Lauren Sharabianlou is a student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and an ISA Featured Blogger. Lauren is studying abroad with ISA in Salamanca, Spain.
My first day in Madrid was magical. The city is filled with huge historical statues and buildings. The picture above was taken of a garden outside of the statue of Felipe IV.
Wake up call was at 9 am, but since I am all thrown off on time I woke up around 7am and went to the buffet breakfast in the hotel. I made myself an espresso to try to give me energy for the rest of the day, but that in no way prepared me for the 6 hour WALKING tour I was about to embark on. The tour was extremely informational and given in Spanish, so it gave everyone a chance to practice their comprehension skills.
This is the statue of Felipe IV. Fun Fact: When Felipe IV was in reign, he had secret underground tunnels where he would sneak out at night and visit nuns in the monasteries as well as widows. It is said that he had many lovers. Because of this, he had 43 children!
We continued on to the Cathedral of Madrid, which I have actually been to twice before: once with my mom and dad and another time with my sister Leila and our friend Kelly, both of whom used to live in Madrid.
The streets in Madrid our so beautiful. There are skinny cobblestone roads with tall thin buildings. In the United States we have a lot of really big houses, but in Spain there are a lot of smaller apartments and flats.
After a walking tour of the city we had a tour of the Prado Museum. Overall it was a successful day of sight seeing. Madrid is a city full of rich culture on every street corner. I love Madrid!
Wish I was in Madrid with you! I really enjoyed reading about your first day of study.