Today was another good day. So, if you could not tell already, I am happily settled in Madrid. Well, today didn't necessarily start that way. Our teacher came to pick us up at 8am for our field trip to Toledo. I was so excited last night that I had a difficult time falling asleep but jumped up when I woke up this morning. When she buzzed our apartment, I tried to get myself out of my bedroom only to find out that I was locked in. Locked inside my bedroom. From the inside. I could not think of a more stressful situation in the morning. My bedroom door locks from the inside and only stays shut when it is locked, therefore I lock it when I go to sleep. So, you can only imagine my frustration when I am trapped inside and we have a train to catch to Toledo. About 10 minutes and a maintenance call later, we were on our way to Madrid Puerta de Atocha Station for the 8:50 train to Toledo. I love trains. We've taken them so far to Versailles and Brussels, and it was fun to take the high-speed Renfe train which only took 30 minutes to the Toledo station.
We got in around 9:30 and picked up a cab. Because most attractions in the city do not open until 10, we drove around the city limits taking in the view and learning about its history. Toledo is beautiful. It's everything you would envision a little European city looking like: medieval architecture, tall city walls, rolling hills, small train station, cobblestone streets, and surrounding river. Instead of trying to hit every major monument or site, our teacher picked a few that were most relevant to our Cities as Living Museums class and we covered them in-depth there. Among them were a mosque, cathedral, El Greco house, and the oldest synagogue in Europe. Each has contributed something special to the shaping of Spain today, and it was interesting for me to see some of them after my last visit to the city. This time, however, it was much more relevant because we were learning for class, so it felt more like a tutorial rather than tour, and it was nice to be able to have lecture and discussion at each site. We ended the day with a traditional Spanish-style lunch at our teacher's favorite restaurant. Of course we started out with croquettes (my roommate and I are on the search for the best croquettes in Spain), I had Brazilian-style steak, and then we all topped it off with dessert. For me: chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream with a chocolate brownie. We went right from lunch to the train station and headed back for Madrid.
Despite all of the walking that we have been doing abroad-and it is much more than I do on a normal daily basis at school without a doubt-I felt like I needed to do something more to make up for the differences in eating style that I have developed since coming abroad. By no means have I been bad-maybe an extra pastry or two here and there-part of me knew something was missing, so today I took the extra step and joined a gym! In Paris we were lucky enough to live in a neighborhood without any tourist attractions (mainly locals and their kids), so there was plenty of space to run and I felt safe while doing so. In Rome, however, our apartment was in a major touristy area and there were no gyms or safe running areas nearby. But, public transit was at a minimum so we did a ton of walking. Here in Madrid, however, we are living in downtown among groups of locals and tourists, so I knew that there had to be a place to work out somewhere. After some investigation, translated emails, and paperwork done completely in Spanish, I got myself a temporary membership to a local gym! So not only am I proud of myself for making that extra effort to go but that I was able to use my high school language skills to communicate and get what I wanted. It's just a short walk from my apartment so now I have no excuse not to go when I feel lazy in the afternoons...which hasn't been too often don't worry.
In other news, we are going to the Prado tomorrow (aka one of my favorite museums in the world) and start our second class in the afternoon. Also apparently tomorrow is July which means summer has gone by too fast and I'm not okay with it. Oh, and apparently I'm famous again-check me out here. And I guess I've got some pretty cool stuff going on this weekend. It'll be weird not being in my home country for Independence Day but I have a feeling that some future events may make up for that. Until then it's off to shower and figure out what to have for a light dinner with my roommate.
Hasta luego!
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