Monday night we left Paris for Madrid, Spain! We landed and took the Metro to our hostel which was a great location on the major road in Madrid- Gran Via- and right next to the Metro stop! The hostel was a little bizarre- it was basically in an apartment building and we had a a big room we had to share with other people. But we were only there to sleep, so it was fine! We got settled and went to bed! We woke up Tuesday morning and got coffee at the Starbucks right next to our hostel. A lot of people had warned me about pickpockets in Spain so I was definitely looking out for it. But we were sitting outside drinking our coffee and I put mine down for a second- before I knew it, a homeless man had walked by and picked up my coffee and kept walking! None of us knew what to but laugh! Hahaha it was so unexpected! I was mad at first but just laughed and the nice man in the Starbucks saw what happened and gave me a new one! :) We spent the day walking around Madrid- SO much great shopping there! Lots of great stores and little markets too! We got paella for lunch which is delicious- kinda spicy rice with meat or seafood. Then we walked to Puerta del Sol, which is a big square in the middle of Madrid, where we met up with some guys from our program. Then we walked to the Palacio Real, which was beautiful, and then Almudena Cathedral which was one of the prettiest/ coolest churches I have ever seen! We just wandered around the city then went back to the hostel for a siesta- embracing the Spanish lifestyle! Everything starts later in Spain- most people don't eat dinner until 10pm or so! So we woke up late, went to dinner at 11pm and met up with the rest of our friends at a bar which was a ton of fun then went to a club where we danced with everyone!

Wednesday morning we slept in a little then headed to Parque Retiro where we walked around and Bern, Katie, Lauren and I rented a canoe! We rowed around a bit and just relaxed in the middle of the lake! It was so fun and beautiful! Then we went to Museo de Reina Sofia, which has a ton of Picasso's work- we got to see Guernica, a huge piece the size of a wall, which is one of his most famous pieces. After that we headed back to the hostel for another siesta, got up late, went to dinner and out to the bars again! Since it was a Wednesday, a lot of places were pretty empty but we met up with our friends at this club where there were a lot of American students who are studying abroad in Madrid so that was really cool! We had to be up at 7am for our flight Thursday so we were exhausted! We made it to the airport, running on little sleep, but we were fine and headed off to Barcelona!

I loved Madrid so much- it's not the prettiest or cleanest city I've seen but it's just so cool! It reminds me of New York but nicer. And it was so fun to use our Spanish speaking skills there! It was so accessible and easy to get around- it would be such a fun place to live!