Dear Madrid, I hope you're ready for me!

Hola! So let me begin to fill you in on my time this week in my new home. Well as most of you know the reason I came here was to study, I guess all the shopping, sights, amazing food, and traveling is bonus. I started school on Wenesday the 13th and I had History of Modern Spain, Anthropology and Oceanography. I have these classes Mondays and Wednesdays. My day starts at 2:30 and goes untill 6:45. Yes and even though I'm in Spain that rigerouse grading scale and Jesuit mission still made it past customs and will once again be haunting me here as well. No I'm looking forward to school. My classes seem challenging but I'm excited for all of them. In Modern History of Spain my professor is English and has a think accent. He is a younger man that has traveled all over the world for school so he will be teaching about Spain as more than just a country but a piece of the global puzzle. He said we will be taking lots of field trips especially since my school is about 5 minutes from the entrance to the city that was barricaded during the revolution. In Anthropology I have a young teacher who is all about changing the world one Jane Goodall book at a time. lol This is one of the classes I have with Christina, my roommate, and it sounds interesting because we will reading a lot of interviews as well as case studies. I think our teachers zest for the class will really help aid me in wanting to pay attention especially as it starts to warm up. My last class on Mondays and Wednesdays is Oceanography. Now many people think that I am taking this as a blow off class, well I would be lying not to admit that I think it will be one of the easier excepted science courses but after our first class it sounds challenging but so interesting. After my course I should be able to explain almost anything weather wise and relate it back to its result of oceanic activity. It sounds very interesting because we go on a trip to Alicante. Its a city on the southern tip of Spain that is supposed to be gorgeous. There I will looking at the ocean as a source of life and as an industry. This area has the first ever national oceanic reserve in Spain as well as a Salt Mine. I can't wait to go because it sounds so cool to be able to explore the reserve and go snorkeling. My only class on Thursday is my dance class. And as many of you know I have always thought that dance is my true calling.... yeah Right! But the class is actually going to be so fun! All of my friends are in the class and the first day we learned a few different 8 counts of a very fast paced latin dance! So I will be showcasing my moves at Lc's wedding! The class is normally three hours two days a week and the first day we only went for an hour and we all walked out dripping in sweat! I am hoping this class will be my one of my weekly workouts. So far school is awesome!

Other than school Madrid is one of the most interesting and alive cities in the world. My neighborhood as I mentioned before is so fun. I live in the heart of the city. Since we do not have class on Fridays my friends and I took a walking tour of Madrid today. All the the top 5 must see sites are within a 15 minute walk of my front door! I am so blessed. We started out today going to Puerto del Sol which is on my street about a 100 feet away. It has music and street vendors and people everywhere. We then walked down the street 10 minutes and ended up at the Plaza Mayor. This is one of the most historic sites in Madrid. It used to be the center of trade. Now its very touristy so there are stands everywhere. After that we walked to the palacia Real. The real Palace is where the Royal Madrid family used to live. It is huge!!! I was amazed by all of the buildings because every detail is so thought out. After this we walked to the Art musuem. It is free after 6pm so we decided to go then to save a few euros. And with the dollar the way it is I can use some extra euros. lol The museum was beautiful. There was a marble table imported from rome that was made in the year 0. and next to it was a chair sat on my Isabella II made of gold. These are just a few of the kool things I got to do on my day off in Madrid. This is so cool!

I'm so fortunate to have this opportunity. I talked to my mom today and she said that they booked a flight to see me over easter and will be able to see Madrid for 2 days so I can't wait to show them everything. I'm trying to figure out how to upload some pictures of all my trips. This weekend I have two day trips planned, but I will touch on those in my next blog!! I love all you you and can't wait to share my experiences with everyone!!! I need all of your addresses so I can send you a post card of some of my sights! Love you all the way from Madrid!
Hasta Luego!
Aly