I have arrived!

hello hello! A couple benadryl and an interesting airplane breakfast that included fruit, coffee, and a kit kat later we made it to the Madrid airport! We arrived at about 8 in the morning Madrid time and at about 2 in the morning home time. The airport was huge and very cool and Natalie and I along with our 3 friends from Nashville who were on the same flight from Chicago to Madrid took a cab to our hotel to meet the rest of the group. We stayed at Hotel Tryp on Gran Via and it was much nicer than I had expected. We were centrally located on a main street and I will post a photo of the beautiful city. Without having time to change or get settled, we immediately set off to explore with the group. We started at a small cafe called Cuidad de Tui where I had my first meal in Spain. For 3 euros I got a ham and cheese sandwhich, coffee, and some orange juice, therefore I guess I did not branch out too much on that first meal. However at least I did not give in to getting Subway, Starbucks, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, or even KFC (which were all there in the main streets of Madrid). Later in the day, we went on a bus tour and then had dinner together at the hotel. This meal contained lettuce, tomato, corn, some interesting meats that I decided not to try, and a couple other things. At night the streets were very active with people and the weather was perfect (it is pretty hot during the day but I'm not complaining). 

Day 2 in Madrid was Wednesday and was a very action-pacted day.  We started off touring the royal palace which was absolutely beautiful. All of the ceilings had amazing paintings and everything was extremely intricate and elaborate. When leaving the palace, I went with a small group to a cafe where we got quesadillas con pollo (chicken) which were very fresh and yummy. I then experiened the metro for the first time when about 15 of us decided we wanted to go to the Real Madrid stadium. We took the metro to a stop right outside the Stadium and then went on a tour. I took a lot of pictures and cannot wait to show you guys! We traveled back to the plaza de Espana on the metro where we went to the Museo del Prado.  The Museo del Prado had a lot of older artwork and was interesting to see. I really like all the people I have met and I think we have a great group going to Cadiz. The teachers here with us are fun, easy to get along with, and always speak to us in spanish. While we used some spanish in Madrid, I think once we get settled into the small city of Cadiz with our families we will be speaking spanish almost all of the time. We are now currently on the 9 hour bus ride south from Madrid down to Cadiz. We are all anxious to meet our host families and see Cadiz!! Miss you all and I will post again soon!