Sarah Englebert

Yesterday was a great day, but because of the jet-lag I was incredibly tired and I spaced out a little bit during our safety meeting. We have gotten to know our ISA instructor Angel more and he is a great guy. I felt bad for not paying my full attention, but I had just woken up from a nap, and I was really groggy. I can tell that Angel loves his job and I am excited to hear his wisdom about the city. After a good night sleep, I was very ready for our walking tour and museum visit today. Today we went to Basilica Pontificia de san Miguel on our walking tour and this really stood out to me; it is the second picture that is attached. Walking into this building was very intense because of the baroque style and tall ceilings. It was odd to me that there was such a small amount of seating because it was such an elaborate room. I specifically walked up to the virgin and it was breathtaking. She looked like a real person and even had real-looking tears on her expressive face. All of the details were striking and I could imagine how much work was put into every painting and structure. While looking at the paintings on the ceiling, I felt like I was going to fall backwards because of how tall they were. Before walking in, Angel talked about the style, but no explanation could give the experience of seeing it in person. The other picture is from the walking tour as well, and it was just a random building, but I thought the color was vibrant and I think it captures the happy vibe that I get from this city. The next thing that we did was go to the Museo del Prada. The woman that was giving us a tour, Ana, was very passionate about what she was talking about and even answered all of our questions. Usually I do not get into art, but her explanation of the pieces made the paintings more interesting. I loved when she talked about the symbols in each painting and the focus versus the background. My favorite paintings were the black paintings because I think they portrayed the pain that people feel very well. Our tour guide said that the painter, Goya, had a very difficult life and that the way he deformed faces and changed the human body showed his sad reality through pictures.

This was at our welcome dinner, I'm the third person from left to right