¡Hasta luego, Madrid!

Well, after four interesting, rough, amazing months, it is time to go back the the States. I am finally comfortable and happy in Madrid, and if I had my own apartment I think I could stay for a long time. I managed to make it through the entire semester without having any of my valuables stolen, and without going into the crazy, major, 20-Euro-entrance-fee club, Kapital. I don't have much to say, so here's hoping for a good summer.

My plans:
1) Fly home and return safely to my lovely parents, and a grilled steak.
2) Drive to Minnesota while thoroughly jet-lagged to see my brother graduate from college.
4) Chicago
5) Work
6) STPR- Susquehanna Trail Performance Rally: there will be cars and camping.
7) Gym
8) Tucker Max's I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell on Broadway

Those are the main solid plans I have. Plus, I get to eagerly count down to my 21st birthday because the United States of America does not care that I have spent the past four months legally and responsibly drinking in bars, restaurants, and occasionally on the streets... okay, relatively responsibly.

That's all for today I guess. I take off from Madrid Barajas at 4:50 pm local time (10:50 am EST) and I land at JFK in the evening.

See you on the other side... of the Atlantic!
Besos

Cinco de Mayo

The countdown continues, as I wrap up my study abroad semester with the conclusion of a lovely five-day weekend and eleven loops left on my paper chain. That's right, just ten more days, and I am out of here, back to the land of deep-fried Oreos, and all the people I love most in the world.

Today, Jade and I made a fast trip to El Rastro market so she could buy her sister a necklace, and I could desperately search for something remotely Spanish to get my friend. I came to Europe with a strong determination not to return with an abundance of tchotchkes. I would spend my money on travel and food and drink, and for the most part I have held to that. But I had a request for castanets from one friend, and another is bringing me a gift from her semester abroad, so I must reciprocate.

This has been a really good weekend for me in Spain. We had Wednesday and Thursday off for two public holidays (labor day and then a Madrid regional holiday) and since I never have classes Friday, I have had the past five days for me. I have not done anything especially touristy or out of the ordinary, but I feel I enjoyed aspects of Madrid which make me love this city.

I went to the gym, did another confusing Pilates class in Spanish, walked for hours, had coffee in some really cool cafés, and drank some really delicious gin and tonics as well. The gin and tonics were from a place called La Bicicleta and they have at least 8 different gin and tonic variations including cucumber, basil/lime, frutas rojas, grapes. It is an awesome little place. Plus last night we went out and ran into a Spanish friend at a bar that plays American hard rock/metal music and serves HUGE kalimotxos** ironically called "minis." It may be the last real night-out I have in Spain, but it was well spent, and drama free, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Also in the last five days I have gotten into a brief conversation with two Sweedish women, and had a lovely encounter with a Portuguese/Italian couple (he was from Lisbon, she was from Naples). I have enjoyed the sun and the people and the city, and I really think that these have been five days well spent. Plus I started reading Don Quixote. The Spanish was far beyond me, but I have been enjoying the English translation that I am reading. I will have to find it when I return to the US, since I am borrowing the library's copy.

So all is well, but nothing is out of the ordinary at this point, which may be a good thing. I am comfortable and happy here, the weather has taken a turn for the better, and I will miss Madrid, though I am STOKED to be going home.

Now to pack. Wish me luck.

Wandering Students

It has been way too long since my last post, sorry for the delay. After my 5-day stint in Fuertaventura, I had two days in Madrid and then left Thursday the 18th for Barcelona on an overnight bus. I got back late last night. So I was exhausted for my few days in Madrid, and not even around for the most part.

But it has been an amazing two weeks! I realized many times on the Fuertaventura trip how fortunate I am to have the opportunities I have been given. Seriously, how often does someone get to be excused from school to learn to scuba dive and go to the beach for a 5-day biology class field trip?

Now I am officially a certified PADI open-water diver, I have seen an octopus in it's natural habitat, narrowly avoided being stung by sea urchins, had a ray swim at me as it attempted to flee from a curious group of college girls, and attempted to avoid going near creepy moray eels, despite my professor's prompting.

That's me! One of the instructors had an underwater camera. 

Seriously creepy dude. I did not want to be all up in his business.

Octopus hiding under a rock!

We also drove through gorgeous volcanic mountain roads, and saw secluded beaches.

We had this whole beach to ourselves. It is hard to tell, but I am at the top of the huge cliff which slopes down to the hidden beach. There is a person on the way down the hill, for some idea of scale, and each of those black rock things was a horseshoe shape big enough for at least two people to lay down in. It is really hard to get an idea of the overwhelming scale in a photo, but it was spectacular.

Me, my biology professor, and my scuba buddy, Christina.

I then went to Barcelona with three friends. We visited the Sagrada Familia, Park Güell, and La Boqueria market, and we tanned on the beach. On Sunday, I went on a Gaudi walking tour where I got to mingle with some Americans, though my travel companions did not join. It was a wonderful couple of days, and I wish I could go back right now. Barcelona was a beautiful city and the people were amazing, but I only got a taste of it on my weekend adventure.

Butt and legs statue in a park

From left to right: Allison, Me, Charity, and Alexa. At Park Güell.

Gaudi mosaics!

Fish at the market. This woman was not pleased about my photography, turned around and flipped me off. I just laughed and walked away.

Mushrooms! yum

Me at the Sagrada Familia.

On the walking tour, I got to see the Catalan tradition of the human tower. These people climbed each other to form an amazing tower of standing people. It was awesome.

This weekend made me realize how much I am going to miss Spain. I have been compiling a list of all the things I miss about America because, needless to say, I have had my rough patches with studying abroad. But I really will miss things about this wonderful experience I have had. Things as simple as jamon, delicious cheese, and tortilla (the thick egg and potato Spanish one, not the flat Mexican one) and I will even miss speaking Spanish. It has been one hell of a semester, and I know that I need to make the most of my last three weeks.

I am done traveling out of Madrid, and just want to enjoy the city and experience the things I haven't yet seen. I will also revisit certain things I have seen, namely The Reina Sofia, since I only got a glimpse of the extensive collection. I may try to do a walking tour, since the one I did in Barcelona was amazing and showed me many things I wish I could have visited.

My Spanish teacher calls us "the wandering students" because every weekend my peers travel to new cities. In my time abroad, I have seen a lot of Spain, some of Portugal, a bit of England and Scotland. I may not have a list as extensive as some of my peers, but I have fully enjoyed every place that I have visited and tried to make the most of my trips. I have no regrets about my travels, and look forward to more in the future.

But like I said, I have three more weeks, so while this sort of became a sad culmination post, it is not the end yet!

One more scuba pic, me, Christina and Fernando, in our wet suits.

As always, there is a plethora of pictures on Facebook.

Pictures!!

Can't get enough of my sub-par iPhona photography?! Well you are in luck! I just uploaded over two hundred photos onto my Facebook in the albums "Madrid Semester," "London Spring Break," and "Scotland March 29-31." Feel free to peruse them. Some of them come with comments which I think are hilarious due to my lack of sleep and also the two essays weighing on my mental state.

If you are not already my Facebook friend, here is a link to my profile: http://www.facebook.com/mikane26
You may not be able to see the pictures if we are not already friends, in which case you may friend me and I should accept relatively quickly... unless I have no idea who you are... in which case you should message me in reference to this blog post. If you have any troubles using the Facebook, please ask your nearest twelve year old for assistance, but be careful, if they are texting, assistance may be hard to come by.

Here is one of the few pictures I did not put on Facebook. It is a cherry pastry, which the lovely Jade Farentinos bought me for Pi Day (3.14 or March 14th)

Back in Madrid!

Hola! I am back in Madrid after an AMAZING 11 day vacation in the UK. I have had my ups and downs studying abroad here in Madrid, and I was dreading my return, but it feels good to be back in a  sunny city and back in a room I can call my own. Today I am in one of my inexplicably good moods, so hooray! Welcome back, me.

This weekend I am going to be taking two 4-hour scuba lessons in a local pool, and next Thursday I will be going to the Canary Islands for 5 days with my biology class, and scuba diving in the ocean (OHMYFREAKINGGOD). I am STOKED!!!

So my Spring break: The highlights, though everyday was great.

I landed Thursday afternoon, and took the Tube in at about rush hour, so that was an experience. That night Marissa and I did a night walking tour of London, lead by her. We saw the London eye, Big Ben, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Tower of London, and Westminster Abbey.

Friday we took a school trip to Bath which was meh, but at night we took a train to Gillingham where I finally got to meet Marissa's friend Richard who she met in Italy over the summer. It was seriously the best night out I have had since coming to Europe. The places we went were just bars in some random English town, but the people were great, and there was no drama. It was super fun, and I could talk to everyone since there was no language barrier. 

Saturday we went to Borough market and ate a ton of scrumptious food, and then explored Camden market, which was super cool.

Sunday, Marissa and I woke up ungodly early (like 5am) to stand in line for £5 tickets to Matilda the musical. They give away 16 tickets every morning at 10am, and Marissa's friend told us you have to go pretty early. She based this advice on having gone in the summer, when it is nice out. So, we stood in the freezing cold and rain for about three hours total since we kept leaving to get tea and sit inside and no one else showed up to queue until about 9 am. It was ridiculous, and unpleasant. But we got the £5 tickets, and the show was spectacular.

Monday we had a little two person Seder, just me and Marissa in her flat, but it was great! We printed a terrible Hagadah, and a prayer supplement, and it was adorable.

Tuesday we went to the V&A and then I went to see Singing in the Rain at night, which was super fun though my seats were terrible. 

Chihuly at the V&A

Thursday I went to the Cortland Gallery to see the Picasso exhibit. The whole gallery was fantastic.

Friday we took a hilarious tour of the London Dungeons which was great fun, and then at night we flew to Scotland.

In Edinburgh we drank whiskey, ate fish and chips, and walked a lot. It was absolutely beautiful. We also tried some delicious local beers. My favorite was one called Punk IPA which we tried at a really cool place called Brew Dog Brew House. We also toured the Royal Yacht Britannia, and went to a janky** Scottish Carnival.

Monday Marissa's sister and mother came into town, and we all got dinner, and then I spent the night in Heathrow so that I could take the tube for my 6:40 am flight back to Madrid. 

So it has been a hell of a week and a half. Should be a whirlwind end of the semester, and I am officially spending my summer working at Animal Fair, and going to the gym with my mom. I am excited to return home, but I think that I am going to be happy and enjoy my last weeks here.

Happy Spring!!

So it has not been the most eventful of weeks, but currently it is 55 degrees and sunny, so all is great!

Last Thursday, I went on a tapas crawl with the school. It was loads of fun. We got tapas at four different restaurants with some students from the Politechnica school (engineering students). I got to hang out with a bunch of people from school I didn't know well, and we all had a blast. Later that night, Jade and I went and had a chill night with Matt, one of the students from SU Madrid. We got hit on by some creepy Spanish guys, and I gave a fake name for the first time in my life. It was both hilarious and unnecessary, no harm no foul.

Friday, I spent the entire day writing my three 3-page essays for the Azahar seminar. I worked from about 10 am until 11:30 pm when I sent in my work. Not my best decision, but a fine display in my incomparable procrastination skillz.

Saturday, Jade and I went to Tomar Cafe, which is an adorable little venue with delicious iced coffee and too many hipster Americans. We then walked around Madrid for about two hours, which was really cool because we found out how close a bunch of our favorite spots are to each other.

Sunday we were supposed to go to a street market with Kayley, but it turned out to not be happening. We stumbled upon a little indoor craft show, and after walked around Madrid for a while.

Monday was a public holiday, so we didn't have school. Jade and I went to study Spanish in a cafe for a couple hours, in preparation for the midterm we had this morning.

So, not much happened in the past week. But that's okay, because I am going to LONDON tomorrow!!! Wahoo! I am so pumped! I may try to steal Marissa's laptop and write a post within the next 11 days, but no promises.

I fly into London tomorrow, we will be in Scotland the 29th through the 1st of April, and I fly back to Madrid the 2nd.

Oh, and an irrelevant side-note  I was bored in class today and started writing stories for my friends, which was loads of fun :) The one I wrote for Charity was about her and her little kittens, and then a witch tries to steal the kittens, but Christiano Rinaldo (the soccer player) rescues the kittens and he and Charity fall in love and get married. So, yeah. Made me laugh.

I am also recently obsessed with a new guy on YouTube  He goes by Ze Frank, and makes videos about animals called "True Facts" that are hilarious. He also does some more serious videos that are really interesting. www.youtube.com/zefrank1 if you wanna check him out. He studied neuroscience at Brown, so yeah, he's pretty legit.

Ok, that's all. Enjoy Spring, even if you are surrounded by snow.

Marissa in Madrid!!

It has been a bit since I posted anything and I have a ton of work and a quiz tomorrow, so now seemed like the perfect time.

The Weekend: Friday I went out with Jade and some Spanish people. It was fun, nothing major, we got home around 5:30 am. It seems like a waste to take the bus home at 5:30 since the metro opens at six, but we were tired and ready to go home, and our metro passes cover the buses too.

Saturday I went out with my friend Christina, who is in my biology class. We have gotten a closer in the last couple of weeks, so I finally have more than one friend (YAY!). She invited me out with some people from our program and a Spanish boy who she met at the cultural encounters night at the school. He also brought a group of his friends. It was a really great night. Everyone got along well, first we went to one crowded bar until it closed, then we went to a small club where we danced until it closed. It was great. I came home on the bus alone at five in the morning. My key didn't work when I got home, which was really frustrating but not entirely unexpected because it was made from some weak, light-weight metal and had been working less and less each day. I tried for a while, tried calling Jade, and eventually had to give up and ring the bell to be let in. I felt really bad for waking Jade and Paloma but didn't really have a choice, and Paloma gave me a new key Sunday.

Other than those two nights on the town, I basically spent the weekend relaxing in bed, which was really nice.

Sunday, Marissa and her friend/London roommate, Erica, came into Madrid. I met them at the airport and helped them find their way to Sol. Paloma then invited them over for dinner. We got some tapas and then ate dinner with Paloma and Jade.

Painting at the bar where we ate tapas. Barefoot girl with pistol.

Monday the three of us went to the Royal Palace, and then I had a Scuba class from 7-10pm. It was the second installment of the classroom work which started Thursday night. Tuesday we had another class 7-10pm, and took the final written test (which I passed, yay!).

Tuesday during the day we wanted to go to the Reina Sofia and the Prado. We grabbed a snack and ate it in the square outside the Reina Sofia. A woman came up to us and warned us that there were people around who wanted to steal our bags. She made me a little nervous, but we all checked our belongings and nothing was missing. It turns out that the Reina Sofia is closed on Tuesdays, so we went to the Prado and Retiro Park. Afterwards Erica went to meet a friend, and Marissa and I grabbed lunch and ate outside in the sun. It was so nice and warm.

I missed her! Plus this continues the saga of my inability to take a photo without someone getting in it.

Tuesday night, Marissa chilled in my room while I went to class. She and I were going to go out for a delicious Spanish dinner, but ended up getting Wok to Walk which is a noodle place which I had never been to, but she had liked in Amsterdam.

Marissa and I also planned our Scotland trip while she was here, and booked flights and a hostel.