There are certain things in life you never imagine will happen to you. I never imagined going to UC Irvine, never imagined growing up, never imagined studying abroad, and definitely never imagined going to Spain the year they won the world cup. My time in Madrid was phenomenal and I also visited Toledo and Segovia, two beautiful cities nearby. I feel blessed and changed from this experience, but let me begin by telling you about my first day in Madrid. The first night in Madrid I spent at the airport since we arrived at about 3 in the morning. I was fortunate enough to have found some students from my hall at the airport and so we stuck together for safety reason and made sure to look out for one another that night/morning. As soon as the metro line was open, it took me about 2 minutes to learn how the metro worked and so I was able to get us all to our hostile early enough so that we had the whole day to explore Madrid. First day, I had un Bocadillo a la Española, which was just a torta with egg and potato but it was mighty delicious!  After doing shopping and exploring the city we walked and walked and walked and that same afternoon I had the privilege of having some sisters from Casa de Oración, Madrid (a branch from the church I attend) come meet me at a nearby metro station so that I could attend their Friday service. Everyone was just so amazing to me and I felt like part of their family immediately and I am eternally grateful to God for giving the opportunity to learn from everyone I met that day.  One last thing, I never imagined going to Casa de Oración, Madrid but God’s plans are greater than mine and in his perfect order he opened the doors so that I could learn from these experiences and really be changed for the better, with everything I have lived thus far. I will never understand his greatness but God truly is good! I wish I could say every detail of my trip but it would take me way to long so I will let the pictures speak for themselves!

Calle Gran Via en Madrid

Oh I forgot to mention Day 1 and I already am in the presence of the world cup! Too bad the line was like 3 miles long it was ridiculous but at least I have proof that I was near it

This was something else I ate day 1, I forgot what it was called but it was good… It just took a couple of minutes though for me to realize that the Spanish are big carnivores, their diet consists of lots of pork and red meat, something that was very difficult to get use to but it was still fun to try new things!

I wish I would have taken pictures of Friday night but I didn’t take my camera that night and so I leave you with a picture of my hostile!