It is the end of week one in Alcalá de Henares, Spain! I am having a blast so far, though the start of classes has kept me very busy. I am taking two classes this summer on Spanish film, and a culture and civilization class that is required for my minor. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that most of my classes have involved my major at Pitt, history! In my film class, we have explored the history of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and my culture and civilization class has gone back even farther to pre-Romanic Spain to explore the development of Spanish culture from the very beginning. My classes so far have been fascinating, and Alcalá has some beautiful places to study!

The highlight of this week was definitely my trip to San Lorenzo de El Escorial, a sixteenth-century palace and basilica about two hours from Alcalá by train (or three hours, if you accidently miss the connecting train like my group did!). The Madrid public transportation system is accessible and (usually) easy to navigate (if you remember to look at the platform numbers). Once we got to El Escorial, I was blown away by the sheer scale of the palace, and the beauty of the surrounding town and mountains. It was very difficult to narrow down pictures for this section! On display are the basilica, the royal library, royal chambers that feel like an art museum, and the royal tombs of the Hapsburgs and the Bourbons. Visiting this palace was truly a dream come true!