To be completely honest, what with finals and the impossible list of things to do still in Madrid (doesn't it suck when you have a list of things to do that you know you won't be able to finish? should I even be talking because I've been here for 9 weeks now? I choose to blame the one hour train ride.) and then no promise of internet, I'm going to make this my last post until I'm home again. SO, TO MAKE IT SPECIAL, I'M GOING TO PUT PICTURES ON, FINALLY!!!!! One for every week. These are by no means the best pictures of me, or my favorites of the trip, it's just pictures for the sake of pictures. You know. In sepia, JFK (just for kicks. I just invented that one. High fives from a million angels.)
Friday, January 13: My first churros y chocolate in Madrid! Jaclyn, Jackie and I had gone into the city for our first weekend together, and our main goal was to find churros. Naturally, we got there and every cafe we could find (it was only our second time in the city) was closed. So down one street was a restaurant/bar that was open, that had a picture of churros in one window, so we ran in and asked (I asked, it was my first time to order in a restaurant in Spanish, AH) and the bartender was like "Yes, we have them...?" In the end, they were really expensive and the chocolate wasn't the thick, signature churros chocolate, but they turned out to be the best churros I've had so far.
Saturday, January 21: A few of us went into the city to see Parque del Retiro, or Retiro Park. One of its attractions is The Crystal Palace, which is owned by the Museo Reina Sofia, a modern art museum. Right now the interior is covered by a second set of walls and ceilings, an art installation by Solledad Sevilla, Escrito en los cuerpos celestes, or "written on the celestial bodies." It looks like a starry night skye, but the stars are all actually punctuation marks cut into blue plastic. I loved it.
Thursday, January 26: We went into Madrid to do one of the city walks, and walked by this wall. It was a good time. I couldn't quite get my eyebrows right, but I know I'm a golden immitationist.
Friday, February 3: We were in Sevilla for two nights, and on this one we went to a Flamenco performance. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was AMAZING. A highlight of the trip, hands down. You don't know what you're missing until you see a good performance in person, you can feel their duende reverberating through the room. The male solo was the best... And not just because he looked like a skinny Spanish Matthew McConaughey.
Friday, February 10: Eating dinner in Pilar's apartment. I had been sick for over a week, and this was the night when Pilar requested, in all seriousness, that I cover my mouth with my napkin if I wanted to stay at the table. I was going to make everyone sick. And in the end, Jackie was sick for 3 days, but Jaclyn never got sick, and Pilar was fine. One of the most important lessons I have learned in Spain is how to be grateful for medicine and doctors that speak English.
Friday, February 17: We had gone into the city that day to see Art Madrid, and then we did a city walk down Gran Villa that ended (kind of a ways off) at the Templo de Debod, an Egyptian temple that was transplanted from Egypt many moons ago. The inside is actually pretty boring (as I learned a few weeks later) but it was beautiful at sunset.
Saturday, February 25: This was taken out of boredom during one of our many, many, many "siesta stops," on this day, in Zaragoza. These stops are not made for us to take siestas. They are just stops in random cities during the post-lunch afternoon hours when everything is closed and there is nothing to do but sit around. So we sit around.
Thursday, March 1: Jackie and I went into the city that night to eat weird Mexican food and buy things that say "Madrid," and take at least a few touristy pictures! The oso statue is always covered in tourists, so we grabbed this rare chance to get our pictures in front of it. This bear and the tree are symbols for the city, and Spain. Kicking in the last month of our adventures in style, we wore our twinner dresses, and my "surprise vintage" RealMadrid cap.
Thursday, March 8: My second day in ROMA! Talk about a whirlwind trip. It still feels like a dream. We went to the Colosseum that afternoon, and were surprised with free tickets since it was National Woman's Day. Heck yes to being a woman! The Colosseum was probably my favorite thing in Rome, especially since we took the way cool audio tour. I love audio tours way too much for anyone's convenience.
Friday, March 16: Definitely the hands-down best surprise I have ever gotten in my life was given to me that afternoon. We were on a bus to Bilbao when our professors said they had been talking it over and thought it might be fun to grab some pastries in France before we got to the coast. What I witnessed on the bus was one of the most dramatic female scenes I have witnessed in my life, but I guess I was a part of it, so whatever. The pastries were a dream. The beach was gorgeous. The weather was a bit chilly and the water was nowhere close to warm, but it was still unbelievably ideal. Biarritz will always have a place in my heart!
Thursday, March 22: In celebration of our one-week-left mark, a handful of us bought tickets to see El Rey Leon. Oh my gosh, it was SO good. No matter how corny it sounds, I consider myself blessed to have seen this musical on stage twice, and in different languages! It was interesting to see how the song lyrics were changed to fit the tunes and yet still keep the tone of the story. I was also amazed that I could understand (and confidently translate) the whole thing. Whether or not it was written for five-year-olds, it was certainly a confidence booster! And the story, as usual, touched my heart. Vive en mi!
And now, it's 1:30AM, and I have a lot of things to do today. So here, I will bid you adieu. Hasta Abril!
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