Hello Madrid! Goodbye Madrid!

Believe it or not everyone it is already time for us to leave Madrid!  And honestly, it still doesn't feel real that I am here!

Early Tuesday morning, Jen's parents drove us 3 hours to the airport.  We checked in and hopped on our flight to Philadelphia for about 3 hours.  Then, once we got to Philadelphia, we got on our flight to Madrid.  After an hour delay waiting for the plane to take off, and 7 hours of flying, we landed safely in Madrid.  We were able to navigate our way through the metro system - which was full of people due to World Youth Day - and finally made it to our apartment.  It is reaaaaally nice :) plenty of space for all 6 of us.  This place became home quite fast.  At 4, we walked to a square for a tour called New Europe that they have in many famous cities.  We were supposed to find people in red shirts, but we saw people with red shirts everywhere!  Eventually, we gave up only to find out later that we had been looking in the wrong square :).  So instead, we grabbed some delicious ice cream and explored the city for awhile.  It is a really cool place, very busy but fun!  They start their days around 11, have a nap (siesta) time from 2 - 4 where some places will even close, and then they eat dinner anywhere from 9 to midnight and they stay out really late.  We bought some groceries and made a nice pasta dinner in our apartment.  It was great just getting to know each other and getting to bed early for a good night's sleep after running around for basically two straight days with hardly any sleep.  Needless to say, I was the most tired I think I've ever been!

Yesterday we experienced a lot.  We had some breakfast and then headed to the correct square for the New Europe tour.  Our tour guide was a very interesting man named O.D.  He was from Israel and moved to Spain for the great opportunities for playing guitar.  I was so impressed that he knew english for this tour, and I loved his english vocabulary.  He said things like "groovy" and called everyone "baby."  He had some really great stories on the tour.  One of my favorites was a story about a big tall bridge.  It is called the suicide bridge because it is huge and right over a busy street, so now they even have tall glass walls to prevent people from jumping.  But one story he had about it was this girl from a rich family fell in love with a peasant in town.  Their families said they could never be together, so this girl decided that if she couldn't be with the one she loved, then she should not live at all.  She happened to be wearing a dress that was very poofy, so when she jumped it created a parachute and she floated down to the bottom.  She couldn't believe what just happened, so she ran home and told her dad.  She does, "Dad, Dad!  I just tried to commit suicide and my dress saved me!"  Her dad was like, "Wait, you were trying to kill yourself?!"   He told her that if she loved her sweetheart that much, she could marry him.  So she married the peasant, had 14 kids, and lived happily ever after.  It was such a great tour.  We learned about history from the 800s on and heard many fun stories like that.  We then had lunch at an authentic Spanish restaurant that served things like calamari and octopus.  We then tried to go see the Pope, but you would not BELIEVE how crowded the streets were.  It took us an hour and a half just to get through all the people.  We were packed in there like sardines, holding hands school style.  Since it was so crowded, we didn't get to see the Pope, but it was so sweet to see so many Catholics all together praising Jesus from all over the WORLD.  We even saw a flag from Minnesota!  We then went to a museum with paintings from Picasso and then got some churros dipped in dark chocolate, which were delicious.  I'm sure we walked over 10 hours and we were exhausted.  Now, we are getting ready to catch the train to Barcelona.  We can't wait to hit the beach :).

Some things I've learned...it still hasn't registered that I'm living here for 4 months.  I seriously feel like I'm on a vacation and will be home soon, so that is tough.  But I'm really excited for the new places ahead!  Also, language barrier is tough.  Some of us know a little bit of Spanish, but it is hard to communicate with the people, very few can speak English.  It's an experience for sure!  Last thing I learned...our tour guide mentioned something that stuck with me.  He said that we should never dim our own light to match those around us, because that just makes the world a darker place.  So that is what I'm leaving you all with...keep shining your light, because even though you may feel small, one small candle can light up a whole room.  So shine your light, because the world is a little less dark with you in it :) now off to Barcelona!