Adventuras en Madrid.

These past few days I have been traveling to various cities in Spain; some on my own accord while others were part of the program I am in. I will start with Madrid. I left by bus at 3:30 in the afternoon with Rachel and Katherine. We had a longer bus ride since we took the cheaper route and didn't buy the express tickets. We were in no rush so it wasn't a big deal. We got to Madrid and walked to the hostel we were staying at so we could put our stuff away before we headed out for the night. As we were walking we were getting a little wary of what our time in Madrid would be like. The street we were walking on had a lot of empty lots and the buildings were not really nice but eventually we turned into a super cute area that reminded Rachel and me of Lincoln Park area in Chitown.

After a long walk we ended up at our Hostel. I was nervous because I had never stayed at a hostel before but I was glad to get the experience before I headed off to Rome and Paris. The guy at the counter was a bit odd but when we got to our room we felt better. It wasn't exciting our anything. We had a dorm room with 8 beds in it. There were three other girls that were just arriving. They were studying in Barcelona and visiting Madrid for the week also. It was nice to know we didn't have crazy weird roomies. We quickly unpacked then headed out to the Puerta del Sol to meet a friend of Rachel's that was interning in Madrid.

On our walk over we got to see many beautiful buildings. We were all so ecstatic and happy that everything was working out. Each building was so well thought out and beautiful. I couldn't stop taking pictures and staring. We met up with her friend Ashley. I was happy to have a tour guide so I didn't have to worry about directions for a little while at least. Ashley lives right at the heart of Madrid. I was super jealous! She took us to the Palace and then we walked around a bit before heading to dinner. We ate at...oh man I don't remember the name...but anyway it had these mini sandwiches for 1 euro and good tinto de verano. It was like the Mia Za's of Spain. After our scrumptious dinner we stopped by to take a look at Ashley's apartment. It had the sweetest elevator. It was one of this old ones that has two doors. It reminded me of the Nancy Drew computer games and also of the Lizze Mcguire movie...yes I went there. After our fun elevator ride we headed to meet up for a bar crawl of all the popular Spanish bars. The first stop we got some tapas then we went to a few other places. It was fun because we met some other international students, spaniards, and some people from Michigan. It was also cool to see the different kinds of bars and night clubs in Madrid.

The last stop was a discotecha...or night club...called Moondance. It was so cool! Never like anything I had seen before. It was so much fun. We danced for at least three hours. After that we went to get some crepes then we sat and ate them in front of the Palace. It was so surreal. In moments like that I just feel like my life is not real. How could something this amazing people real! After our food we took the long trek back to our hostel. It was about 5 in the morning but the streets were still so busy. It was crazy!

We collapsed on our beds at the hostel and woke up the next morning at 9:30. We had complimentary breakfast of muffins and coffee then headed off to explore some more of Madrid. We had reserved tickets for the Prado at 11:30 so we wanted to stay on that side of Madrid. Right next to the Prado is a huge park. We wandered around that neighborhood and the park. The park reminded me of Central Park but a little smaller. It was so beautiful and it was nice to be around fresh air and nature for once since Salamanca does not have much greenery. At one point there was live music it was so beautiful, like from a dream!

We then headed to the Prado. I was really excited to see some of the paintings we were talking about in class. I really like Valezquez and was pumped to see his paintings. I loved the whole museum. We took almost three hours to get through the entire thing because we all loved it so much. One of my favorites was of these soldiers that were being prepared for execution. I don't remember the name or artist. I could look it up but I am too lazy now. It was so amazing how accurate all their facial expressions were and how much of a story they told. Also my favorite is La fauna de Volcano by Valezquez. It is about how this guy finds out Venus has cheated on him. I also just really like the facial expressions in it.

After the Prado I made some friends with the birds outside by giving some of them my muffin. haha anyway we went the puerta de sol to stand at the center mark of Spain. I thought that was pretty cool that it was in the center of all of Spain. We then went to a place to get churros so Katherine could satisfy her sweet tooth. For lunch we decided to get some chips and guac and fruit since we dearly missed these foods. We took our food to a location closer to the bus station and the Reina Sofia so we wouldn't have to walk so far after lunch.

At this point we were all extremely sore from all the standing and walking and dancing we had been doing. But all of us were not big complainers so we were enjoying ourselves. We all knew we wanted to see the city and if our sore feet were the price we would have to pay. So be it. As we were sitting there eating lunch I was thinking about how crazy it was that I had known them for less than two weeks yet here I was sitting in a foreign city traveling with them. It takes a lot of trust to travel with someone completely new. Before we left it never even had crossed my mind to think about who I was traveling with because I feel like I have known Katherine and Rachel forever. We all laughed about how crazy it was. I guess when you are in these types of situations you get to know people really well, quickly.

After lunch we dragged ourselves over to the Reina Sofia, which was FREE! yay!, to see some Picasso. I don't like that style of painting very much but it was still cool. We treked to the bus station after that. It felt like it was taking forever because it was so hot and we were all so sore but we made it. It felt like heaven sitting down for four hours on a bus. On the way back we dozed a little and Rachel and I talked. When we got back we parted ways. It was kind of sad to say good night cause I had just spent so much time with them. I seriously love these girls. They are so great and I find I have so much in common with them but we still find new things to talk about and we all bring different perspectives to the conversation. I couldn't have asked for two better companions to go with from this trip! All of us were on the same page and were able to go with the flow. It was such a great time and it was much needed to help shake up my time here from the routine I was getting into in Salamanca.

I love Madrid and want to go back as soon as possible. <3