3 weeks in Pictures

In our first 3 days here, collectively Katie, Kelli, and I all took over 300 pictures. Since then we have calmed things down a bit, but here are the highlights from these past three weeks.

Here is Kelly with all of our luggage, we had a lot!

Here are the 3 girls on our first day in Madrid
Here are the three girls looking very pretty on our first day in Madrid

This is our hotel which was located pretty much in the center of Madrid

This is our hotel room, we stayed here for the first 4 days.

Kelli with our hair dryer, it looked like a phone!

The first thing we did was visit Plaza Mayor, a very famous part of Madrid

Here is a beautiful painting from an artist in Plaza Mayor. Plaza Mayor is filled with artists and musicians who are trying to earn money from the toursists.

Nik, Katie and I in the Plaza Mayor at night.

A street preformer playing the water glasses outside the Plaza.

Beautiful buildings line all of the streets.

On our first day here we tried to find some cheap food and ended up at a greek restaurant called Doner Kebab.

This is the cook shaving meat off of this leg so it falls onto the grill and they can cook it for us.
Our first night out in Madrid!

Salsa dancing with Javier

Our second night out in Madrid!

The buildings here are so much prettier than those at home

The Plaza de Espana. This has a huge statue of Cervantes and Don Quijote.

Kelli and I in front of the Don Quijote statue in Plaza de Espana

Almost every day we have a picnic lunch with various friends from school. This is Viviana and Thomas, they are from Switzerland and are taking classes with us and we are picnicing in the Plaza de Espana
A beautiful Plaza we found when wandering around the city A gorgeous church
By the third night here we were missing American food, so we grabbed some McDonalds. Surprisingly, this McDonalds has wireless internet and serves beer! Not surprisingly, there is a Burger King about 3 doors down (there is always a competition).

This is The Atocha, it is the train station that was bombed in 2004. Now it is all restored and running perfectly

This is the inside of the Atocha train station. There is a huge atrium on the inside, it is really cool!

The palace of communications-an amazingly beautiful building!

This is the Puerta de Alcala. There used to be 7 puertas or "gates" to enter Madrid and this is one of the 7. Only 5 still exist today

Palacio Real is the royal palace. Although the King doesnt live there today, it is still well known

Palacio Real from the side (can you tell this is one of my favorite buildings)

Here is the Palacio at sunset. It is so pretty, especially when it is lit up at night.

Katie and I in a park next to the PalacioKatie in front of the Palacio Real.

This is a street preformer in front of the Palacio. They stand still like statues until you give them money then they do a little movement for you and go back to being frozen.

Sangria!This is from the "Garden of the views" there is a cathedral next to the Palacio Real and this is it at night.
The cathedral during the daytime

In the Garden of the Views. There is always a massive street party there and it has become one of our favorite hang out spots at night.

We took a tour of the city on a double decker bus, this is Javier and I
Kelli and Katie

Caitlin (a EUSA manager) and Nik
Here I am on the metro, it is the main mode of transportation to get all over Madrid. I ride the metro at least 4 times a day.

On the metro, it is common to have street musicians playing music to earn money. I see this group play on my metro at least once a week

Almendra, one of the EUSA program managers took us out for tapas. Tapas are like appetizers. Often a spanish dinner consists of many tapas at different bars. When you order a beer tapas come with them and after 2 beers and tapa plates, then you move onto the next bar for more tapas and more drinks. This is Katie, Kelli, and I waiting for out tapas.

Our group with Almendra walking from bar to bar eating tapas for dinner. The decorations are there because of a festival the next day for the patron saint of Madrid, San Isidro.

Outside of the restaurant where we ate our tapas.

The typical madrileno garb worn on festival San Isidro (the holiday of the patron saint of madrid, San Isidro). Mostly young children and older men and women wear these outfits.

Kelli and I couldnt believe it, pink tiger striped stirrup paints in a trendy store in Spain. I thought Europe was supposed to be ahead of the fashion trend!? Please don't tell me that stirrup pants are coming back in style!