madrid

 Things people do for money on this continent...

 Geographical center of Madrid 

 The oldest restaurant in the world

 Where the nuns hand you your cookies

I can’t believe two weeks ago today I was in Madrid. Time seriously flies. I’m glad I wrote all of this in a journal or else who knows what I’d accurately remember. Adventures are as follows…

March 18

We took an early morning train to Madrid from Barcelona. The scenery was beautiful: I saw coastlines, mountains and rivers. This was the nicest train I’ve been on in my life with features such being high-speed, smooth, having comfortable chairs, complimentary headphones…the whole shebang. The moment we arrived in Madrid, I immediately used my Spanish to ask how to get to the Metro. Once we figured it out and got off at the Sol stop, we quickly found our hostel and were pleasantly surprised by now nice it was. Marissa and I immediately dropped our bags and headed out for exploration, starting at Gran Via, Madrid’s big, touristy street. As we were walking between the tall, building-lined street, all we could think about was food.

Marissa and I took a chance and went to a random, small outdoor café. I got Sangria and our waiter brought us complimentary meat on bread slices and green olives. An update on my taste bud maturity: I officially like green olives! I’ve been waiting years for this. Next came the meal: French fries topped with one-two broken eggs (sunny side up), and topped with Iberian ham. It was so, so good. For dessert we chose fresh Mango sorbet with actual mango chunks in it. This meal was probably one of the best I’ve had in Europe and I don’t know if it’s because I was in beautiful Madrid, because I was basking in the warm sun, because I was starving or because it was actually very delicious. Probably some cross in between. After our nearly two-hour lunch, we did a little grocery shopping for small things like eggs, salmon and salad to make in the hostel. A hot shower and bed completed the day perfectly.

March 19

This day we woke up slowly. The beds were pretty uncomfortable in this hostel and I was freezing the night before, but you can’t get much better than what we had for 8 Euro a night. Around 2 pm, Marissa and I went to find Plaza Mayor for a free walking tour of Madrid. We managed to get there without a problem and then the tour was broken into subgroups of Spanish and English. We went with English obviously and were the only Americans in our group. Europe has shows and events like “American Idol” but not American, and when I would ask what these things were specifically, the whole group would look at me funny. They understood my confusion once they realized I was American and were very friendly in explaining things. I never realized how isolated the United States is from basically everything else in the world until I moved here. The next thing he showed us was meat and candy shops throughout the city that had been in existence for over 100 years. Any shop with a plaque at the foot of the door means that it has been existence for more than that amount of time, which I found impressive and interesting! One of these candy shops was a Royal Bakery—the only Royal business still around. We got to see the oldest restaurant in the entire world where Spanish artist Goya used to do dishes and Hemmingway would “get smashed” as our tour guide explained. After, we saw a monastery where nuns bake you cookies! It’s kind of like the secret bakery in Florence in the sense that it’s totally underground, but those treats are the best kind. We tried to get cookies from the monastery, but it happened to be closed that day and couldn’t. I got a picture and know where it’s at for next time! We saw the geographical center of the city, Palace Real and the statue that Galileo helped engineer to make hollow and stand. It was a great tour, and even in the cold, pouring rain that we experienced most of the day, I was so happy to be there. Madrid is beautiful.

After the tour, Marissa and I went to La Mayor Cerveceria, a bar pointed out on the tour. It had over 80 kinds of craft beer, but we just got some tapas. I got three: a slice of bread with a cream cheese spread and thick pepperoni slices stuck in it; a slice of bread with a tuna salad topped on it; and a pickle sliced down the middle, stuffed with an anchovy and sweet pepper. The man who owned the place didn’t speak a lick of English, which was ditto with most of Madrid. Florence and Barcelona are very touristy, and thus, have a lot of English-speakers working the shops and restaurants. Madrid had almost none of that which forced me to practice my Spanish.

Post tapas round one, we headed home and got ready for more tapas with the hostel group! Friends I made that night include a couple from Mexico that spoke only Spanish, Nicole from Australia, Cyrus from Harlem, NY, and Bill from Boston (but born in Atlanta). We all enjoyed getting to know each other and hearing each other’s stories—most everyone was traveling alone. They were looking for adventure, new people, a break from school, whatever. We had bread, mushroom and garlic tapas, calamari, and potatoes smothered in hot sauce. Between the lot of us it was 7 euro each…not too bad! To finish the night and welcome the next morning, we went to a discoteca for dancing and got churros.

March 20

I woke up surviving off 4 hours of sleep because I figured I could sleep on the plane later that day. Nicole, Marissa and I went to a bakery and then to the big park in Madrid. It’s so fun hanging out with an Austrailian! It’s interesting to hear the differences just in speech itself. They call Mcdonald’s “Mackers”. I cut her off mid-sentence to ask what that was, and she started cracking up because “it sounded weird with my accent”. It’s funny how I think she has an accent, but she thinks I have one. The park was beautiful, but we couldn’t stay as long as I would have liked because the trains were supposedly on strike, which means it could have taken any amount of time to actually get back to the airport. We left at 2 pm for a 6 pm flight. Adios Espana! 

alessandro & mallory

 Photography on Thursday was a long day. Class was from 9-2 pm, and then I assisted my professor with a male model photo shoot from 3-6 pm. He dubbed me "the stylist".  Aside from the model, a different Alessandro (Gaggio) was there--he creates his own masks and is brilliant when it comes to putting things together for models. I wish I got to ACTUALLY shoot this model...he wore things that were far superior to this particular tshirt-and-jeans combo. But alas I was there to assist, not to shoot. I shot Mallory during class and we have an out of class photo shoot coming up together, too. More to come in the next few weeks! 

Cooking was fun on Wednesday, I made gnocchi and loved it. Ricotta, potato and flour-based dumplings with mushroom truffle and pea sauce...mmm. Thursday night we all celebrated getting through the first week back from spring break (we take any excuse to celebrate these days), and went out to an international beer tasting event. I'm not a beer fan but I can at least tell you which ones are "bearable" and which ones I'll never go near again. Last night, Marissa and I went to a pizzaria across the street from our apartment and then watched a really great movie "La Vita e Bella" & painted our nails.

I'm excited for Easter & Easter Monday in Florence & Venice!

Ciao ciao.

barcelona

la Sagrada Familia

Hey there, Starbucks. It's been over two months since I've seen you.

La Rambla

Casa Batllo

Sangria & Paella 

Until next time... 

Spring Break was the most exciting adventure I’ve embarked on in my entire life. It was a little taste of backpacking—Marissa and I took a train to Pisa, a plane to Barcelona, a train to Madrid, a plane to Lisbon, a plane to Milan, and a train back to Florence. My only wish is that we could have spent more time in every city…I needed two (or more) weeks instead of just one. But I knew I was going to feel that way from the start, it was inevitable.

Stop #1…Barcelona!

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Friday March 15

We started the day at 3:30 am to wake up and catch our train. Not TOO shockingly, we didn’t give ourselves enough time and ended up leaving the house at 4:22 (I’m being precise because our train was leaving Santa Maria Novella at 4:30 am sharp). We literally ran to the taxi station, borderline shouted our situation at some man because we were so panicked, and, lucky for us, the guy was pretty understanding. He chucked our things in the trunk and sped to the station. Italians’ driving always scares me, but if you tell them you’re in a dire rush, things only get scarier. He honked for what had to be five consecutive seconds at a poor elderly pedestrian in the road, whipped corners, ran a red light and then threw our stuff back out at us faster than he put it in car. Marissa and I got into the station and experienced our usual trouble pressing the buttons to order our train ticket, and then sprinted towards the first train, which also conveniently happened to be the furthest away. Oh dio. We ran onto the train and within seconds the doors slammed behind us—the drunken 4:30 am crowd cheered and clapped for us after we boarded since they saw us running and flailing our suitcases getting there. It was way too early for that kind of excitement, but we made it. And whether we made it by 20 minutes or two seconds…we made it.

More travel anxiety was ahead: I had to pack everything I owned into one suitcase. The same girl that fills the ENTIRE trunk full of bags for a weekend home from college was being forced to pack a full vacation into one bag. My only carry-on sized luggage is a red suitcase with wheels, but the thing about these economic European flights is that they are so unbelievably strict with the size of the bags. At home, Delta has their little box that you ideally put your suitcase inside of to make sure it’s the proper size. But nobody checks at home, and then on top of that you can have a purse or briefcase that may as well be the same size as a small suitcase since the attendants don’t actually care. In Europe, if it doesn’t fit in the box, it gets checked. And EVERYTHING but your coat must be in the suitcase. So anyways, I got there and miraculously it perfectly fit in the box and was 8.1/10 possible kilograms. I took a puff of my inhaler, a deep breath and slept like a baby at the gate.

Once we finally made it to Barcelona, we took a bus into the city center and met our friends from FUA in Florence to check into the hostel and grab lunch. We saw la Sagrada Familia which is undoubtedly one of the most amazing pieces of architecture I’ve ever laid eyes on. That was the most remarkable part of Barcelona, actually—the architecture. We went inside the church and admired the high ceilings, stained glass, and then Stephanie and I climbed the church’s towers. Words can’t describe the panoramic view of the city and the Mediterranean. And unfortunately pictures can’t do it justice.

After gawking at the beauty of la Sagrada Familia, we did a little window shopping (okay…I bought a shirt), and got lost. I’m convinced that getting lost is the only way to really see a city. I got to use my Spanish a little and ask how to get home, even though they speak Catalan which is extremely different. The day was warm, there were palm trees surrounding me in every direction and I distinctly remember being so happy that I was actually in the country I’d studied in school for so many years. To top off the first day of vacation, I found a Mexican cantina for dinner and got guacamole…it was so delicious. Two months without guacamole is two too many.

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Saturday March 16

This was a strange day. I woke up to the news that a dear friend from my old Taco Mac job died of a heart attack in his home. I hadn’t talked to him since I left, but he was one of those friends you could go months without talking to, then once you did again, it was as if no time had passed at all. He was one of those rare inspirational people. Steve convinced me to buy my plane ticket to New York for the first time…he always told me that I should just do what I wanted to do because you never knew what tomorrow would bring. The world lost a genuinely wonderful person and his death is a loss to all who knew him. RIP friend.

We trekked to our favorite muffin shop that morning and I realized my feet hurt worse than they ever had before from the amount of walking we’d already done. I only brought my combat boots for the week (disclaimer: I highly recommend NOT doing that. If you’re planning on doing a trip similar to this, swallow your pride and bring your tennis shoes. You will ruin your Steve Maddens and they will ruin you). We walked the street La Rambla and went to the open market where I bought some fresh fruit for lunch. I took it to Playa de la Barceloneta to eat on the shore. The beach there is beautiful and lively—it would have been nice if I didn’t have to wear my winter jacket, but the water was crystal-clear and a deeper blue than I’d ever seen. No complaints. I also found that I really love dragon fruit, so I’ll be interested to see if that’s available back home. My friends and I took a ten-minute rest at the hostel, and then ventured to find Casa Batllo. Gaudi’s architecture is so breathtaking! We continued on to his other creations in Parc Guell and got there with just enough to take some photos before nightfall. I got accidentally separated from the group and panicked a little at first because I wasn’t sure how I was going to get home without their map, but once I got to the lookout point, all of my anxiety disappeared. I breathed the air and took in the panoramic view of beautiful Barcelona, admiring how big it was and how lucky I was to be there. I was sitting on a rock watching the blue sky turn to black, and thinking about how a year ago, I could have never imagined myself being in Spain. I had no idea when I was going to study abroad or where I wanted to go. But I made it there. I was sitting at the top of Parc Guell in Barcelona feeling the most free I’ve ever felt in my entire life. It was such a big milestone and accomplishment in my journey of gaining full independence.

After my few moments of perfect solitude passed, I found my friends waiting for me at the bottom of the climb. None of us had ever been that hungry in our lives, so we stopped at a convenience store for a snack before our Paella dinner. I found my beloved Cheetos at that store!! Oh, Cheetos, I’ve missed you so. My biggest cravings since I left home have been breakfast, BBQ, Mexican food and Cheetos. I inhaled ¾ of the bag on the spot and we made our way back to the hostel, and eventually, to dinner.

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Sunday March 17

I spent some more time at the beach, and then the group met up for dinner across the street from our hostel. I got a meat-filled noodle topped with cream sauce. It was delicious, but at the end I found a hair that almost made me lose my appetite. I ended up getting that plate free (you know you’re a poor college student when you’re excited to find a hair and get a free dish). I didn’t COMPLETELY lose my appetite since we all split Spain’s specialty of churros and melted chocolate for dessert. Stephanie and I went out exploring that night and found our way back to the hostel in the rain without getting lost—we finally figured out the city just as it was time to pack up and leave. It was a lot of fun to get out for the night and completely worth the 3 hours of sleep I got before our morning train ride.