I Made It Across The Pond/ Toledo

It took me almost two days to pack, mostly due to procrastination, but I think I did okay. You would be surprised how much you can fit into two large suitcases. I flew out of Syracuse at 2:30 and arrived in NYC about 45 minutes later. That flight was pretty easy. I sat in the aisle seat with plenty of leg room and satellite, so I can’t complain. I actually met a Spanish couple in the New York airport. I figured I should probably chat it up with them seeing as I was going to be living in their country for the 4 months. They were very friendly. They told me plenty of stories and gave me a lot of advice. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will run in to them again in Spain.

The flight from New York to Madrid was about 8 hours. I was pretty lucky on this flight as well as I had an aisle seat again with the rest of my group accompanying me to Madrid surrounding me. Although the portions were small, the food was pretty good. To top it off, they had free TV and movies (albeit in spanish), so 8 hours flew by pretty fast.

Arriving in Madrid was a little hectic. Customs isn’t exactly the quickest process, but I had no problem getting through, and after about 30 minutes of waiting in line, I was on a bus to the Toledo. As much as I wanted to sight see on the ride there, I succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep. On the few occasions I did wake up, I mostly remember seeing fields filled with farm animals.

That day was pretty uneventful. I unpacked for an hour, and then napped for another 5. I had meant to do some shopping, but stores close fairly early here, most by 6:00, and I ended up just walking around, trying not to get lost.

The days ever since has been much more eventful. We take tours of the town to different landmarks almost on a daily basis, and I actually got to see all of the ancient architecture that I had seen in pictures.

Everything is completely different in Spain. Everything was in Spanish and it has been a little tough getting used to communicating with them in ONLY Spanish but by the time I leave in December hopefully I will be fluent in it, they ate at the weirdest and latest times (lunch at 3 and dinner at 10), there was public display of affection everywhere, the weather is very humid, they strictly obeyed the siesta (the town is dead for 3 hours) and then party like crazy during their fiestas (there’s no way anyone would go home at midnight – it only starts then). The first time I had desayuno (breakfast), I was shocked and said to myself, “That’s it?!” On the table there was only a glass of orange juice, butter, and one piece of toast on the table for me. In Spain, they really don’t eat so much in the morning.

Anyways, we left Toledo for Cordoba today and just arrived at the hotel. It was a good change of pace after arriving in a big time city like Madrid. When we arrived at our hotel, there were all kinds of paparazzi. Unfortunately, they weren't interested in all of the American students staying there that night, but rather in a president of one of Spain's regions who was.

The next day, we had a guided tour of the city where we saw synagogues, mosques, and cathedrals which gave us a little bit of an insight into Toledo's religious history. A great surprise for me was getting to see El Greco's painting “Entierro del Conde de Orgaz” which I had previously studied and somehow forgot it was here!

We're only a couple days in and I've seen so many incredible things. The back of my notebook has a great quote which I think everyone who travels can relate too, " Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember; and I remember more than I have seen." - Benjamin Disraeli. Obviously, I can't write everything on my blog, but I hope that other than its purpose of sharing my adventure with you all, that it will also help me remember this trip forever.