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Published: March 28th 2011
It has been raining at least half of every week for the past three or four weeks. I am so ready for warm weather and sunshine I can't stand it. Last weekend we had a few days of sunshine and 60 degrees weather and I shocked all the little old ladies in my neighborhood by wearing shorts and sandals. I love seeing all the looks I get for showing off my in-need-of-a-tan legs. Apparently in Madrid, no one wears shorts until it gets much warmer. They all roam around in their winter coats and scarves. I personally don't see how they stand it on the metro and buses. It gets so hot and there is no AC. But hopefully it will get warm soon cause I am ready for summer clothes!
I didn't think St. Patrick's day would be a big thing in Spain but I was very wrong. There were parties all over Madrid with people from every nationality donning green and looking for a pot of gold (or at least an irish pub so they could celebrate). Lidia and I were planning on going to a pub with a group from our school but we realized two days
before St. Patty's day that neither one of us had any green. We figured we could just find a cheap green shirt at any store and we would be set. Well after about ten different stores had little or no green we were close to giving up hope. In the end, Lidia found a shirt that was pretty shade of emerald and I found a green leopard print tank (not exactly my style but it worked). We were hanging out with one group of friends from school and went to a pub called La Fontana (the fountain) but it was so packed. The group joined a pub crawl but Lidia and I did not want to pay 10 euros because we were supposed to meet other friends at a pub where we wouldn't have to pay to get in. We did not know the address or the name of the pub and after calling most of the contacts in our phone and walking all over the center of Madrid without any success, we finally headed back home on the last metro. Even though it was not the night we were planning on it was still fun to see all of
the green outfits (trust me there were some crazy ones) and hang out with our friends.
On Friday night we met up with a group of girls from our school, two from Poland and two from Slovakia, and went to see the temple de Debod. It was really pretty to see it lit up at night. Also, there was a great overview of the city lights. I got pictures of the temple but as for the view my pictures were just small blips of light with a completely black background. We plan to go back during the day so we can take pictures. We also saw the Don Quixote and Sancho Panza statue.
On Saturday night, Lidia and I got to see one of our friends who goes to UFV in Madrid but is an international student at Oglethorpe, Carmen. She came back to Spain for spring break and we met up with her, some of her friends from school and her sister. We got tapas in Majadahonda (a suburb of Madrid) and went to a bar to play pool. We got to practice our spanish and Carmen and her friends practiced their English. It was so great
Me by a fountain close to our apartment
One of the days I wore shorts and shocked our neighborhoodto see her since I hadn't seen her since Decemeber!
The next week, on Wednesday, we met up with an American girl, Sarah, from our school at 100 Montaditos (little sandwiches). Every Wednesday they have a special where all of the drinks and the 100 different sandwiches are only 1 euro (so about $1.50). There are about 15 different locations in Madrid, and more in other countries in Europe. They have even spread to the US with one lone 100 Montaditos in Miami. We went to one in Sol (center of Madrid) the week before and it was really crowded so this time we went to one close to Sarah's apartment. It was just as crowded but we finally managed to get a seat. I am going to try as many of the 100 sandwiches as possible. I am going to try and get a menu so I can mark off the ones I have tried.
Last Thursday (the 24th) Lidia and I met up with our friend Susie and went to a dance club called Commo. It was really early when we got there so there were not a lot of people inside but the music was
pretty good. On Thursdays at this club, it is erasmus night and they hand out stickers that are either green, yellow or red. You take a green if you are single, yellow if you might be single or might not be, and red if you are taken. The DJ played the usual house music but threw in some oldies like Wannabe (Spice Girls) and Mambo #5. It was really fun!
On Friday night we went to the Polish girls' apartment and met some of their friends who were visiting from Poland. We then went to a nightclub called Joy. It was fun for a little while but the music was not very good. Lidia, our friend, Serena, and I decided to go to a famous chocolateria called San Gines. It is open 24 hours a day and is right behind the club. We got churros con chocolate. It was ok but definitely not the best we have tried since we have been here. We finally took the night buses home for the first time and thankfully we didn't get lost.
On Saturday night, we met up with Susie at McDonald's and got ice cream and played cards for
almost two hours. Then we met up with some friends we had met the Thursday before at Commo. We were trying to figure out where to go when it started pouring down rain. We ended up just going back to Commo because it was the closest. By the time we got inside we were all pretty soaked. We didn't know as much as the music the DJ played because it was spanish music and there was an older crowd there but it was still fun.
On Sunday we went to the Prado Museum. We went with Susie, and two other Polish friends. I went three years ago when I first came to Spain, but it was everyone else's first time. We went during the free entrance time but in order to see the main exhibit, Chardin, you had to pay. We saw works by Goya, Velazquez, El Greco, Rembrandt, and Raphael. There were obviously a lot more works by other painters and sculptors but those were the one I knew. One of my favorite paintings was Las Meninas (Maids of Honor) by Diego Velazquez. I loved art museums because you can see different people's interpretations of historical events and
people. Also, it is amazing to me to see the intricacy and the dedication that went into the pictures.
The first two weeks of April are going to be really busy with school so my blog will not have a lot of pictures/adventures as it should. I have three presentations, a paper and a midterm all within these two weeks so I will be studying/researching a lot. I will make up for it with spring break pictures. I still don't know what I am doing but I will make sure to get awesome pictures whatever it is.
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