A Year in Madrid

I had a really great experience in Madrid! I learned so much from just being surrounded by history and traveling to actually see the different cultures and materials we were learning about. For example, when we learned about Venus figurines, I got to go to Paris and see some of the ones we talked about. When we learned about the Muslim influence in the Iberian peninsula, we were able to go see it for ourselves in Granada. Or for analyzing Bosch, we had to go to the Prado to see the original work. Having to use Spanish all the time (while hard at first) really helped me improve my Spanish, too! I loved the different parks in Madrid, and while some might disagree, I actually really liked the food as well. While there isn’t a lot of visible diversity in the population, there is a ton of diversity in the food options! The metro and the streets were so clean and nice, and Uber is super easy to use, too. Although it’s tempting to travel out of Spain almost every weekend (because it can be so cheap!!) I would recommend spending time in Spain and also just within Madrid because it really is a beautiful and interesting place to be.