Paris!

Our first trip and our first 3 weeks in Madrid are now complete! Thursday evening me and five others boarded our flight to Paris. I was so excited for the first trip of the semester, and it didn't let me down! Paris was amazing and I absolutely loved it!

We got up early friday morning and headed to the Louvre Museum after enjoying a French breakfast of crepes! I was amazed by how many paintings were inside the Louvre. Huge rooms were lined with amazing paintings as well as sculptures, artifacts, etc. We, of course, stopped by the Mona Lisa which was very cool to see, but much smaller than you would expect for all of the hype it gets. It was really fun to wander around and look at all of these amazing pieces of artwork. After the Louvre we walked over to the Arc de Triumph. It is a huge and beautiful concrete arc in the middle of the city. After warming up with a delicious french lunch(it was FREEZING outside) we headed over to the Eiffel Tower, which was what I was most excited for! The Eiffel Tower was awesome! However, it looked more industrial than I expected, but regardless it was great to see. Because it was so windy we couldn't go all the way to the top but we did go to the second level which is still really high and saw an amazing view. We went back the next day to see the Eiffel Tower at night with all the lights on and it was even more beautiful! It was amazing how pretty it looked in the dark.

Saturday morning we started our day with croissants and coffee, delicious! All of the food we had there was truly amazing! After breakfast we headed to Notre Dame. It was AMAZING!!! It is a toss up whether this or the Eiffel Tower at night were my favorite things that we saw. The architecture on the outside was beautiful and the inside was gorgeous as well. I was amazed by just how astounding the entire cathedral was. After this we got lunch. The entire trip we had been eying these hotdogs that were on baguettes with cheese melted on top, so for lunch we finally got one, they were great! That afternoon we split up, Anne Marie and I went on a boat tour on the Seine River. It was awesome, the view from the river was great and we had a great view of the Eiffel Tower and other sites in Paris. The other girls went to the flee market but said it was not as great as they were expecting. We finished our trip with a great dinner! I had macaroni and french onion soup, i figured I had to try it since I was in France! The night before Anne Marie and I had a huge cheese board with assorted meets(prosciutto, different salamis, etc.) Overall, I think I did a good job trying all the French foods. Crepes were definitely my favorite! I had them with nutella and they were absolutely delicious!

Paris was a great first trip and I can only hope that my other trips are as amazing!

Eiffel Tower form the Seine river!

Eiffel Tower at night, the pictures didn't turn out

great but it was beautiful!

Notre Dame!

Arc de Triumph!

Dos Semanas en Espana!

Anne Marie, Jennifer, Rachel and I in the courtyard of El Escorial!

Today I have officially been in Spain for two weeks! I already feel like I have learned the ropes and am becoming more of a local!

On friday, we decided to venture into Sol to go shopping. This was our first time in Sol during the day(however,most of the bars/clubs are there so we have been at night). During January there are rebajas which means sales so everything is extremely discounted, which is great! On Saturday, we started our day by going to our new favorite pizza and pasta place, where we are in the process of becoming regulars. After our lunch we decided to go on an aerial tour of Madrid. The tour took place in gondolas that ride over the city on a cable, it was absolutely beautiful!

Today I went on a day trip to El Escorial! It was about 45 minutes from Madrid. El Escorial isa beautiful palace that has been used by many of the kings of Spain. It overlooks a beautiful mountain range. It was a great trip and its always really fun to see other parts of Spain. After our tour we were at a local bakery when a huge parade of people came by us. We had no idea what was happening but there were a ton of people, dancers, instruments, etc. Were pretty sure it was a celebration of St. Christopher(at least that is what we were told). It was really cool to see!

The first two weeks here have gone great. My room mate Anne Marie and I are both battling colds but are getting better. At dinner tonight Anne Marie informed our house mom "Mi nariz esta ocupado", literally that means my nose is busy, but Mari Carmen(our house mom) still understood she meant congested and just replied "mas o menos"(more or less). She is EXTREMELY patient with our spanish skills. Even though I still struggle occasionally my spanish abilities are getting much better! We are still in the process of planning trips, and are getting SO excited for Paris next week!

Street Parade in El Escorial!

View from the Palace!

Segovia and Rowboats!

Hola! Our first trip of the semester, a day trip to Segovia, was great! Segovia is an old city about an hour away from Madrid that is absolutely beautiful! This trip was organized through the university and departed at 9am on Saturday morning. I had forgotten that I had been there when I was in Spain 2 years ago, but was reminded as soon as I saw the beautiful aqueducts that border the town's entrance. We went on a tour of the most popular cites in Segovia and all of it was beautiful! The castle there(which they call a fortress, but really its a castle) was gorgeous and we got to go inside and look at everything. The views from the large castle windows were particularly spectacular! After our tour we had some free time before we had to get on the bus and return home. We did some shopping, which is great to do during January because all of the stores in Spain have Rebajas(sales) and things are extremely cheap. We also ate at a great restaurant where I had one of the best cheese burgers ever. After that we returned home, it was a great first trip!

Sunday, my roommates and I decided to go explore a great park near our house, Parque Retiro. This park is HUGE and gorgeous. It was extremely crowded because it was about 60 degrees and sunny so everyone was out. We decided to go out in the small lake they have in row boats, we had no idea how difficult rowing would be. It was quite a site. I'm convinced we were doing something wrong because there were five year olds rowing much better than the three of us combined. However, it was still fun(and extremely amusing).

Monday started our first full week of class(if you can call it that since I always only have to classes per day for four days a week). So far this week is going great and this weekend we are off to El Escorial. The next two weekends are followed by trips to

Paris and Portugal!

Aqueducts in Segovia!

Attempting to row boat in Parque Retiro!

Roommates in Segovia!

Week One in España!

Hola! It has been a great first week in Madrid! On Sunday we had orientation for school which was also our first time riding the Metro, luckily our host mom rode with us and walked us to school! She was very concerned that we wouldn't know how to get home, but we made it! However, the next day we weren't so lucky and got lost for a solid hour and half trying to get to school. It turns out not as many people speak english as you would think and no one knows about our school, but eventually we made it. After our long journey to school we went on a tour of a local Palace and garden that were so pretty and afterwords we went to a restaurant for free spanish tapas. Surprisingly, I actually liked most of the food(kind of a big deal).

Wednesday was our first day of school, an

d the weather could not have been better! I liked all my classes and they are all taught in english(however, my painting teacher lets us choose what language we want him to speak in because he knows 5). During my breaks between classes we wondered around the area. Right down the street is a sandwich shop that has sandwiches for less than two euros that are delicious! The first two days of classes were good, and I don't have classes fridays which is even better! We've gotten much better using the Metro this week and are more familiar with the area.

Everything has been gr

eat so far and tomorrow I am off to Segovia! We booked our first trip today, Paris here we come! So far the semester is off to a great start!

Delta Gamma's take over Madrid!

First Day in Madrid!

The day is finally here! After many months of preparation we arrived in Madrid at 7 am this morning. SLU officials greeted us and put us into a taxi which was quite a sight. 3 girls, 5 huge suitcases, and 3 large backpacks were crammed into a tiny car(the bags had more space than we did and jennifer sat on my lap, it was funny). We arrived at our Señoras, Mari Carman Pedraza and were warmly greeted! Mari Carman claims to only know spanish(which is unlikely because with my spanish skills she would never understand without knowing at least some english). We met her entire family and got settled in. Tomorrow begins orientation! I can't wait to see what this semester holds!