BYU Spain Cultural Ambassador's Internship 2019: January 2019

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Madrid Short Cuts

20^thof January 2019

Sal Galvan

Madrid Short Cuts

I took a little Trip one Saturday Morning with the dueño of the piso where I am living, and his name is Francisco. We pretty much took a triangle lap around the area where the Reina Sofia, Museo del Prado, Caixa Forum, Navy Museum, Ritz Hotel and Stock Market building is located. Francisco calls it the Triangle of Oro. We took that route which is a route I will definitely take with any family or friends visiting from the US in Madrid and it does take time to walk.

However, we found some sweet shortcuts in Madrid. First, Francisco showed me a tapa bar that was located in Madrid called El Tigre and it cost two dollars and fifty cents for a soda along with a big plate of tapas. It was so cool, and I also recommend it to family and friends.

Another interesting thing is how you can just enter into the Thyssen museum and go down stairs to use the restroom. So, it beats going to a bar. I thought that was another funny short cut I also discovered in Madrid.

Besides that, I hope you all enjoy my pictures!

Sincerely,

Sal Galvan

Monday, January 14, 2019

Gran Via and Valladolid Excursion

Monday, January 14^th, 2019

Gran Via and Valladolid Excursion

Last week, I was able to visit again “Gran Via” and Valladolid. It just happened to be a coincidence with the two places because they have similar architecture with some of the buildings. I wish I was prepared to talk about the different types of architectures, but, that information is not prepared, and I will need to work on that from now on.

Gran Via in my own opinion is a street that goes through about 2 or 3 Metro stops and has hotels, food places and clothing stores along the street. The street has 2 sides and is very wide. It is the iconic part of Madrid meant for walking and analyzing the architecture.

Valladolid is in Castilla and Leon, I actually left Madrid to go visit this area. I just wanted to compare the two cities because Madrid is the current Spanish capital and Valladolid was the capital of Spain for like 5 years, which is a very short period of time. And, Valladolid has architecture that is seen on Gran Via. I took some pictures and just wanted to compare and contrast the differences with the two places.

Other than that, I don’t have anything new to say. Enjoy the pics.

Gran Via Starts Here

Valladolid Starts Here

Monday, January 7, 2019

Madrid Highlights

This is the first assignment I was informed about via BYU Learning Suite. I will definitely need to repeat this Madrid walk since I had to rush and get it done for the due date which is January 7^that 11:59PM.

To just highlight what I saw today on a cold Monday night in Madrid, I visited iconic areas in Madrid known as Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, Chocolatería de San Ginés, La Catedral de la Almudena y el Palacio Real.

First, I will spend some time talking about Puerta del Sol. It is a fast-paced environment where there is eye popping imagery for any Spain beginner or anyone that takes more than a week off visiting the area. It is beautiful and well maintained. The problem about it is that, when entering into the Puerta del Sol zone, that is where everyone first starts taking pictures and expressing how excited they are about Spain. But there are highly skilled thieves and they make good money stealing from people in that area. It’s always the tourists who get robbed and figure it out when they get back to their hotel. It is not dangerous, you just need to be aware of your surroundings and try not bumping into anyone.

I went alone in the Puerta del Sol area and I was nervous because I was alone, and I didn’t want to get any surprises. However, just a fun fact. Puerta del Sol is an iconic area where New Year’s is celebrated in Spain. Kind of like Times Square in New York and the ball drops. It is the same thing in Madrid, just “estilo” Spanish. Something that most Americans don’t know about, there is a newer recent Spanish tradition that Spain does now. They have this model named Cristina Pedroche reveal her dress for the New Year and it is always a custom-made dress that blows people’s mind away. I have seen this trend happen since 2015. It has gone at least 3 years in a row. That’s just a pop culture fun fact. If you look her up on Instagram, you can find more information about that.

Moving forward, I discovered a new place to visit in Madrid and especially at night when it’s a bit chilly. There is a churro place to go to, it’s really good and it’s called “Chocolatería de San Ginés.” The next time I head back to Sol, I am definitely going tobring friends with me.I took pictures of the place.

I then rushed sites like Plaza Mayor, the cathedral, the Royal Palace and Moncloa. It is incredible how much history there is there from little baby steps and walks. We also need to understand that Madrid is the capital of Spain and the capital needs to be rolling in gold. All of these sites, I can definitely take any friends or family on a walk and show them around. I have seen these places so much that I can probably give some tours about it.

That will be all for this blog. I will plan on being more expressive and specific in my next blog. Thanks for reading.