You're Never too Old to Hold Hands

I went for my first run today in Retiro Park, which is one of the biggest (if not THE biggest) park in Madrid and is only a couple blocks away from my apartment.  I don't know why I put off running for so long, it was a relieving and exciting adventure.  I have spent a good amount of time in Retiro but never by myself and never just to simply admire my surroundings. 

It's amazing how much goes on in this park, and how many different types of people you see.  From children sitting and watching a puppet show with huge grins on their faces to the old man sitting on a bench playing his trumpet for pleasure, not for money; it is all such a perfect image of European life.  I feel like I'm beggining to appreciate Madrid on a whole new level. 

Little things that I would never think of mentioning when someone says "how was Madrid?!".  There was a pair of teenagers probably, no older than 16 that were just sitting in the most odd place, away from everything in grass that didn't look too compfortable.  I stopped a few yards away from them to stretch on a bench and realized he was playing ACDC's "Highway to Hell", so I kept an ear out for what he was going to play next.  He then played "Wonderwall" by Oasis, one of me and Emma's songs from middle school that I still love to this day.  He had an obvious accent while he was singing these over-played American songs, but I loved it and wanted to lay down next to this couple all day and just listen.  I feel like everyone around me is in love.  Whether it be with the person sitting next to them or with the nutella crepe in their hands, everyone in Europe is full of passion and romance.  I never see elderly couples in America like the ones I see here.  Here they make an effort to dress up a little bit for a stroll in the park together, always hand in hand or arm in arm.  They take their sweet and precious time.  They are probably the only people with whom I don't get frustrated with when they are walking incredibly slow and I am stuck behind them.  I always take notice of their relaxed pace, as they stroll through Retiro for probably their thousandth time.  I want to grow old in Europe.

The musicians around Madrid  make my heart melt, whenever I pass by them they make my day that much better.  When I think Madrid or Europe in general, I think baguette, small streets, with a man playing an accoridon on the corner.  The saxaphonists in Retiro are amazing as well.  I found myself choosing my running path in accordance to whatever music I heard next as well as the greenest and prettiest lit pathways.  Sometimes I like making myself feel like I'm in a movie, and today I totally felt like I was in one. 

There's this song by Jack Johnson called "Belle", it's short and sweet but fits in with my Europe-loving mood, I need to find more music like that.  I think I'll do that right now actually!

Flowers and Cake Make the World go Round

Life has been interesting these past few days, in both good and bad ways.  It can only be expected though, that's life after all-a mix of ups and downs, lefts and rights, beginnings and ends, bitters and sweets.  I have been thinking about my return home a lot, and how I will transition from Madrid to San Francisco and then to Humboldt County.  I consider myself a city girl, but love the slow-paced vibe that Arcata gives, and miss it, but dread going back at the same time.  Bittersweet! 

My 21st birthday was incredible, so much more than I had expected!  It was a great turn out, good vibes, beautiful people with beautiful personalities, and decent Thai food!  I wasn't expecting so many gifts and suprises, it truly made my 21st in Spain an even more memorable experience.  We went to eat dinner at this Thai restaraunt I came across and they had the tables set up to accomodate all 16 of us!

Although the Thai Ice Tea was a let down, and the Pad Thai, everything else was declicious and great service from our poor waiter who was the only one working.  He kept a smile on though!

The couple days before my birthday I did a bunch of fun stuff!  Friday our USAC program took us on another trip to La Mancha/Chinchon-where Don Quijote takes place.  We spent most of our time on the bus, and only got to explore on our own for bits at a time, but nonetheless saw a cool castle

we also saw loooooots of windmills, a beautiful scene especially with the view in the background, we had to drive up pretty high to get to this location

 

Our lunch was at a Don Quijote restaraunt and was delicious as always, we tried baked monchego cheese which was heavenly...I wanted to take some back with me!

On Saturday me and some friends went to picnic in Retiro, which we have done many times before, but this time was special!  We actually had blankets, vino, a lot of food and cookies, Kimi was able to join too so that pretty much made my day!  After our picnic and a short stop at Greg's apartment we went on the boats (barcas) in the Retiro lake, it was really fun and we all took turns rowing...while running into other boats.

I also found two ducks and made them my own by feeding them bits of baguette, their names are Wanda (the brown one) and Willy (the colorful one).

My friends Nasim and Kerry also took me to a Chocolateria where they have the BEST churros con chocolate, although I prefer barros to churros, which iswhat you see in this photograph:

 

It was an overall great weekend/birthday, I'm lucky to be living in the beautiful city of Madrid and be surrounded by amazing people.  I miss those back home of course, it was nice skyping with my besties and Watson and Dad.  I think I'll wear my fun pants tomorrow...

Lazy Arcata Days

Call me crazy, but I have been missing the slow-paced and simple lifestyle of Humboldt County.  I guess I had grown accustom to it and had not even realized.  I miss being able to wake up, go to Farmers Market, make breakfast, and then see where the day would take me (whether it was a day of laundry with the roomies or an adventure out to Moonstone beach to kick a ball around).  I do NOT miss the rain however.  It's suppose to be getting colder here in Madrid pretty soon, good thing I brought my p-coat!  I get nostalgic listening to the Expendables or Sublime, I don't know what I would have done without my I-Pod here.  Today we went on our second and last excursion provided by USAC to Chincon and La Mancha, where Don Quijote is based off of.  The bus rides are at least an hour long, so listening to my I-Pod is a must!  I love just looking out the window at the scenery and dozing off into lala land.  I listened to a lot of Jack Johnson today thanks to Watson who bought me one of his cds. 

My 21st is coming up, this Monday to be exact!  Tomorrow I plan on having a picnic with some friends a the gorgeous Retiro park right next to my house.  I want to adventure out to the boats on the lake as well, it's pretty cheap and holds 4 people a boat supposedly, although they look kind of small.  I should finally be able to see Kimi again tomorrow as well!  I can't believe I have only seen that girl once in the month that I have been here.  Sunday I'm not sure what I'm doing, either an amusement park or something else.  Monday is the Thai dinner night!  Me and however many people want to go are going to get dinner at this Thai restaraunt I found about 20 minutes from my house near the downtown area, I made sure they have Thai ice tea-crucial! 

I forgot what I was going to write about next...oh yea!  I've been getting these crazy moments where reality hits me in this strange way, it's hard to explain.  I will be having a conversation with someone and I'll say something like "well we are in Europe" and then my brain will freeze and I'll think to myself "wait, yea, I AM in Europe aren't I?"  Crazy little moments that are exhilirating and a bit intense.  I've gotten them before in normal everyday situations back in the states,  it's just crazy to be in another country with this entirely different reality surrounding me. 

I can't wait to venture off into other countries, first on the list is Italy!  I have to cut this entry short though, and without photographs because I am heading out into the streets of Madrid once more, and we'll see what happens.

Home

I woke up this morning to an email from my Dad, the first contact (besides the phone call to let them know I made it here safe) I've had with him since I've been here.  It made me start crying, in a good way, because I didn't realize how much I miss him and my Mom and brothers until this morning.  I'm sad yes, but I think that letting it out with some tears is totally acceptable and good for you, as oppose to keeping it bottled up inside.  I'm going to skype all of them this Sunday so that will be an interesting experience considering we (besides my youngest brother) are not the most technologically advanced family.  I've already done it once with my brothers though, so there shouldn't be a problem.  I'm having an incredible time in Spain don't get me wrong, but of course I miss my family. 

As the days go on over here in my host mom's apartment (or abuela-she's 62), I miss my Mom's cooking more and more.   It seems like all Carmen cooks for me is either eggs+potatoes=tortilla, soup with a base of potatoes and carrots, occasional salads, and things that are either frozen, boxed, or canned, and lots of bread.  She's made me microwavable pizza twice and microwavable lasagna once...I wonder how much all of this is costing her...probably not much!  For what I am paying her every month I expected a little bit more effort on her part with the food.  I just want fresh food everyday, is that too much to ask?  Mom back home works all day and then comes home to make the most delicious meals ever, and I miss everything she cooks.  Even just egg with rice.  I've only had rice here twice...I have been craving so many different types of food it's ridiculous.  French toast, bacon, eggs, rad-na, pad-sa-ew, bagels with salmon and cucumbers, alfredo pasta, chimichangas, etc.  And the worst thing is, I can't really cook any of these things either.  Because Carmen already provides me with breakfast and dinner, so the only option I have is lunch to make these things.  Plus I feel weird using her kitchen to cook.   I can't wait until my birthday because I'm going out to a Thai restaraunt, it'll be epic.  I don't like eating the same things all the time, Delaney can back me up here.

On a lighter note I'm really excited for the next few weekends here in Madrid.  I'm trying not to party this weekend so I can finally get over this cold I have.  Today I'm hoping to go roller-blading through Retiro Park, depending on how much it is.  But everyone here roller-blades, it's awesome.  Tonight at 7:30 I'm meeting the child I'm teaching English to through a program called T-Oigo (for deaf children trying to learn English), his name is Santiago.  I'm meeting his mom at the metro station and then she is showing me how to get to their house from there, it's kind of on the other side of where I live though.  It's all volunteer, so I don't get paid but hey good karma right? 

Tomorrow I'm goin to Toledo, the old capital of Spain, to take photos for my presentation in the Spain Seen Through Photography course I'm taking.  I may also be meeting some of my friend's intercambios and their friends for a short night out on the town, we'll see.  Sunday I'm meeting up with some Spaniards we happened to meet at a club and they are going to take us to the 4 Torres, a famous monument apparently right next to the futbol stadium, and we'll grab a bite to eat probably.  I'm still waiting to hear from my intercambio, Natalia. 

School has been pretty busy, my Track III teacher Jorge is pretty strict, despite his good looks he assigns a lot of homework and reading, I also have him for my Literature class.  It hasn't been too bad yet (knock on wood) but what did I expect taking 18 units ya know.  My Cinema class is pretty straight-forward, we watch movies, discuss them, and write a 2 page paper on them.  The teacher is from Scotland, funny little guy. 

Well I'm off to get dressed and start my day.  It's starting to cool down in Madrid, not sure how I feel about that.

The Reality of Traveling

I just returned from a fabulous weekend in Alicante with a bunch of friends.  Alicante is a beautiful beach town south-east of Madrid, about a 5 hour bus ride and a 1 hour plane ride.  I took the bus with Miguel, Greg, and Lauren while the other 6 people took the plane, the better option.  We arrived around 3pm on Friday and checked into our hostel which turned out to be pretty nice!  For only 15 euros a night it was a good deal.  Shared bathrooms with everyone, a bucket for a sink, but overall clean and safe.  I really enjoyed myself.  The first night me, Olivia, Miguel, Greg, and Ian roamed the streets of Alicante and found a nice little hole in the wall bar with a super cool bartender.  We went to a couple other places and got Harry Potter-like beer hats and suspenders...random but awesome!  My hat (which I stole from Ian) is sitting on my bookshelf right now reminding me of my time in Alicante.  We lounged on the beach all day, traveled to another part called San Juan which was less crowded and dirty.  Me and the boys got a huge meal which was a good price for what we got, lots of seafood and a TON of rice.  We didn't get water because it would have been bottled and probably another 3 euros each.  We went to visit El Castillo where we were able to see the entire city of Alicante, much bigger than I expected!


The second night me and my friend Olivia particpated in our first every pub crawl, where you pay a flat rate and get into multiple bars and discotecas for free or half price.  Great deal.  We met a lot of interesting people, danced, had a jolly ol time.  I ended up running into a friend that I had tried to meet up with in Alicante but there was miscommunication but we ended up running into each other anyway...funny coincidence!






I just saw a mosquito in my room...speaking of I have gotten bitten about 6 times in the last few days.  No fun. 
This was the view from the balcony in the room of the hostel I stayed in.

Yep it was a fun weekend.  I ended up feeling really homesick on Sunday though when I came back home from the long bus ride.  I'm not sure why, but that was definitely the most homesick i've felt since i've been here.  I have really been missing the freedom to cook food and watch a movie whenever I please...but a homstay is what I chose and what I will deal with, it's really not that bad I guess.  I'm just being pesimistic, but I'm allowed to be!  I have been trying to plan my 10 day trip to Italy and it's been more stressful than I thought it would be, mostly because of money issues.  I under estimated the cost of traveling while in Europe, let alone just living in Spain for four months!  I need to narrow my list down of places I want to go to...it's just realistically not possible to do all this traveling on my budget, with school, and only four months.   I'm thinking the trips I MUST go on are

1.) Italy-Rome/Venice

2.) Sevilla/Cordoba

3.) Portugal

the maybe pile (excluding Barcelona and France because those are a for sure)

1.) Amsterdam

2.) Granada

3.) London

4.) Morocco

I need to figure it all out it is just so difficult with all these factors holding me back.  I just need to realize that I can't do everything at once. 

Bullfight and 100 Euro Paella

Today was quite the "Spanish Day" as my friend Olivia would put it...considering we are in Spain I'd have to agree! This weekend was amazing.  Thursday night me and some of the girls went to El Kapital for a cocktail party, meaning we got to dress up and what not and get free drinks and orderves! (however you spell that).  We felt really special, especially since you had to be on a list to get in and luckily we know a guy named Fran who is a promotor.  Friday, USAC took us on a day trip to Segovia where we visited a Castle (the Sleeping Beauty castle to be exact) and a famous garden/park.  For lunch we went to a nice restaurant (but I wanted to sit outside) and ate suckling pig, one of the popular Segovian dishes...DELICOUS!  The waiter brings it out, says a few words about the tradition, takes a plate and literally bashes the pig into pieces to serve and then breaks the plate.  I went into my first lambrynth, not as cool as I had hoped but still got lost for a bit.  Took a nap in a dried up fountain, good day.  Everyone was completely passed out on the bus ride home, about an hour from Madrid. 

That night we found a cool jazz club that my friend Greg heard of from a friend.  Unfortunately the live music was already over by the time we got there, so I'll just have to go again! 

Saturday I basically slept all day, it's what you have to do when you get home at 6am.  I went to make dinner at a friend's apartment.  STUFFED MUSHROOMS! (Delaney).  It had been so long since I had cooked anything.  Our Spanish friend Olga brought over a delicious chocolate cake that we ate with ice cream and cookies, I felt like I was going to throw up after because I had eaten so much.  OH!  I also went to see the new Almodover movie "The Skin that I am In", it was crazy cool.  With Antonio Banderes.

Today I went to the El Rastro market again and splurged...which kind of sucked since I ended up spending 20 more euros on dinner.  But whatever, I got good stuff for people back home and ate great paella.  I need to go to my friend Crll's tomorrow to eat the leftovers that he took.  The bill ended up being a total of 130 euros...not what we were expecting!  We went to a bullfight around 8:30pm, which I just got back from.  It wasn't too exciting, although it was amateur night and only 10 euros.  A bunch of people left early because I guess it wasn't one of the best shows, but I had nothing to compare it to so I stayed for the whole thing.  It was sad seeing the bulls tortured, taunted, and killed...especially when the first bull came out it was really a shock to see it infront of me, plus we were front row.  By the end though I was fine, mostly tired and enjoying the crowd and outfits more than anything else.  I knew what I was getting myself into when I bought the tickets.

I ate so much ice cream and sweet goodness this weekend. I got a Segovian cookie!

Like the Deserts Miss the Rain

The reason this entry is titled what it is is because I have that song stuck in my head.  Plus I have found myself missing more things about home today as I walked around El Rastro and Plaza Mayor.  I miss people allowing you use their bathrooms in the middle of the night and without having to be a customer.  I miss knowing where I live like the back of my hand (but that will come eventually).  I miss cooking!  Being able to make whatever I'm craving at that moment in time.  I miss being lazy and watching tv surrounded by friends and family.  I miss a certain amount of freedom that I don't get in a homestay, like inviting friends over!  It's hard going from living in a 4 bedroom house with your best friends and then into a homestay...I'm adjusting though. I think.
I think I just need to get into a routine here, then I'll be set.  I do wish that I had a host brother/sister or two.  I don't like being an only child here.

This weekend was a lot of fun though, I am completely exhausted and pretty sure I'm getting sick, but a good weekend nonetheless.  I was lucky to be invited by my friend Chris to his intercambio's house in Guadalajara (i think that's what her town was called) for an afternoon of eating and lounging around by the pool.  It was nice to get in the water.  I really like Olga (his intercambio) she was a great hostess!  Hope to be seeing more of her around.  I plan on making dinner for her (with the help of my friends Chris and Miguel of course).  I have stayed out until at least 6am the past three nights, it's been awesome.  Actually one of the nights we all passed out at our friens Ian's apartment, Olivia made eggs, it was my idea, I didn't get any because I fell asleep instantly. 

Thursday night we went to El Kapital for the first time.  We got in for free after running around looking for flyers,the guys had to pay 18 euros..rip off.  Olivia and I spent WAY too much money there, but lesson learned.  Danced for about 6 hours straight, time flew by.  Got churros con chocolate afterwards across the street, but Miguel and I tried another place right next door last night that was way better. 

Today I went to El Rastro, as tired as I was, and met up with a good amount of people.  I didn't buy anything though, I plan on going every Sunday if possible.  I am set on finding a really good restaurant that has really good paella.  I also need to try the three Thai restaurants I've found.  I've been trying to read this book I was assigned in Spanish, using the dictionary constantly.  I need to just go to a park and read a bunch.  Carmen made me this dish for dinner tonight that consisted of rice and a type of seafood that was covered in black sauce...looked suspicious but I loved it.  I didn't realize how much I had been missing rice either.  It's almost midnight, I need to take some more medicine and then catch up on sleep.