I left Madrid with mixed feelings.
It is a city filled with history and culture while holding the economic and political power of Spain. I miss being able to walk across different blocks of a city knowing that somehow I will run into a museum of art, a lively plaza, or simply a unique coffee shop. On my last night in Madrid, I went to a homemade ice cream shop and walked into a spontaneous jazz concert next door. It was an incredible experience; I got to observe local people take turns to perform and talk about the music. While I was listening to the performance, the memories of my six-weeks experience in Madrid replayed in my head as if I was living in a movie with the jazz music score playing in the background.
From the first morning when I struggled to navigate the metro system, to the beautiful sunset at Retiro Park, to the awe-inspiring Museum of Romanticism, everything comes together in my head like a nebulous yet remarkable déjà vu. I’m pretty sure this is a way for Madrid to remind me to come back and to pass on the words about the magic that it holds.
While I was sad to go home, I couldn’t wait to tell others about Madrid. So here are a few moments that I captured with my camera, which don’t do the whole experience justice, but it’s enough for you to get an idea of how many things you can do in Madrid.
Dan Nguyen
<p>Dan is the first year at Yale. There is something about the invisible forces control human behavior and make up their knowledge that pokes her curiosity. Don’t get her wrong; she isn’t learning how to mind-control others, but rather to combine knowledge about people’s product preferences and spending patterns to contribute to the field of behavioral economics. When she isn’t listening to podcasts and multitasking, Dan loves to run in her neighborhood and bake for her floormates. </p>
