This week in Spain, of the many things that I learned this week, I would say that I truly got a taste of all the different types of food that there is to offer. I also got to take in the sights and sounds of Madrid this weekend. With this being our last week of school, we wrapped up learning about the European Union by talking about barriers to trade among other things, and in our economics class with professor Gund?n we presented on why GDP per Capita might not be the best indicator of production for a country because the formula to calculate GDP per Capita might be outdated. With all the modern technology we have in today?s world all sorts of business and data transactions are happening strictly over the internet and the GDP per Capita has no way of accounting for these transactions because data is not a physical entity and can be troublesome to quantify or put a price on.
This week as far as experiencing the culture of Spain goes, I would say that I got to fully experience Spanish cuisine. The types of food that we ate this week include Chinese, Tex-Mex, Spanish (obviously) and much much more. This past weekend alone while we were in Madrid we ate at Chocolateria San Gin?s, which is a famous churros and chocolate place located in Madrid. We ate at Sakal? for dinner, which is a Mexican restaurant as well as a sushi restaurant. For an appetizer, I ordered the Tex-Mex nachos to share with a friend and it was as Tex-Mex as it gets (jalape?os, nacho cheese, sour cream, guacamole, pico de gallo). For the entree I ordered the Vulcano sushi roll, which was an avocado, cucumber, and tuna roll that was covered in shrimp tostadas, and they lit the tostadas on fire with a blowtorch right in front of me to top it off. Lastly, for dessert I got a tr?s leches, so I would say I got to experience so many different tastes in a matter of one meal.?
This past weekend we started out by visiting the Port of Barcelona on Friday where we got to learn in the classroom the logistics of the port and then we got to go on a boat tour of the port and got to see firsthand all of the giant shipping boats and shipping containers that were being moved around every day. We then boarded the high-speed train to Madrid that afternoon and arrived in Madrid on Friday night. On Saturday we did all of the sightseeing that Madrid has to offer, including but not limited to the Cathedral next to the Royal Palace, the Royal Palace itself (amazing), the Crystal Palace, and the Museum of Madrid. The next day we took a day trip to Toledo and it was absolutely beautiful, and to cap it all off we went to a Flamenco show in Madrid. I would say that this week was very culturally enriching, especially after finally visiting the capital of Spain.