Nuestro Viaje

I got to Spain alright and on time! The flight was pretty quick… probably because I fell asleep for part of it. Let me just say the weather here is much nicer than New England. There have only been sunny days since we landed. Surprisingly, there is some snow on the ground near Segovia. PRESHCO has been keeping me busy but it is great because we get to travel to all the major historical sites of Spain. We started off our tour by seeing the town of Ávila and then spending two nights in Salamanca. On our way to Madrid we went to Segovia which was very cool. The architecture is very impressive as well as the amount of decoration that went into the castles and churches we are seeing. It is all very intimidating knowing that you are surrounded by art and buildings that are hundreds, even thousands of years old. I did get to put some of my art history knowledge to good use in the churches and got most of the time periods and styles of architecture right. Point for Wheaton.






There are only two Wheaties here on the trip and a bunch of people from Wellesley. Oberlin, Trinity, and Smith are the other colleges in the program. Everybody is getting along well, so far, and making friends is easy. We have gone out a few times and today during our free times we have explored the cities and museums. Once we arrived in Madrid we made some day trips to El Escorial (an amazing site) and Toledo. Yesterday we had a bus tour of Madrid and then some free time that lasted into today.



Today was very exciting. I visited the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and had lunch in El Parque del Buen Retiro. The Prado was amazing. It had, obviously, a large collection of Spanish artists like Velázquez, El Greco, etc. There was so much to take in there but I did a good job of seeing the masterpieces they recommended and that I have studied in school. The amount of trypitchs on display was incredible and those were probably my favorite. The Thyssen-Bornemisza was a newer museum that had a great collection also. I really enjoyed the American pieces they had. New England was represented as well as the Native Americans. It was interesting to see what aspects of America were represented abroad. Although I was even more excited when I saw the Hopper pieces they had! It was a flashback to Provincetown and the Hopper exhibit we had there since he taught in Provincetown. The previous day we had visited the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia and they had a piece by Motherwell. Provincetown really does produce world renowned artists.

Our tour of Madrid is wrapping up today with a group dinner. The weirdest part about Spain so far is when to eat. I still have not figured that out yet because dinner is always after 9 and then there is Siesta in the afternoon. Lunch is always just squeezed in somewhere. Also, I find it humorous that the Spaniards are wearing wool coats and scarves midday when it is 55-60ºF. The mornings are a little cold, but I end up taking my jacket off around noon and then I get even hotter when I see the old women walking in groups of three decked out in their furs. Anyways, tomorrow we head to Barcelona for a few nights and then we take a train to Córdoba. Cannot wait to see Barcelona.

Pictures: Catedral Nueva en Salamanca, Segovia, Toledo