Day 29-31: Finals, El Escorial, and Freedom

On Friday, we had our final exams and oral exams!

Both went well and I am so excited that they are over.

Now, all we have to do is relax and enjoy Spain with no stress.

Freedom.

On Saturday we toured El Escorial and another castle.

Both were absolutely beautiful. 

El Escorial was a castle that is now a monastery and the burial tombs for the royalty of Spain.

We couldn't take pictures inside, but I got some beautiful ones outside.

Today, we went again to the Rastro, the huge flea market.

Found a lot of great deals this time!

Adair, Mama, and Lillie get ready for the genie pants!!!!!

They are absolutely hilarious.

and comfortable.

Grammar class with our incredible professor Marcos

My group at Escorial

The Samford group!

The girls in the gardens at Escorial

The view from the gardens

The castle

Those are storks and their nests on top of the tower. :)

The mountains.

CASTLE.

view of the lake from the castle.

And Happy Father's Day to my Dad!

Wish that you could have come with me on this trip.

My favorite memories are traveling with you.

I love you!

Day 28: Last Day of Classes and Senado

Today was the last day of classes! Yay!

But that means that our exams are tomorrow.

I have done everything but study today. And I believe that I checked facebook over 500 times. haha.

Turned in my papers today, written and oral exam tomorrow and then classes are finished!

I'm so pumped.

Then our week tour of the south of Spain and then HOME. :)

The weather is finally supposed to warm up, but I think that my allergies sense a change in the weather.

Because I feel terrible. Hopefully it will go away!

But, I am excited for warmer weather!

Today we went to the Senate after school. 

It was a great tour and they gave us a present, too!

Here's a peak at the Spanish Senate!

Senado

The whole group inside the Old Senate

The old senate

The incredible library inside the Senate building

Now on to studying...

Day 24-27- Everything Inbetween

Because it is our last week in Madrid, things are crazy.

Everything is due, oral exams and final exams are at the end of this week, and we are trying to fit in all the excursions that we haven't gotten a chance to do.

Since, it has been so crazy, I have not been blogging regularly. Boo.

I hate it because it makes me feel unorganized.

At least I'm getting to it now, right?

So, Monday and Tuesday, Ashley and I have been trying to go to all of the places that we have meant to go to in Madrid and just have not gotten around to it.

We went to the famous Puerta de Europa in downtown Madrid and to the Real Madrid stadium.

It was beautiful. And thankfully the weather decided to cooperate with us- it was sunny and somewhere in the 60's, which is warm considering how cold it has been in Madrid lately.

We are looking for the hot weather and sunshine during our tour south.

Also, we took a tour of the Palacio Real (the Royal Palace) in Madrid.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but I did get some while we were out in the patio.

I have been studying and we also went to our last play for our theater class. 

I finished my paper today. I will revise it and send it in tomorrow.

Hallelujah. 400 level Lit class can be checked off my list.

We also went out again for chocolate and churros. YUM!

I'm going to miss those!

Stadium where Real Madrid plays

Estadi Santigo Bernabeu

estadio

Madrid

Puerta de Europa

cathedral steeple 

Courtney and me at Choclateria San Gines

the boys, who now refer to me as mom because of our free weekend.

family picture minus steven. :)

palacio real

allison, erin, and me at the palace

palace

archway at the palace

view from the patio of palacio real

molly and me!

palacio real

i may or may not be VERY PROUD of this picture of the palacio real.

and yes, the sky did really look like that. :)

Day19-21: Free Weekend- PAMPLONA.

Haven't updated in a while because of our free weekend.

We backpacked and the computer was not an option to carry.  :)

Four of us went to Pamplona, which is a town in the north close to France near the mountains.

It is also where they have the running of the bulls on July 7.

It was a beautiful town.

We were hoping to go hiking and maybe hike into France, but it rained all weekend.

So, we wandered the city and had a great time.

It was nice to get out of Madrid for a couple of days and just relax.

Here are the pictures!

sweet old man feeding the birds in the plaza

Hemingway loved Pamplona. He went over 8 times to the San Fermines festival (The running of the Bulls)

Hemingway

La Plaza de Toros

The mountains

ruins of old Pamplona

This is the most dangerous point in the running of the bulls.

It is where the course takes a 90 degree turn. 

They place a wooden fence of the white lines on the right and at the speed the bulls are running they trample many of the runners.

23 days, 15 hours, 22 minutes, and 49 seconds until San Fermines

Spanish, Basque language 

Taylor and JT with one of the favorite meals of Pamplona

Squid in it's ink.

Yes, you eat squid ink. 

It makes your teeth turn black. Haha.

They had already started putting up the wooden fences for the running of the bulls.

More ruins.

We also had the best coffee in Pamplona.

With gorgeous latte art.

The beret! 

Because Pamplona is so close to France, they wear berets. You only see sweet older men with them on, but we had to have one.

Windmills.

After raining all weekend, Pamplona left us with a beautiful rainbow for the ride home on the bus.