping in Plaza del Sol. We originally thought that splitting a check wasn‘t a thing in Spain, but turns out you just have to ask.

A picture of me at lunch and our ham and cheese and margarita pizza!

On Saturday, we started our scavenger hunt to find popular locations in Madrid! My favorite stop was Templo de Debod. Apparently here many people gather to tan or watch the sunset. The view of the palace and of Madrid is beautiful. We want to have a picnic with a charcuterie board there while watching the sunset before we leave!

Pictured: Me, Maddie, Ashleigh, Bryce, & Liv at the Templo de Debod

We also stopped at Chocolateria San Gines to get churros. I was surprised that the churros didn‘t have any cinnamon sugar on them, as they do in America. Here you dip the churro into a cup of warm melted chocolate. I didn’t enjoy them as much as I thought I would, but it was still a needed experience!

Churros, chocolate, and cappuccino’s

On Sunday we went to a flea market. It was very interesting to see what goods they sell there. It was packed and we kept losing each other. I think the goods are roughly similar to flea markets back home, except at home I think people tend to sell more baked good or food. The people were very nice and one lady even talked to us about Iowa! I got some picture plaques to remember my time in Madrid. After, we got our second breakfast at a cafe. I had a Bayonesa de Cabello de ángel, and I was not a fan😬. But I did order in Spanish so that counts for something!

My pictures I got for 15€ at the flea market!

Our last stop was Palacio de Cristal. This was one of my favorite stops. It was so peaceful there, and the glass palace and water near it was beautiful. There was two guys playing beautiful music on instruments that I did not recognize on the way there. I love hearing people play music in public areas. It’s not a thing where I’m from so it’s always so interesting to see.

Pictures at Palacio de Cristal

On Monday we had our first day of class at 10:30, and we learned about the early history of Spain. Then we toured some more of Madrid and saw the most beautiful church. It was nothing like the modernized churches I have at home. It left me speechless! There was even a king buried inside. I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard of any buried in a church where I’m from. But that’s a part of the interesting places in Madrid, things are so different! It‘a really cool to be in the presence of a king in a way because growing up kings and queens were in history books or fairy tales, they never seemed tangible or imaginable to me.

Afterwards, we had our second breakfast at 100 Montaditos, and Luis, our professor, bought us some mini montaditos to share. I loved the mini hot dogs they had! Second breakfast is still a weird concept to me, but eating twice before lunch? Count me in!

The church with a king buried and Maddie, me, and Liv at 100 Montaditos!

For dinner we ate at a rooftop restaurant, Cafe del Rio. I tried to make the reservation on the phone and I had to google translate exactly how to make a reservation, which I was very nervous for. I’ve learned there’s a lot of ways to navigate through if you aren‘t sure what to say or how to say it. We all had some drinks and toast with chicken and avocado, and we all shared ice cream and cake for dessert. There was such a pretty sunset at the start of the night as well.

Stay tuned to hear more!💗

Adios!

Morgan