Well I'm starting this a little later than I intended! I arrived in Madrid August 18 and immediately drove the 6 hours to Córdoba with my Imperium seminar for a ten day class/excursion! We went to Córdoba, Granada, Sevilla and Lisbon. I'll write another post on that later. We were doing SO MUCH in only 10 days it's overwhelming!
But honestly I thought the food would be better. Breakfast is pretty much toast and coffee, I haven't been having great lunches (bocadillas, aka sandwiches, are literally meat and bread...you have to ask for lettuce and stuff if you want it) and dinner is a little odd with a lot of carbs. I don't really dig ham that much and guess what...it's everywhere. They also don't de-shell shrimp here. Ew.
That's really the worst of it though!!! Seriously I'm obsessed with this city. Every day so far I've walked around and looked at the streets in awe that I GET TO LIVE HERE and at night I walk around and see the people and all the nightlife in awe that I GET TO LIVE HERE!!
We arrived Thursday EXHAUSTED after an 8 hour bus ride from Portugal. Nicole and I met our host family: Marta, Jose Antonio, Andres and Iria Blanco
The next day we woke up to a LOVELY breakfast of toast and coffee! -_-
But actually they were very nice and after breakfast we went to our orientation at school. The school is like a 20 minute walk from the apartment. We definitely lucked out; we don't have to take the metro to school, our host family is nice and cooks well, and even though the apartment is small we have enough room to move around, unlike some of the other people on the trip.
Lucky for my inner-JAP we found a salad place across the street from school with 5euro salads!
When Nicole and I came back home, the family took us on a walk to El Retiro, the giant park (very similar to Central Park) within walking distance of their house. We also walked through the high-end shopping district which is, oh, right next to us.
El Retiro is GORGEOUS. Street vendors, cafes, a giant lake with row-boating, the Glass Castle, and lots and lots of bikers and roller bladers!
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| Andres caught a turtle! |
After a 2 hour walk, Nicole and I engaged in a Spanish tradition: siesta.
Can I also say I don't know how the Spaniards survive without sleep? They go out until 6am, go to work, take a little nap and do it all over again!??! I've slept like 4 hours every night since I've been here!!!
Night #2: Osso bucco yumyumyum
Friday night Nicole and I met up with all of our friends at the bar El Tigre in El Sol (like Times Square) at around 12:30 (yup that's what time Spaniards GO OUT). It's kind of an American bar, but the drinks are cheap and they give you free GIANT plates of tapas!
After we went to a bar, Dubliners, which unfortunately, was VERY American. Literally. I saw all of Syracuse Madrid. But it was nice seeing everyone on our first night out. At around 2 we went to la discoteca, Joy Eslava. IT. WAS. SO. FUN. So much bigger than any club I've been to in New York, my friends had tables, I was dancing on stage it was unreal.
The next morning Marta and Jose suggested on weekends they won't wait for us to eat breakfast. Whoops....guess that happens when you're out until 6am.
We went on a walking tour with our class, back to El Retiro
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| Alfonso, on of our teachers |
Night #3: deviled eggs
Afterwards Nicole and I met our friends at the biggest discoteca in Europe: Kapital. It was huge, 8 stories high! The bottom few floors were dance floors, then balconies, and then has you got higher up there were like rooftop bars. It's amazing how I kept finding everyone even with it being ginormous!
Sunday Ali flew in and we met up with everyone at El Retiro, walked around in a hungover state for a while and then napped. Everyone was still in Kapital daze.
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| Ali and I at El Retiro |
Night #4: pasta with stir fry shrimp and vegetables
Monday was first day of classes! It's weird going to school with kids I'd actually go to school with...but in Spain. I think we're all kind of like, what the fuck why aren't you at Syracuse?
I have an awkwardly long gap in between my classes on Mondays and Wednesdays so CJ and I literally picked a subway line, got off and walked around. That's exactly what I want to be doing with my days, it was so much fun, so beautiful and I got to see a random area! We walked near la Universidad de la Ciudad, very west on the map, past the Museo de America and found this gorgeous park!
After class, Nicole, Ali and I got mojito happy hour! Gotta love going to school...
Night #5: pork and potatoes
That night we went back to the bars in El Sol with other American students. I'm ready to explore the Spanish bar, I didn't come here to hang out with US kids!!! I even asked the bartender to suggest places and he said its more fun to go to bars where your friends are so we should stick to these. Not exactly what I was looking for.
El Sol at night is packed with promoters throwing tickets in your face offering you a free drink with entry and trying to get girls in. Literally so overwhelming you can't walk a foot without someone shoving an ad in your face.
Tuesday morning even though class was cancelled, Nicole and I went fabric shopping with Marta in El Sol. She showed us around the area IN THE DAYTIME, the market place there, La Plaza Mayor, it's so so beautiful!!!! How do I get so lucky to live here.
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| Plaza Mayor |
I stayed in last night, skyped with Dylan and looked into booking hostels for my upcoming trips. It's hard being away from home, my boyfriend, my friends at school and my parents. Dylan is trying to visit the beginning of October, but honestly it's weird not seeing him for so long. I know I've only been here about 3 weeks but shit this has been the longest 3 weeks of my life. Not even in a bad way, I just feel like SO MUCH has happened in such a short amount of time, I already feel like a Spaniard!!! (but not actually because I don't dress well enough). I'm confident we'll be okay, and Skype definitely makes it easier, I'm just terrified of so much happening in both of our lives that we change too much and no longer feel like we know each other.
I am extremely happy here though, and I can't wait to keep exploring. We may go to Barcelona this weekend, Oktoberfest is already booked in September, I'm going to Valencia, Amsterdam and (maybe with my parents) Paris in October, and Dublin in November. Still need to plan London and Prague FOR SURE. Maybe that'll be in November!!!
Just livin the jet-setting life, YA FEEL?
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