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Published: November 1st 2007
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Hey everyone!
Sorry this post is so late, I just finished midterms here so this week has been crazy with all the studying, etc. But here's the dish about my latest weekend trip - Madrid!
I went with my friend Alex, who goes to Tufts and met a girl in last year's Tufts summer program who was studying English there for the summer. She were born and raised (and still lives) in the city of Madrid, so she was an amazing tour guide!
We flew into Madrid on Thursday night and checked into our hostel, which was the first floor of an apartment building, therefore it was in a greaaat location but was very very small; we had to share a room just big enough for two bunk beds to be squeezed in, with two girls (and later two spanish guys) we had never met, and the bathrooms and showers were communal and on the first floor. Yikes! I guess that's what you get for 16 euro a night!
That night we met the aforementioned girl (Paula) and her friend Lorena for a drink and she gave us a tour of the area our hostel was in.
We had some dinner and then decided to get some rest for our busy day of touring.
Friday morning we went to Starbucks (there was one right by our hostel! We missed it soooooo much - they don't have anything even close to a cup of coffee in Italy, everything is espresso or some version of it, and never to-go) and then met Paula for a day of sight-seeing. We went to the Prado museum, where we saw some Raphael, Caravaggio, Velázquez, Bosch, Botticelli, Titian, El Greco, Rembrandt, Rubens and Goya. So beautiful! Then we went for a traditional tapas lunch with Paula, and she ordered for us, therefore the food was quite amazing. Very different from the Italian food we were used to! Then that afternoon she took us to the Universidad de Madrid where on Friday afternoons a ton os students just hang out on the lawn and have sangria and play guitar. We hung out with Paula and her friends, sitting on the grass of the quad, laughing and talking until the sun set. So much fun! It was quite funny with the language barrier too, because although Paula and her friends spoke pretty good English,
some church at night
it is "some church" because this is the one Alex and I found by ourselves, without our lovely tour guide Paula it is always a little difficult...
That night Paula invited us to her boyfriend's apartment where she had spent 3 hours cooking a traditional Spanish meal for us! Then she tried to teach me how to dance Flamenco. She was relatively unsuccessful but it was still very fun/funny. That night we hung out at the apartment with her friends for the night.
The next morning Alex and I did some sightseeing of our own. After having our daily Starbucks and even managing to find a traditional churros breakfast, we visited the Caso de Campo where there is a beautiful lake, the royal palace and its gardens, and Puerta del Sol, which is the main square. We also visited the Reina Sophia museum of modern art, in which we saw lots of Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, etc., including Picasso's famous "Guernica" painting. So impressive. Because we were on our own, we got a little lost (partly on purpose, deciding to just follow a pretty cathedral we saw on the skyline) and didn't get back to our hostel until right before we were supposed to meet Paula for dinner. She picked us up in her car and took
us on a night tour of the beautiful lit-up sights of Madrid, then we had a traditional tapas dinner. She then showed us Chueca, the fun, hip and young district of the city.
The next morning we were up bright and early (making sure we had enough time to get Starbucks again, for the last time in probably a month or two) to catch our flight. We were back in Milan that afternoon, just in time to start studying for exams :-(
It was a greaat weekend though; as you'll see in pictures, Madrid was sooo beautiful. I also loved how we had a really authentic experience, hanging out with real Madrileños and getting an insider's look into the real Madrid. Knowing someone in the city is really the best way to travel!
As for this week, I've been doing exams (no fun) and went to a Halloween party last night dressed up as Amy Winehouse (very fun). For those of you who don't know, Amy Winehouse is the crazy British singer who always has a big beehive hairstyle and cat-style eye makeup. I thought I looked like her but people kept saying I looked like Sophia
Loren, which I will DEFINITELY take! They don't really celebrate Halloween in Italy so we had a party for all the Americans in my program and for once just accepted that we were crazy Americans that didn't fit in. But we all missed Halloween so there's no way we could just let it pass by!
This weekend is a four-day weekend, with today being the start of it (which is why I finally had time to write this blog entry), but I just cannot keep traveling every weekend because it is so exhausting! We might take some day trips here and there but this weekend is mostly dedicated to catching up on sleep and getting my life together. We'll see how that goes!
Love you all, hope you had a fabulous Halloween (from what I can see in facebook pictures it looks like you did - I am very proud of everyone's clever costumes!) and as always, miss you like crazy! Can you believe I only have 50-ish days left?!
Keep me updated on YOUR lives too!
Oh and YAY RED SOX!
xoxoxo
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Alison
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Starbucks Lives!!
Well it sounds like you're having the most amazing time! Glad you were able to indulge in starbucks for a few days...and i love the amy winehouse costume!! CAn't wait till you come home, ali