¡EJ in España!

Real sleepy, real ready to party

Friday, March 9th was a very important day this semester for a few reasons: 1. it marked the halfway point of my semester in Spain, 2. EJ arrived in Madrid to visit me for his spring break! and 3. (maybe even most importantly) I got some peanut butter, almonds, and a new camelbak hand delievered to me.

I woke up on Friday morning so excited to rush to the airport and meet EJ as soon as he got off his flight. After a nice love actually-esque moment in the airport (kidding..) we hopped on the metro and dropped his luggage off at his hostel. I was so excited to see him and show him around Madrid, and I think he just felt like a zombie as I took him all over to visit some of my favorite places in Madrid like the Palace and the Plaza de Oriente, as well as the Parque del Oeste. His hostel was relatively close to my apartment, but required a walk through an "interesting" street of Madrid. Calle fuencarral, commonly known as hooker street, is full of tattoo parlors, sex shops, and "ladies" in very high heels flanking the sides of the streets at all hours of the day and night looking for business. I'm sure he has a couple stories for you if you ask him. Friday night my roommates and I took him out to a few bars for some drinks to celebrate his arrival! We ended up staying up pretty late, but had a great time, even despite the jet lag.

Ew, snow!

Healthy grains granola--the key to a good hike

Saturday morning, we hopped on a random bus with no real directions or idea of where we were going to head to the mountains to the northwest of Madrid and a town called Cercedilla for hiking! We didn't know what to expect at all, and after a bit of wandering around the town of Cercedilla, we finally found the national park and had an awesome time hiking. It was so nice to get out of the city for a while and have fun in the mountains. We had stopped at the grocery store before we left for a very well balanced picnic of water, a loaf of pan integral (wheat bread), healthy grains (see picture), and some spanish starburst called cubitos. We were hiking for a while until we got high enough to see snow and as we climbed even higher and noticed that the hikers we were coming across looked very well prepared, and we realized that we had out-hiked our sneakers and t-shirts.

Finally near the top of the mountain!

Saturday night we had a nice steak dinner courtesy of the Campbell parents (thanks for that!), and just had a nice relaxing night. Sunday morning we went to the Atlético Madrid soccer game against Granada. After a wild goose chase circling aroudn the stadium to find the proper place to pick up our tickets, we finally got the tickets and went into the stadium. Though I had already been to a Real Madrid game, I really liked the Atlético Madrid game because the fans seemed much more rowdy and their chants were really fun to sing along with. True to Spanish sporting event form, everyone was wearing scarves despite the fact that it was extremely sunny and very hot (I loved it! Let's just say that EJ had to buy some aloe the next day..). At halftime, people brought out the packed sandwiches again and ate lunch in between halves. Atlético won 2-0 with a great goal in the middle of the game and a really exciting goal in the 90th minute to seal the deal! After the game, we called my roommates and met them at El Tigre (the restaurant with really big mojitos and lots of free food) for lunch. A few mojitos later and lots of food later, we took a walk around the Plaza del Oriente and the Palace before going to mass in the Cathedral that evening. 

"Atleti, Atleti, Atlético de Madrid! Ganando, ganando..."

A view of the altar at the Cathedral;
I love bright colored patterns on the ceiling

After mass, we just hung out for a little bit at his hostel, and then went to sleep (Sunday is a school night after all). It's crazy to think how quickly every day has gone already while EJ has been here--I can't believe the first weekend is already over and I have to go to school (and take 2 tests) in the next 4 days! We'll see how that goes later this week...

Rachel

PS. my sincerest apologies about the very very very late updates, I've been so busy!

Life on Mar's

The Real Madrid Stadium  

This past weekend we stayed in Madrid to recover from the wild spending and no-sleep weekend in London and Dublin...it was much needed. On Wednesday night, my friend Caroline Kwan and some other girls studying abroad in France came to Madrid for a visit! We went out with them Wednesday and Thursday night to show them a good time--Madrid discoteca style. Thursday night was supposed to be a Michael Jackson themed night at a night club called Joy...however, I didn't see a single Michael Jackson impersonator, nor did I hear a Michael Jackson song..I got over it. We did still have a lot of fun though, making friends with some Italians and some French people as we watched everyone on the dancefloor. It was a late night to say the least!

Kwan and me at Joy

Friends reunited!

On Friday I woke up, went for a run, and tried to get ahead on some homework for the weekend (good joke). I really just ended up watching half a season of Friday Night Lights and laying in bed. Around 3 in the afternoon or so, a bunch of us went out to lunch at a tapas bar/restaurant called El Tigre. This place is CRAZY. You go there, and order any drink (we opted for the 6 euro liter of beer and mojitos) and they bring you mountainous plates of free food--I kid you not! At first, we inhaled all the patatas bravas, croquetas, paella, sandwiches, etc...but as soon as we realized that they kept bringing you free plates of food, we got a little overwhelmed and had to slow down. I'm still baffled at how this place ever makes any money, but the drinks were good, the food was great, and we spent about 2 and a half hours there just hanging out.

Who knew my zoom worked so well!

Between plates of food, one of our friends suggested that we go get some piercings that we had been talking about for a while..so, like any responsible college student would while in a foreign country, we went to the tattoo parlor to get another piercing..I had absolutely no intention of doing so until I discovered that the total price for everything was only 10 euro--and since I hadn't paid for lunch I figured, what a steal!  I pierced the upper part of my rook/cartalidge for you ear piercing aficionados..and I like it! Just a little sore still..

The stadium was absolutely packed

Now that we were feeling like rebels without a cause, we headed back to Mar's (that's our host mom's name--hence life on Mar's...) and actually tried to do some homework, again with little success. That night Mar cooked us dinner and we decided against going out in order to actually get some sleep. Saturday I woke up and went for a run, and then Maggie and I packed lunches, grabbed a blanket, and went to Retiro for a productive picnic to get some homework done. After picnicking at Retiro for a while, it got a bit chilly so we went to the next best place, starbucks, to work on some homework. Saturday night was pretty uneventful and ended with me in my bed alone crying to an episode of season three of Friday Night Lights, which, though that may sound lame, was just what I wanted to do..so nice and relaxing!

Maggie, Hillary, and I at the game!

Sunday was a lazy day, I finished up some homework, went for a walk around the park, and just hung out. Sunday night, however, we went to a Real Madrid fútbol game! It was so much fun, and though our seats were pretty high up, we could see the entire field from a good angle and it was perfect. I forgot how much I missed watching soccer! I was amazed at how packed the stadium got--there was not an empty seat, and they weren't even playing a very good team. They ended up beating Española 5-0, and Ronaldo even scored the first goal. The game was a lot of fun, and an absolute madhouse full of rowdy soccer fans--it's probably for the best that the first game I attended was not against Barcelona or something, as the opposing team's fan section was surrounded by security the entire game, I can only imagine what a Madrid-Barcelona game is like!

He scored a goal for me..

shut-out

All in all it was a good weekend in Madrid--I must admit, Madrid is still my favorite city and I am glad that I am here for my study abroad experience!

This week has consisted of me really trying to get ahead on school work, because I know that come Friday, that won't be happening anymore. EJ is coming to visit on Friday for his spring break and will be here for about 10 days. I'm not sure if I'm more excited to see him or my camelbak that he's bringing me...(hehe, just kidding). Either way, I have been counting down the days for a while and am really excited for him to get here to show him around Madrid and to be able to actually have a conversation instead of emailing sporadically! I just have to get through one test and a paper before he gets here--too bad my ability to focus is dwindling!

2 days can't go by fast enough!

Love,
Rachel

P.S. good news from America: yesterday I received an email from the leasing company in St. Louis and Maggie, Sarah, and I officially have an apartment for next year! 3 bedrooms, one bath, a kitchen with an island and a pretty big living space--not to mention an 11th floor view and a pool on top of our building. Though we didn't get into the exact building we wanted, this building is literally right next door to the preferred one and is a lot cheaper than we had expected--hooray! Now all I need is an internship...

irish accents > _______

A phrase my dad can live by

Time for winter break part two! On Saturday morning we flew to Dublin, Ireland for another two days full of pubs and a trip through the countryside to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher. When we arrived in Dublin, my friends and I locked up our luggage again since we couldn't check into the hostel until later that afternoon. Though we were feeling a bit scummy (I think it had been 4 days since I had last showered--give or take another day or two for traveling, going out, and sleeping in airports), we went on another free walking tour around the city of Dublin. On all of my trips so far, I've learned that free walking tours from the hostels are definitely the best way to see the new city. Since they are usually directed to poor college students in hostels, the tour guides are always pretty funny and have a lot of good stories to go along with the tours. The Dublin tour was less involved than the London tour because Dublin is a city that's more about the experience of making new friends and having casual beers at pubs than looking at castles and palaces--which I loved!

Temple bar was the name of the pub district in Ireland as well as
this particular pub where we joined the Mexican-themed bachelor party

After the walking tour, we finally headed back to the hostel for my first shower in what seemed like forever (HALLELUJAH)! Feeling like a brand new lady, my friends and I walked to the Guinness factory for a tour where we learned how they make Guinness, proper tasting/pouring techniques, looked at advertising over the years, and even got a free pint at the top of the factory in a circular bar with 360 degree views of the city of Dublin! After the Guinness tour, a few of us went back to change and grab some dinner and a few pints before going out. Though I actually enjoyed the Guinness--you can only drink so many loaves of bread in one day, so I decided to sample some other Irish beers. My personal favorite was called a Carlsburg--nom nom nom. 

3 pints and a cosmo--we're in Ireland, come on now, Hillary.

At the Guinness factory!

That evening the larger group split up so everyone could do what they wanted to. Kate, Maggie, Teresa, and I just walked to the pub districts and walked in a random place that looked fun. There were two guys playing live music covers of popular songs (my personal favorite being a Whitney Houston tribute medley) and they were great. Teresa instantly fell in love, so we stayed there for a while to listen to them--the Irish folk fell in love with her and her fire-y red hair too. Then all of a sudden we happened to find ourselves in the middle of a bachelor party! Maggie was asked to be a date to the wedding, but needless to say she graciously declined. After the first pub, we went over to the famous Temple Bar to meet up with the rest of the group. Before finding our friends, however, we of course found another bachelor party to hang out with; this time, the groom was dressed in a Mexican poncho and riding a stuffed donkey in honor of his destination wedding to Central America to marry his Guatemalan bride! We had a great time, but were sure to head off to bed early for our super early wake up call (only after one of our friends put on an Irish dancing show on stage for the entire bar--who knew she had such skill!)

Kate and I out on the town in Dublin!

The happy groom-to-be

Our favorite song was a Whitney Houston cover medley  

The next morning, Maggie, Kate, and I woke up nice and early to go on a bus tour across the entire country to the western coast of Ireland to see the cliffs of moher, the burren national park, and the province of Galway, along with some medieval castles along the way. Our tour was led by a very nice Irishman who had the most soothing voice I have ever heard, complete with the sexy Irish accent (it was advertised as that on the brochure for the tour). We visited about 5 different Irish villages around the countryside; it was all so beautiful, including the drive in between the different sites. We decided that since we had been so sleep deprived the past few days, the all day tour was what we'd like to call a "scenic nap" that was just what the doctor ordered for a misty and overcast Sunday. My favorite part of the tour was visiting the Cliffs of Moher. As soon as we arrived, the fog rolled in and we unfortunately couldn't see a thing--a little disappointed, we went inside to look around the museum and check out the gift shop. Just as we were about to go outside to get back on the bus, the fog magically cleared and we were able to see the cliffs! I think what made it even better was being able to appreciate the difference between the white blanket of nothingness and the breathtaking views off the edge of the cliffs. We ran up to the top, hopped over the "danger do not cross" fence and snapped a few pictures before running back to our wonderful Irishman. 

Thanks to the luck of the Irish, we got to see it!

Notice the castle at the top of the cliff

The cliffs of Moher!

That's a long way down...

After getting back to the hostel that evening, I went on a hunt to find a church to go to--and found an evening mass. I was a bit confused by the signs, however, and ended up going to mass in Polish (go figure, the one weekend I was in an English speaking country). The rest of that evening we posted up in the common room of the hostel to wait for our taxi at 4 am to the airport for yet another 6:30 am flight back to Madrid. We had a nice time in the common room taking cat naps on the couches and watching Pretty Woman (one of the few movies they had in the hostel for public use). After my flight back to Madrid on Monday morning, I didn't have much time to rest and immediately went for a run, finished up some homework, went to class, and had to spend the rest of the evening working on an accounting project (fact: I do actually do homework here). 

A quaint little Irish harbor

The rest of the week was rough to say the least, so we decided to take this weekend to recover a little bit and spend some quality time in Madrid and catch up on some sleep. But, I do still have a lot to look forward this weekend--the weather should be great!

Till next time,

Rachel

London calling!

A view of the London Eye

Hooray for English! As much as I've loved being in Spain and working on my Spanish every day, I must say that it was a bit of a relief last weekend when we were able to get around, figure out public transportation, and order from bars/restaurants in English. We left late Wednesday night to go sleep at the airport for our 6:30 am flight. While this sounds a bit crazy, we were surprised to find tons of locals and foreigners alike taking the late metro Wednesday night to sleep at the airport! It wasn't exactly the Ritz, but definitely worth the more than 30 euro I saved by not taking a cab. 

We hopped on our flight Thursday morning and arrived in London around 10:30 in the morning. Since it was cheaper to fly into Stansend than Heathrow, we had to take a bus for about an hour or two to get into the city. Once we arrived to the city of London, we managed to find our way to the hostel and stored our luggage until we could check in later in the afternoon. My roommates and I started exploring and stumbled upon a place called the Borough Market--one of the oldest outdoor markets in London that had lots of food and drinks to try! We quickly found ourselves a pub called The Globe and got ourselves a pint. Come to think of it, I'm not really sure there was a time during this trip (both in London and Dublin) where I wasn't currently drinking a pint, had just finished a pint, or was looking for a pub in which to find said pint. I'd also like to add that I didn't mind!

Big Ben and a British cab!

Since we completely lucked out with the weather in London (it was in the mid 60's and sunny both days), we walked around Kensington Palace and the gardens surrounding this more "casual" palace where Will and Kate lived for the afternoon. I also visited Notting Hill, Big Ben, the London eye, and walked along the river as the sun was setting. We stopped in a cafe for some dinner and then headed back to the hostel to get ready for our first night out. Though the night life in Madrid is fun and all, the night life in London and Dublin is definitely more my style. We made friends with a Canadian in our hostel and went to a few pubs and had a great time. The only complaint is the British pound. The exchange rate for the pound right now is TERRIBLE. My wallet cried a little bit every time I had to buy something new...thank goodness I was only there for two days.

An artist painting the famous Tower Bridge

The next morning, I woke up early feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the sights I wanted to see, with only one day to see everything. So, my friends and I loaded up on the free breakfast at the hostel as to avoid having to buy lunch (very smart I must say) and set off to Harrod's, the famous everything store in London. Harrod's reminded me a bit of Marshall Field's in Chicago--something you just HAVE to see where the building and the experience is better than actually shopping. We saw the famous Egyptian themed escalators, the Princess Diana shrine, and the famous chocolate/sweets shop that made my mouth water. However, like many of the very high fashion and designer clothes--some of the food didn't even have a price visible, which I'm assuming means I can't afford it.

Classic tourist picture in London...

We then left Harrod's and walked through Hyde Park to the Wellington Arch to meet a free walking tour that I had read about at the hostel. A fun, quirky tour guide took us on a 3-hour free walking tour of all the major sights of London and had a lot of interesting facts/fun stories to go along with it. Outside of St. James' palace, we are completely convinced that we saw Prince Harry in his British guard/military uniform talking to some of the other guards--even our tour guide and the "super serious" guards were full of excitement! He was just walking around the corner in front of us with a hat and uniform on--obviously under the radar. After the tour was over, Kate, Maggie, and I went to a famous British pub for fish n' chips and..yep you guessed it..another pint. (Good thing it was Friday!)

We returned back to the hostel to meet up with the rest of our group of friends and when they weren't there at the proper meeting time, we decided to pop over next door to sample some local ales. We spent a few hours in this hole-in-the-wall pub, gazing at handsome British businessmen and chatting with some locals. The British people were all very interested in talking about politics with us. Just about everyone that we met instantly wanted to ask about the presidential election when they found out that we were Americans. They love Obama--many people just refer to him as "the main man"...I must admit I had no idea who they were talking about when they asked me if I was hoping the main man would stick around after this year. Later that night, we just hung out in the "chill room" of the hostel to wait for our 3:00 am departure time to catch another bus to the airport for another 6:30 am flight to Dublin.

We had fun with the guards,
but I wish they would have been wearing the fuzzy hats!

I loved London, and while I wish that I could have stayed there longer--I don't think my bank account could've handled it! Besides, I was very excited to get over to Ireland and meet Gerard Butler or pretend I was in a scene from P.S. I Love You as soon as possible!

Westminster Abbey was one of the most beautiful churches
I've ever seen...I wouldn't mind getting married there!

Rachel