Parliament and Big Ben

Parliament and Big Ben
Viewed from The London Eye

Sunday, July 24, 2011

TWP: Madrid

Last weekend, six of the students went to Spain. Here is Page's write up about their trip to Madrid:


I knew I would be going on at least one large trip out of the country while studying in London. For a while there was much talk of going to Paris or possibly somewhere in Germany. I knew the girls of the group had talked about going to Spain but I didn’t think that plan was going to formulate. When I found out that it had, three of us guys spontaneously agreed to tag along. I was happy to go to Madrid because I had never been before. I had been to both Paris and Germany before, but Spain was somewhere new.

I studied French throughout high school, which was of little use to me in Spain. I knew very little Spanish and even less Spanish history. But these hindrances did not set me back at all. None of us who went spoke much Spanish, so Laura was the official translator for each of us. The rest of us together could make basic conversation and communicate well enough.

When we traveled during the day, Laura was our guide. She told us and led us to several great tourist attractions. Even though I don’t know too much Spanish history, the places we went didn’t require very much historical background. The Cathedral and palace we toured were amazing structures. The art museum we visited had both English and Spanish captions for all the art. The language of art, itself, is universal, so I was able to enjoy all of the works.

One of the coolest sites we came across was a small park with a fountain. It was really cool to me because there were two statues; one of Cervantez’s Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. I read Cervantez’s Don Quixote my freshman year. It was really cool to see a monument and recognizing it.

Overall, I really enjoyed going to Madrid. It was a great experience to go somewhere brand new and be thrust into a new culture. 

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