Live from el Renfe

Coming at you live from a Renfe high-speed train (for those that read my last post, good news- I was able to get my tickets lol). Threw some stuff in a bag early this morning and now I am on my way to Barcelona for the first time. Considering my irrational fear of flying, high speed train is definitely my favorite form of transportation. Plus, they are playing the movie Star Wars VII (El Despertar de la Fuerza) in Spanish so basically I am in heaven. A quick two-and-a-half hour ride through the Spanish countryside, which has to be the prettiest place ever. My friends and I booked some tickets to do some really cool stuff while in Barcelona so make sure to stay tuned Monday.

Is this platform 9 and 3/4? lol

Just a little fun fact about Spain (and most of Europe I am learning): In Spain, the women wear their wedding rings on their right hand. I thought this was super strange because I imagine it would be way less convenient to wear a wedding ring on the dominant hand. Well I befriended a girl that lives in the residence named Rosario, Rose for short- she is from Sevilla (a province in southern Spain) but is studying medicine in Madrid and is easily one of the coolest people I’ve met. When I told her I learned they wear their wedding bands differently, she told me it was because centuries ago they wore the band on the right because the left was considered to be “of the devil”. Qué guay, ¿no? (“guay” is how they say “cool” here in Spain) Anyways, Rose is learning English by binge watching Netflix series (lol – I mean like every single popular American show or Netflix series ever made) so it’s really fun talking in both languages for all of us to learn from each other. Imagine: a couple American kids, a girl from Spain and a boy from France (our friend Kevin who is here for work), all sitting around playing cards and speaking each other’s languages. Pretty cool stuff here folks.

El Prado

On Wednesday, we took a trip to the most famous art museum in Spain, Museo Nacional del Prado. Even if you aren’t interested in art, it was pretty cool. One of my favorite things was the Goya room because most of his art exhibited there he had painted on the walls of his house. People went in and removed the paintings to preserve them completely intact using some wall art removal method unbeknownst to me.

El Prado

Unfortunately, I couldn’t take any pictures considering it’s an art museum and all. Afterward, we walked over to the church that the king gets knighted – San Jerónimo el Real. El San Jerónimo el Real is a Roman Catholic Church from the 1600s and is INCREDIBLE inside and out. The structure is original, and the inside is huge and unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

(look mom, I went to church!)

Palacio Real de Madrid

Amigos, the palace of the King and Queen of Spain is honestly the most incredible place I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. It’s enormous for all of the extended family and staff of the Royal family to live in. They don’t actually live there now, they only use the building for the most important political events so that they can preserve it, each room is a masterpiece of its own.

Cool fact about Palacio Real, it burned down in the early 1700s and they rebuilt it bigger and better. Because of the size, it took an entire month for the palace to burn completely. When they rebuild it, they built it completely of stone and all of the decorations are a culmination now of popular art. They have chandeliers and wall art and anything you can think of, plated entirely with gold.

Definitely, definitely look into it if you want to travel. And again, I'll post more pics like this to my Photo Album if you're interested.

Anyways, time for me to watch Star Wars amigos.

¡Hasta pronto!