Madrid and My Best Friend

---

So, Madrid turned out to be a lot better than I had even hoped for. First all, after 18 days away from Kelly, it was great to see her in her element and see her life in Madrid. Let’s see, Nora and Vicky went early on Friday morning and Mandy, Jose, and I followed after our seminar class. Kelly picked the three of us up from the airport and helped us to navigate our way to the hostel. It was so great to have her with us…it saved me from stressing out, freaking out, and just general worry. Eventually we found Cat’s Hostel, which was awesome. It was a really cool place: very young and hip. We were in a 12 person room. It had 6 sets of bunk beds and each person got a locker to put their bags in. There was also a cute little courtyard and fountain! Definitely a great deal! Anyways, we freshened up a bit and left with Nora, Vicky, and Cristin (Vicky’s friend from SMC, who joined us from Rome) to meet up with some of the SMC kids studying in Madrid. It took us about an hour to finally find them and actually connect. When we finally did, Vicky, Cristin, and I just wanted to sleep so we went back to the hostel and Mandy, Nora, and Jose went out with them.

Saturday morning I woke up, showered, and Kelly met me at the hostel. She took me to a café for breakfast and then we did a bit of shopping as we wandered for a while. Then we hopped on the train and went to this little town called Aranjuez, about 45 minutes from the center of Madrid. It was such a cute little, sleepy town, especially because it was siesta when we got there. So, we wandered around and then found the palace. We thought about going in, but decided on lunch instead. We enjoyed a lovely lunch and then went back to the palace. Again, we considered going in but decided we didn’t really want to pay for it. So, we ended up talking as we walked around the beautiful gardens. Oh! I also got to play in leaves. 😊 That was fun…we took pictures, don’t worry. After Aranjuez, we went back to Madrid and did some homework in the hostel. Then, before I knew it, were getting ready to go out to a club in Madrid. Kelly opted out of going out in favor of homework so that she could play on Sunday, which I was thankful for.

Going out in Madrid was LOTS of fun, once we actually got somewhere other than Sol. Enrique took us to this place called the Dubliner so we could get some cheaper drinks and dance a bit. I, of course, order Guinness because I love it and I was in a place called the Dubliner…duh. Anyways, the Dubliner got a little boring after a while, so we left. Nora, Jose, Victor (guy from UCSC that is friends with our friends from SMC in Madrid), and I all went to this dance club til Joy. It was a lot of fun, considering we didn’t leave until 5am. Then, since the metro was closed, we had to figure out how to walk back to the hostel. WE asked so many people and eventually made our back and literally passed out.

Sunday morning we woke up and rushed to get ready so we could make it to the Prado while it was free. Kelly took Nora, Jose, Mandy, and I so we wouldn’t get lost and once instead, Kelly gave me a tour of her favorite things. After the museum she took me to her apartment and her lovely Señora made us a delicious (free) Spanish lunch. I have no idea what I was eating, but it was tasty! Then we sat in her room for about two hours and just talked. I loved just being with my best friend. It was perfect. Around 6pm, Kelly walked me to the metro station and let me take the metro by myself to get back to the hostel. We had plans to meet at Sol at 9pm for dinner, so until then we were going to try to get some work done. When 9pm rolled around, I ventured out on the metro and made it to Sol to meet Kelly. We then walked to Plaza Mayor and went tapas hopping. OMG. We had the best paella and sangria. It was absolutely divine. We went to another tapas bar and just order sangria and then we each bought a jarra (jug), which is what the restaurants and bars serve sangria in. So, now we have matching, authentic sangria jarras! Yay. The night was lots of fun and we ended early since Kelly had homework and I was tired. I was back in bed at the hostel by 11:45pm, and it was great.

Monday morning I woke up and got ready to meet Kelly. She met me at the hostel and we went shopping and toured more of Madrid. We walked down Gran Via and I got to see Ritiro Park, which was beautiful. I’m glad I got to see more of Madrid and hang out with Kelly for the 4th day in a row! I had to be back at the hostel at 2pm to meet up with the rest of the gang so we could head the airport. When we all finally arrived at closer to 2:30pm, we booked it to the metro and made our way to the airport. Thankfully, we were flying EasyJet and they actually left on time and we arrived in London EARLY! So, we caught an earlier bus back to London. It was delightful.

Now, I’ll I have to worry about it my last Witches paper, reading The Tempest, my 3000 word seminar paper, my 2000 word Integral paper, and Paradise Lost. As soon as all of that is done, I am FREE. But, until then I am a slave to my schoolwork. Tear.

P.S. Happy Birthday to my lovely sister Erin!!!!

---