Today was a very busy day. It was an early morning after a long trip on the plane and then train from Madrid. In Madrid, we took a bus tour of the city and we passed some beautiful parks and buildings. We pass Real Madrid Stadium and it was one of the most beautiful stadiums that I have ever seen. We continued on to the palace. The palace was stunning and I learned that it has over 3,000 rooms and is one of the largest palaces in the world. Then, we walked around the main plaza and explored one of the local markets that had many delicious food options.
After Madrid, we took the train to Bilbao and arrived at our hotel, Sercotel Ayala, which is a beautiful, modern, and sleek hotel. After trying to get some rest from the long day of traveling, we had a visit to Hospital de Basurto. It was incredible to see the difference between healthcare systems in Spain and United States. During our luncheon, I got to talk with the director of innovation and research and I was able to talk about a potential research opportunity with the hospital. I am very grateful to be given this opportunity. We also were able to walk through some labs where we saw different models that were 3-D printed for use by the hospitals.
