Madrid

I've decided that some big cities just don't do it for me at all. Don't get me wrong, there are some amazing buildings and and things to do like the Prado which you really need about two days to see it in it's entirety. I spent two hours! I know but when you only have 1 1/2 days you try to see it all that's about it.

My main reason for coming to Madrid was to meet up with this volunteer group called "Vaughantown" which is a group geared towards Spaniards learning English.
http://www.vaughantown.com/english/newsletter1.pdf
I included the website for information if anyone is interested in reading more.
It seems like a great program for becoming more comfortable with speaking another language. You first need to have a fairly good base of English and once here, it's mostly about speaking and listens with Anglo like myself and others from Australia, England, Wales. I'm actually the only American. Our job is to basically converse with them, it's not about correcting grammar, etc. You get to talk about life, interests, their country, your country and just about anything. We in turn get to stay in a very nice hotel and get feed very well plus wine at lunch and dinners. The people are really nice and so far it has been a great experience....plus I love having my own room after staying in hostels with 3 smelly men. Yep, that's right my experience in Seville didn't stop at staying in mixed dorms....did I not see that in the description?? So needless to say, I'm appreciating the solitude, in my room at least. Salamanca is a wonderful city as well but I'll write more about that at the end of the week.

I finally experienced the "night life" in Spain. After meeting the other volunteers from the program, a few of us decided to go out to a club. Knowing that we had to get up early, I was thinking it probably wasn't a good idea BUT what the heck....you have to experience everything at least once right?
It was wild! I've never seen so many people out at one time and the club was packed but the music was great. Needless to say, I arrived back to my hostel about 4:30am! Okay, so 3 hours of sleep. I slept a bit on the bus but then had to be "on" chatting with Spaniard and believe me it's work when you have to focus so much. I'm truly enjoying meeting them and getting to know them.

Okay, that's all for now. I'm off for more...
No photos of Madrid right now, I have a very weak signal at the cafe and limited time so I'll post soon.
Adios!
here is the link to my Madrid photos www.picasaweb.google.com/tonibodeau/Madrid