Leaving Madrid

Hello everyone! The past six weeks have passed by so quickly, and before I even knew it, I'm getting ready to leave Madrid. Surprisingly, I feel quite ready to go back home to America - maybe because it was the 4th this past weekend.

This weekend, I spent some time exploring the city -- which, despite what you might think, was not a frequent past-time of mine while I was here, because my program involved lots of weekend trips to Segovia, Seville, and Toledo (and I went to Barcelona for 4 days during Corpus Christi as well). In Madrid, I explored Gran Vía and the Plaza Mayor, did a little shopping (didn't buy anything... I'm not much for shopping), and ate excellent food. Spanish restaurants always have menús del día or similar specials; for example, Saturday night, I had an appetizer of sauteéd squid in onion sauce, main course of grilled bacalao (I think that's cod?), and dessert of blueberry cheesecake, all for 15€! That's one thing I will miss about Spain: all the fresh foods!

I have definitely learned a lot from my trip to Madrid, from working at the nonprofit to sightseeing around Spain. My Spanish has certainly improved immeasurably. For everyone considering studying abroad in Spain, I would definitely recommend it. It had its ups and downs, but that's the way it ought to be with every new experience. I hope everyone's summers have been going equally as well! See you all back at school soon enough...