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...