Day trip to Madrid to see the sights-9th May

Hola Teresa y la clase de 9C de Onslow St Audreys,
This will probably be my last blog post as I have exams coming in the next 2 weeks so I do not have a lot of time left. I wanted to tell you about my really great day out in Madrid to see my Swiss friend Adrian (who I met at the summer school in Barcelona) and who happened to be studying in Madrid for the second semester. When I arrived in Madrid the weather was really hot. My friend Adrian came and met me in the centre of Madrid and we stopped off at the tourist information office so I could get a map. Then he took me around the city. Here are some photos of the sites I saw on the way:

The first place my friend took me was a place he said he had always wanted to go inside but had not got around to seeing-which was the Carlos VIII palace. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos once we were fully inside so I only have photos of the outside and the staircase before we went in the rooms. The Carlos VIII palace was amazing though-each room was a different colour and it was very luxurious and rich. Halfway through that visit though I started to feel really ill because it was really hot in the palace and I was getting hungry-so we left after a little while. I have attached some photos of the outside-but if you ever visit Madrid it is really worth seeing inside. I have also attached a photo of the Almudena Catedral which was opposite the Carlos VIII Royal Palace. 

Almudena Catedral

Me outside the Carlos VIII Palacio

View from Carlos VIII Palacio

Inside Carlos VIII Palacio

Inside Carlos VIII Palacio

Carlos VIII Palacio (Inside)

View of Almudena Catedral (from Carlos VIII Palacio)

Carlos VIII Palacio (from the other side)

After visiting the Carlos VIII Palacio we went to get lunch as I was feeling hungry and unwell with the heat. We had tried earlier going into the Almudena Catedral but there were still having mass then so we had to leave. My friend Adrian took me to this vintage-style restaurant that served burgers-To give a sense of how vintage this restaurant was, they gave us the bill in a video case. The burger was really nice. Adrian then took me to the Parque Retiro as I said I was interested in seeing it as I had never seen it before. Once we got to the Parque Retiro he took me to the Glass Palace inside the Parque Retiro which when we were there had (inside the Glass Palace) a tent made of different multi-coloured duvet covers. Unfortunately I felt really hot again despite changing my clothes to be cooler so there was no time for me to take a photo (and it was very crowded under the tent)-we went straight to the cafe to get cool drinks. We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the shade cooling down and relaxing-and talking about what we had been up to since the last time we had seen each other. Then we walked a little bit further in the Parque Retiro and I took more photos. Then I realised it was late and I had to go back to catch my train back to Valladolid. Overall it was a really great day and Adrian was just as nice as I remembered from when we were studying in Barcelona last summer.
I have attached photos of the Parque Retiro below so you see how amazing it was:

Parque Retiro

Parque Retiro

Parque Retiro

This last photo was a photo of the sculptures inside the museum in the Parque Retiro which I thought was crazy. I have 5 exams in the next 2 weeks so I will be very busy studying for the next 3 weeks.  In case I get too busy with my exams to write another post before I leave Valladolid, I wanted to say I have really enjoyed my time in Spain. I hope to see the Casa Cervantes, Casa Zorrilla and a few other smaller sights in Valladolid before I leave but I am not sure if I will have time to put up photos in time for when you break up for summer. 
Overall to summarise my whole experience studying in the Universidad de Valladolid I would say that it has been a realy good experience and would recommend it to anyone. It was not easy to begin with getting to grips with my Spanish in a place where no one speaks English (although there are more English people this semester) but I have managed it. I do still have a English accent when I speak Spanish (which I think I will maintain for life) but I speak much better Spanish than when I first came here and have successfully managed to live in a foreign country for 6 months. Now it is coming up to when I have to leave Valladolid, I have mixed feelings abut returning back to England. On the one hand I am very happy to be coming home as I miss my family and my friends back home, as well as English food. However, now I will miss the friends I have made here, especially the two Spanish girls I met this semester Marta and Angela, as well as my friend from the Basque Country Nahikari who I will leaving behind. I think I will also miss the freedom I have here and it will feel strange going home. 
Espero que estéis bien y hasta vosotros en Junio cuando volveré a Inglaterra

Becky