It's all part of the program fee...

I'm a little behind on my blogging right now because we have had an extremely busy past couple of days. We just arrived home from our weekend trip to Madrid, and I am probably working on a total of 10 hours of sleep from the weekend. Our weekend consisted of extremely late nights and equivalently early mornings. I wouldn't exchange it for anything though. Our time spent in Madrid deserves its own post, so first I'll pick up where I left off after the Real Betis v. Barcelona soccer game. The next day after the game we went to one of the nicest spa's in Spain called Banos Arabes. I have had 2 massages in my life, and neither of those compared to these Arabic Baths. The Banos Arabes was so relaxing I could have stayed there all day. I'm considering going back for the massages, so maybe when June rolls around I'll be buying my own spa package. We had a little hard time finding it, because it was buried way back in the side streets. We arrived about 10 minutes late, but that definitely didn't take away from the overall experience. When we got there, we changed into our bathing suits and put on the shoes they gave us. We walked down a path that was lit solely by candles to the first bath, which was a cleansing salt water. After 20 minutes there, we went to the showers and were given water and tea. There were a total of 5 baths, and another room to drain your sinuses (more or less like a sauna). And the best part about the entire spa experience was we didn't have to pay for it! Well... I guess we paid for it in the program fee, but who knew a spa treatment was included in that bill? Later that night our group went to a Flamenco performance. I sat front row, center. The show proved to me that Spain has one of the best and most passionate cultures of any country in the world. Flamenco is exactly how I envisioned it. The woman was dressed in a bright yellow and orange dress. The guitarist and singer sat in the background and tapped the beat, while the woman danced with an unbelievable amount of emotion and passion. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for this part of the trip, but I can steal some of the photos from my friends. I actually don't think a camera could capture what I watched at the Flamenco show. It was located in a hotel, but I could tell these performers grew up practicing Flamenco and mastering the music for their entire lives. The performance ended with a man and woman dancing together. I was extremely impressed with how well they worked together because every movement was in sync and I never saw them make a mistake in the whole hour and a half. The woman had a perfect body, which I can understand given she dances for a living. All of us in the program were so impressed after the show that we couldn't stop talking about it, even after we had gone out for food and drinks 2 or 3 hours later. The Banos Arabes and the Flamenco show were two great parts of the study abroad program. I am very thankful to have these kinds of experiences included in the program because otherwise, I am not sure I'd even know where to begin in planning things like this. I know I am getting every dollar's worth out of this experience. Our program director clearly has taken initiative in making sure we as students have the best possible experience in the Spanish culture. I look forward to the rest of the events planned, such as tours of the cathedral, the hospital, a classical music concert, and maybe even a bullfight. I now know where the program fee money is going, and I like the direction it is headed in.