These are a few of my favorite things...

Sorry I'm SO BAD about updating my blog! I'll try to be better =) I've been in Madrid now for about a month and half and time has really flown by. I'm having an incredible time here, so this post is 100% dedicated to this amazing city (traveling posts soon to come!). There is soooo much to Madrid that it would take a lifetime to really experience everything it has to offer, but here are some of my favorite discoveries:

1. Fountains! There are fountains allll over the place here and I love them. They really add something to the beauty of the city. I walk to class from my house every day and pass the cutest little park with a fountain in the middle. It's always a fun scene in the park, old women walking their tiny dogs, old men sitting on a bench reading the paper, young couples, teenagers doing some "shady deals," as my teacher Selma would say (story about her to come later). I love my walk to school because I get to pass this wonderful park, and because Amanda and I stop and buy bananas at the fruit stand on the way to class! How cute is that? Haha. Speaking of fruit stands...

2. The amazing fruit stand with the cheap strawberries and the amaaaazing family Amanda and I have decided we want to marry into. We went to buy some strawberries for our Valentines party (that post is also coming...) and this sweet man and his wife are running the stand with their two sons who are around our age. They picked out the most beauuutiful strawberries they had for us, and then wrapped them in paper to create a bouquet of strawberries! Their sons kept speaking to us in Englsih (they were obviously hinting that they wanted to be our intercambios) and Amanda and I have decided that we should marry them, move to Madrid, and live happily ever after eating all the fruit our hearts could desire.

3. Art. Madrid has some GREAT museums. I'm taking a class where we visit the Prado and look at the works we're studying. The Prado definitely has some classics, but it's not really my favorite style of art. The Reina Sophia is more modern...I loved the Dali and Picasso exhibits. But my favorite art museum so far has definitely been the Thyssen. I went the other day with my friend Steph and we saw so much great art! Some of my favorites were the Avant-Garde and Surrealist paintings. We saw some incredible Impressionist pieces by Van Gogh and Monet...we were actually really good at picking out painting by famous artists. One of us would be like "ooooh I love that one" and then it would turn out to be Van Gogh or something. One of my favorite paintings of the day (which also turned out to be pretty well known) is called "Orquidea y Colibri Cerca de una Cascada" (Orchid and Hummingbird near a Waterfall) by Martin Johnson Heade...definitely bought a magnet and poster of it in the gift shop hehe =)
4. Cafes!!! I love love love going to a cute cafe to hang out with a friend, do homework, or just people watch. I admit, I do go to the Starbucks right by my house sometimes (there are Starbucks all over Madrid, and sometimes you just need it what can I say), but there are really great unique cafes everywhere. I've been going with my hermanas to a place down the street called Cafe Commercial to do homework, write postcards, etc. They have this delicious tea called "te rojo con vanilla" that I love, and the waiter who is usually there kinda of looks like McDreamy from Grey's so that doesn't hurt either haha.

5. Palacio Real...one of the many reasons I wish I was a princess haha. The palace is gorgeous, with an incredible view overlooking Madrid. There's really not that much to say about it, it kinda just takes your breath away!

These are just a few of my favorite things about Madrid, and I have a lot more adventuring to do before I leave in May so I'm sure I'll fall in love with about a million more things in the city in the meantime...can't wait to share them with all of you wonderful people who are checkin in =)