Hi guys! I really wanted to get back to blogging and tell you a little bit more about my day to day life in Madrid. Besides learning Spanish and preparing for university, I am becoming an expert on the city. I can’t wait for my friends from Beijing to come here so I can be their tour guide, I’m going to impress them!
I’m getting to know more and more about the capital as we have super exciting after-school activities at AIL. It’s a fantastic way to meet classmates from other schools and enjoy Madrid to the fullest. For example, last Thursday we went to visit the archaeological museum and I loved it. We were accompanied by María, a teacher from the intensive Spanish course for the A1 level kids. She studied art history, so we could not have had a better guide for the visit.
As I tell you, there are always plans to do here and last week my classmates invited me to go with them on an excursion to Toledo. I really wanted to go, because I had read in the school blog that it was a very interesting excursion. I also listened to the recommendations of my classmates and got the ISIC student card and thanks to that, the train from Madrid to Toledo cost me much cheaper.
I had never traveled by train before and I really enjoyed the trip. The guys in my class are very nice and even though I have only known them for a short time I feel like one of them. Along the way we were looking at the school’s Instagram page to see if we would be featured in the photos they posted from Thursday’s activity and they asked for my account to start following me. I’m super happy!
The train ride was super short for me, but I enjoyed the scenery and took some videos to send to my friends. We also took advantage of this time to plan our day in Toledo and look for some restaurants to try the typical food of the city.
In Toledo there are a lot of things to visit, but we decided to make a small list with some of the most famous places. If you want to take a look and get some inspiration I leave it here:
– The cathedral of Toledo: it is one of the most important cathedrals in Spain, its architecture is gothic style -my favorite- and seeing it inside is a real blast. If, like me, you like Spanish music, this cathedral is probably familiar to you because the video clip of C. Tangana and Nathy Peluso was filmed here.
– The El Greco museum: if you come to Toledo you have to visit the El Greco museum, you can ask for an audio guide to explain all his work, I am convinced that you will be amazed. Especially with the “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz”, in this work you can appreciate the oil technique of this artist and it is simply amazing.
– The Alcazar of Toledo: this building served as a fortification in the Middle Ages and was very important during the Spanish Civil War because it was used as a defensive and resistance point. You already know that I am in a Spanish university preparation program and therefore, I have a Spanish history class so visiting the Alcazar and learning a little more about the history of the country was very exciting for me.
As you can see, my visit to Toledo was very interesting and the day flew by, by the way! I have one last recommendation for you: if you come to this city you have to try the marquesas. It is a very typical sweet of this area that has marzipan, egg and flour. They are finger-licking good*!
And now guys, I’ll say goodbye until next time.
Lucas
