Jaime--thanks for asking. overall, i had a fine trip. i didn't like madrid, simply because of the people. but in talking to other foreigners, i found that this was normal. it just reminded me to much of where i live. it could be a great place, it is a great place, but the people were off-putting.

strangely enough--i had the best time in paris. i went with very little expectations and i had the best experience of my life there. i only went for four days, but i'm now planning on how i'm going to be able to live there someday.

i think a lot of it had to do too with food and shelter. those are really most people's primary worries, and if those don't go right from the start, then it taints the rest of the trip. i didn't like the food in spain and where i lived was so noisy and heartbreaking that i had nightmares the entire time i was there.

in constrast, paris was quiet, very verdent, and the food was amazing. it's too bad, because i planned forever for the trip to spain and had all these really great ideals of what it would be from reading people's posts and from doing my own research, and then to get there and be treated so...well, i don't want to go back.

i did, however, really like Granada and Cordoba. I loved the Alhambra gardens (I'm a sucker for gardens, not impressed by architecture, but love gardens) and the gypsy quarters. I loved the cobblestone streets and the flamenco show we saw there in which i was one of the "beautiful girls" asked to dance (so exciting). and i loved sitting under the alhambra at night when it was all lit up and a breeze was coming off the channel surrounding the alhambra. the walk back to main street was amazing too. who knew that there were so many gay people in granada? strangely enough, i was treated with a lot more respect there then in madrid.

still, i did not get a chance to visit many of the other places that my comrades went to like Toledo, St. Sebastian, Ibiza, and Mallorca, Portugal, and Barcelona simply because i did not have the money. They all seemed to like the places with lots of water more than madrid.

i do however think that madrid is a great place to be introduced to europe because it is so cheap and the metro system is excellent and the museums are first-rate and the architecture is really representative of all of europe. but i wouldn't want to keep going back, if only to preserve my sense of respect for other people.