Madrid: Take Two.

November 11-13

This past weekend we had a free weekend so a few of us decided to go to Madrid on a whim. We booked our bus tickets and hostel reservations Thursday afternoon and left on Friday at 3 p.m. It ended up being a really fun yet relaxing weekend. There were five of us girls that decided to go and we booked 5 spaces in a hostel near the center of Madrid. We had a 6 person room and there was no sixth person so we had the entire room to ourselves which was really nice. Also, it was probably the cleanest hostel I’ve ever stayed in so that was a nice treat as well. On Friday we got to Madrid around 5:30 and checked into our hostel and then roamed around the city for a while. We then went to the grocery store and bought several bottles of wine and just hung out drinking our wine. After that we decided to go out and went around the area where there are a bunch of bars. Olivia, Kelsey and me decided to go to El Kapital which is a seven store club in Madrid. It was unreal. On stages and balconies around the club there were people dancing in these neon costumes. There were so many rooms you could go in and a lot of the rooms had different themes and played different music. At the very top there was this swanky room with these bed-couches. We ended up meeting a group of French guys that were in Madrid for the weekend as well. They invited us to a barbecue they were having the next day. 

We spent Saturday roaming around as well. There is a market called “El Mercado de San Miguel” that sells many different types of food so we went there for lunch. I bought some croquetas and this Japanese chicken. I also bought some orange juice. So good. It was a very laid back day.

Later on we ended up meeting up with the French guys and went to their barbecue. It was great. They made us shrimp, chicken, taziki sauce and a few other things. They also had a giant block of cheese, baquetes, and wine. So very French. It was cook because the cookout was on the terrace of their apartment they had for the weekend and it was a great view of Madrid. It sounds sketchier than it was but it was actually a lot of fun.

After that we met up with my friend Antonio that lives in Madrid and his friend Nacho. We went to a club and hung out until it closed.

Sunday morning the five of us woke up and went to the ‘rostros.’ The rostros are an outdoor market that they hold every Sunday morning. It was so much bigger than the one in Salamanca. Apparently the Madrid rostros are known for having a ton of pickpockets so everyone kept telling us to be careful. I ended up buying a pair of really sassy sunglasses as well as a pair of earrings for one of my friends back home.

I met back up with Antonio after the rostros and we got lunch and walked around Madrid for a while. We went to this little bar for lunch and got a beer and this food that was kind of like calamari but not fried. It had garlic and some other spices and was so very delicious. After that Antonio and I walked to the river and he showed me this really pretty garden near the river. It was very good for my Spanish.

I love Madrid.

Museum Nacht

November 5, 2011

Today was our last full day in Amsterdam. We did everything that we had planned on doing during the trip so we took it really easy. My foot has been killing me so walking less was definitely a good idea especially since we went to Museum Nacht later at night. We spent an hour or so just sitting by one of the canals and then another chunk of time sitting in Dam Square people watching. I’m just as content sitting somewhere or just walking aimlessly around a city as I am actually doing real things. We found a flea market and walked around that for a while. I’m pretty sure you could find anything at all you needed there. Wind breakers, washers, belts, bikes, cheese. It was all there. If I had more room in my suitcase I would have definitely bought something fun.

Museum Nacht was perfect. We hung out at a café a bit to waste time before it started. We ended up visiting the Rembrandt House, the Botanical Gardens, the Planetarium, and an old church. Museum Nacht (Museum Night) is a night that they do once a year where you can pay 20 euros and are able to go to 45 different museums around the city. It runs from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.  There were so many people but it honestly wasn’t as crowded as I had anticipated. The event was entirely sold out but since there were 45 museums you could visit it wasn’t unbearable. Every one of the museums had special events as well as food in honor of the event. The Rembrandt house was where Rembrandt lived during his time in Amsterdam. You were able to see his bedroom, his room where he kept all of the items that he collected, as well as several other personal rooms of his. There weren’t too many paintings but it was still really neat. They had a Rembrandt impersonator roaming around the house that would come up and talk to you or begin to talk to a painting on the wall. I just wish I knew Dutch so I could know what he was saying although I got the jest that he was a little crazy in the head. I think that the Botanical Gardens may have been my favorite place that night. You were able to walk through a bunch of different green houses and it was just so peaceful and nice. They also had a live band playing outside. Apparently there was a palm reader but unfortunately we didn’t see her otherwise I would have done it. Next, at the planetarium we waited in line outside for almost an hour. We got a beer once we were let in however. At the planetarium they had you sit in the room with the dome where they do the shows. It was kind of strange though because instead of a planet or star based show they had this guy who did animations that danced along to music on the ceiling. It was entertaining but at the same time kind of lame. I kind of loved it though. The church wasn’t as fun as the other museums but was still fun to walk around. We got there before any of the special events had started so it would have probably been more entertaining if we had of gone later.

Museum Nacht

Sign in the Rembrandt House

My friend Antonio met Haley and I at the bus station in Madrid before we left to say bye. He gave us both bracelets. His friend Nacho (the Madrid police officer) gave him a pendant from his police hat to give to Haley. Having a friend in the Madrid police force is a win. Antonio gave me a figure of one of the monuments in Madrid that I couldn't remember the name of for the life of me. He told me not to open it until I got back to Salamanca (which I didn't--- I opened it on the bus). It was "La Puerta de Alcala" and he wrote a nice little note on the bottom of it. Finally made Spanish friends, it's about time.

I would say fall break was a success.

Van Gogh and I AM STERDAM

November 4, 2011

Haley and I decided to go to the Van Gogh museum today since we figured it would be way too crowded to wait until Saturday night when they have Museum Nacht. We got some delicious chocolate muffins at this coffee shop and then headed to the museum. I think it was one of my favorite museums I have visited so far. It was just really well organized and I liked that as you walked through it it told a story that progressed through Van Gogh’s life. I literally read every plaque in that museum and looked at every painting. I’m the worst person to go to a museum with. They were also playing really swanky music the whole time. On Friday nights the museum is open until 10 pm so we decided to go later around 7 as to avoid dealing with a crowd. It was perfect. Our initial intentions were to get there as soon as it opened but I honestly just couldn’t get out of bed that early. So we ate breakfast at our hostel and then went for a walk around the city during the day. We found the I AM STERDAM letters and took a picture with them. And then sat some more. We found a grocery store and got lunch there. Bread, cheese, olive spread, and beer. This has been my lunch every day in Amsterdam so far. We ate lunch in one of the main squares (Dam Square) while listening and watching the street performers. I heard a beautiful Dutch rendition of ‘Hey there Delilah’ as well as several Bob Marley songs. It was great.

Bread, Cheese, Olives, and Beer. Best. Lunch. Ever.

Anne Frank House and Pidgeons

November 3, 2011

We went to the Anne Frank House today. It is a canal house where the Frank family went into hiding for about two years. It’s been turned into a museum now but you are able to walk through the rooms of the secret annex. You see the bookcase that was used as a secret door to get into the back bedrooms. You walk through all of the bedrooms including that which belonged to Anne Frank. There are still newspaper and magazine pictures hanging on the walls (covered by protective glass) from where Anne Frank had glued photos to decorate the walls. At the end of the tour you are able to see the actual diary which is in a glass case. Of course it had been replaced by a replica for restoration purposes when we visited. Typical. However, it was a great experience to be able to see the house and read all of the plaques about the Anne Frank house and the liberation of Germany. There were quotes from the diary all around the house as well. I’ve read the diary before in eight grade but It kind of made me want to reread it. I actually own ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ in Spanish so that could be a project in itself.

Also, today we were sitting in Dam Square eating lunch and there was a cluster of about one million pidgeons. They were letting people feed them so I decided to go over. I got in the middle of them and this little old man grabbed my hand and put rice in it. Then all the birds came. It was great.

Me and all those pidgeons

First day in Amsterdam

November 2, 2011

Today was our first day in Amsterdam. Haley and I woke up fairly early and ate breakfast at our hostel. The room we are staying in has 15 girls and thankfully I don’t have to sleep next to an old man in his whitie tighties this go around. We walked around the city for hours today and went to a café as well. It was nice to just take a day to see the city and relax. We didn’t make a single plan. My lunch consisted of French fries and chocolate. The best.  Amsterdam is such a pretty city. There are so many canals and the weather is similar to home since it’s so humid. I actually love the humidity though because it’s easier to breath and my skin doesn’t feel so dry all the time. It’s a pretty quiet city as well. Everyone is so tall and speaks English. So, it’s pretty much the opposite of Spain. It feels weird to talk to strangers in English, since for the past two months that hasn’t been the case.  Tomorrow we are visiting the Anne Frank house. 

Arrival to Amsterdam

November 1, 2011

                Since we had to be out of our hostel at 11 am we had a few hours to spend in Madrid before our plane took off. We went to the bakery that the old man we meant the day before showed us and I got a chocolate napoleon and it might have been the best thing I’ve ever eaten in my entire life.  We just sat in one of the plazas and people watched for a while- before going to the metro. I hate traveling with such a heavy and awkward bag. It made me so frazzled. Since we didn’t want to pay 40 euro to check a bag we both only brought a carry on. It sucked to carry around. Oh well. I honestly don’t even remember the plane ride. I pretty much sat on the plane and blacked out. At one point I woke up after I thought we had been flying for 45 minutes and we hadn’t even taken off yet. When we arrived at the Amsterdam airport we caught a cab to take us to hour hostel. Well, the cab got lost and took us to Harleem (a town on the outskirts of Amsterdam).  The cab driver just kept saying ‘oh my god’ and ‘the crazy system. The system is crazy’ over and over again. It was about an hour and 50 euro cab ride when it was all said and done.  This was obviously a fail so we decided to take a walk around Amsterdam after checking in since it was only 9 pm. Well, we got dinner at this pizza place and then continued walking. We got a little lost and ended up in the red light district. It was an experience. Thankfully we recognized the three story Chinese restaurant (not an exaggeration) that was one of the landmarks near our hostel and found our way home. At that point we figured we should just call it a night and start early the next day, which we did. 

Halloween in Madrid and a New Old Man Friend

October 31, 2011

We spent the day exploring Madrid and just kind of wandered.  It was really relaxing. Everyone was dressed in Halloween costumes. People in Spain don’t understand Halloween. To them, they dress up and walk around all day in a costume. Also, the costumes are so different in Spain. They only have scary costumes. I don’t know how many zombie brides I saw. They do such a good job at the dead makeup thing but none of the costumes are original or creative. Everyone is just a dead _____. Antonio and Nacho thought it was funny when we were telling them all of the costumes we had done: Amy Winehouse, Swine Flu, Taylor Swift and Kanye. 

In desperate need of a coffee we went to the Starbucks and sat down in one of the plazas (Puerta del Sol). We were sitting there talking for a while and this old man sitting next to me on the fountain turned to us and started talking to us. He told us that he always loves a chance to practice his English. He also told us that he has studied 8 different languages. I feel like that really only happens in Europe. We ended up speaking to him in mostly Spanish and we talked to him for about an hour before he invited us to have a pastry with him. He took us to this bakery which he said is the most famous one in Madrid. He bought Haley and I Napolitanos. He then showed us a few statues near the plaza where we were at. I’m pretty sure that if you sit in any plaza in Spain for long enough, there will be some old man that will come over and talk to you at some point.  At least this has been my experience so far in Spain. 

Apparently Jordan translates to Joelly in Spanish?

Also, this was the first time I had ever stayed in a hostel. $15 dollars a night is hard to beat. We stayed in a room with 19 people and it was quit muggy in there. I can't really complain though. It was an experience and I got to sleep in a bed next to the sexiest man alive. (see picture below).

mmmmmm.

Madrid

October 30, 2011

On Sunday after we were let free for our break I met up with a boy I had met in Salamanca awhile back that lives in Madrid. His name is Antonio and he lives there but has friends in Salamanca. I met up with him in La Puerta del Sol and he pretty much showed me the entire city of Madrid. We walked around for about 4 hours. It was pretty awesome that I go to practice my Spanish for that long. He studies English so he also tried to speak to me in English sometimes for the practice.  It was probably the first time ever that I actually felt that my Spanish has improved since being here. One of the first things he said to me was how much my Spanish had improved since he first met me. Win.  I was able to have real conversations with Antonio and I felt awesome. I never thought that I would ever be able to hold a conversation about scientology in Spanish. He showed me all of the key sights like the cathedral, palace, parks, and plazas. We also went to this market outside of La Plaza Mayor and I ran into one of the teacher from the elementary school. It felt weird to run into someone I knew in a foreign country. When walking through the Plaza Mayor there was a ham festival going on. I feel like that only happens in Spain.  We got some tapas and then he helped me find my way back to the hostel because Jesus knows that my sense of direction is not on point.  

Later that night Haley and I met back up with Antonio and his friend Nacho. Yes, his name was nacho. They took us to one of the bars that they like to go to. It was really neat because it definitely wasn’t a tourist bar. It was decorated in Middle Eastern decorations. Oh, and Nacho is a police officer. A Spanish police officer paid for all of our drinks that night. I’d say that’s a win.

Madrid

I would say that that night was probably one of the best nights I’ve had in Spain so far. We stayed at that one bar for the entire night and didn’t get back until almost 6 am. We only had three drinks that night but it was soooooo fun. Antonio and Nacho were so much fun to hang out with and we didn’t even have to be decisive because they knew of all the places to go. AND we had locals to walk us home which meant that we didn’t even have to break out the map. A song from Grease came on at the bar we were at and Antonio and Nacho knew the majority of the words and even the dance. What a surreal experience. 

Madrid: El Escorial, El Prado, Hair, La Reina Sophia

October 29, 2011

We left for Madrid Saturday morning bright and early. On the way to Madrid we stopped at El Escorial. El Escorial is another palace/monastery in Spain that was built for King Felipe II. It is where a large portion of the kings and queens are buried. There is also a library, monastery, basilica, and infirmary inside of it.

El Escorial

Next, we made our way to our hotel which I’m pretty sure was in the sketchiest part of Madrid. Oh, well. It was just irritating that it was too far to walk to the main city center. After checking in we got back on the bus and made our way to the Prado. I really enjoyed seeing the Prado although I wish we could have had more time to spend there. The one downside to the excursions to museums with the group is that you have to go at the group pace and you don’t necessarily get to see everything. Jesus takes us to the main artworks and explains them to us but we often skip the others in between. I literally read every plaque and look at every painting when I go to museums so I guess I’m a little crazy. One of the best parts of the Prado was when Jesus got in a fight with a French tourist in the museum. He was in the middle of explaining a series of paintings by El Greco when this man and woman start backing into him and intruding on our group. He turns to the man and tells him that he is ‘mal educado’ (poorly educated) and that ‘I can speak French when I want to.’ They go back and forth for a solid minute and Jesus just responds to every sassy remark this French man says to him with, ‘you are poorly educated.’ I thought I was going to lose it. Every one of our tours we wear headsets and Jesus has a microphone so we can hear him better. Thus, this entire confrontation took place on the headsets as well. So good.We saw several famous artworks by Goya such as ‘The Third of May.’ I got to see "Las Meninas" by Velazquez as well.

Later that night after dinner we saw the musical ‘Hair’ in Spanish. I really enjoyed it. It was kind of strange to see an American musical based on events and culture from America in Spain though.

The next day we went to ‘El Palacio Real’ (Royal Palace). It is the official residence of the king of Spain but is really only used for state ceremonies. We toured the inside of the building as well as the grounds outside. There was an entire room of armor from all of the previous kings.

El Palacio Real

We then made our way to the Reina Sophia which is another art museum in Madrid. It was a really short museum visit and I wish we could have spent more time there. I did get to see ‘Guernica’ by Picasso though which was awesome. It was such a massive painting. 

After La Reina Sophia we were set free for break. An entire week freeeeeeee!

Halloween with the ninos.

October 28, 2011

In my art class with the first graders my teacher told me that the year before the students from JMU brought a jack o’ lantern in to show the kids how we celebrate Halloween in the United States. So, I kind of got pressured into doing the same. At first it was kind of a hassle but in the end I was really glad that I took the time to do it. In Spain Halloween is starting to become a holiday that people celebrate but is kind of sacrilegious because there is also a holiday celebrating a certain saint on the same day.

Megan volunteered to help me carve the pumpkin and go to the school so after class on Friday we went on a mission to find a pumpkin. At first it was kind of a fail because we had a hard time finding an actual pumpkin. We ended up finding a small one at one of the stores and then we went to the china-man store to buy a candle and knife. I ended up finding a fake candle that you could turn on and off which ended up working out better anyways since I didn’t have to deal with real fire around rowdy children. AND, the kids were probably just as excited about the fake candle as they were the actual pumpkin.

Anyways, in all of the classes we visited with the pumpkin the kids were so excited. They kept asking to touch and smell it and couldn’t comprehend how we had done it. It was pretty neat how excited they got when we were there though. They had so many questions… mostly if the pumpkin was real or if they could touch it. It ended up being more fun and less stressful than I anticipated.