tapas y sangria - MADRID!

Soooo this weekend I went to MADRID with Katy, Laura, and our friend Marilyn who was visiting from Chicago. 

Thursday night we took a plane and landed about 9:30pm and took the metro from the airport to our hostel. Our hostel was INCREDIBLE! We only had to pay 50euro each to cover all 3 nights, it was clean, our room was private and HUGE, it was in the perfect location. Props go to Katy for organizing that! We freshened up and then went walking around Madrid's most central square, Puerta del Sol, and we found a tapas bar Alhambra, for dinner and sangria. Madrid is so crazy - people eat so late, and even the older generations are out super late into the evening! We were eating at around 11:30 or so and there were so many people just getting ready to go out for the night. The food was AMAZING, and then that bar was closing so we checked out another one called Sol y Sombra. We were soooo full from dinner that we just felt like going back to the hostel after a little while, which is precisely what we did.

Friday we got up semi-early and went back to Puerta del Sol and this other square called Plaza Mayor. The weather was beauuuutiful and it was full of so many people, I just loved walking the city and being able to see everything. We ended up doing some shopping, going to this park and the Royal Palace, seeing a Cathedral, stopping for some lunch and sangria, and walking around some more. We went back to the hostel around 6:30 and took a SIESTA (getting real Spanish, here) and then finally all "woke up" and started getting ready to go out. Around 10pm we found this restaurant in the Plaza Mayor, so we sat outside and got tapas and sangria again, and just people watched. We had plans to go to a club that evening that was recommended to us by a friend, but we didn't want to go yet because it was too early, so we went back to the street that Alhambra was on and ended up going into the bar next door called Venta el Buscón - good thing we did! The place had a decent sized crowd and great music, and we became friends with the guys that work there! This one guy Angel ended up giving us free drinks!! They were so nice and so goofy and we had a great time talking with them and it was nice to meet such friendly people. When we were done there we went to the club, Kapital -- 7 floors, each with a different style of music. Soooo much dancing! Our favorite floor was the one with rap on it, because it's easier to dance to seeming as we don't salsa, haha! We made some friends but nothing "legit", and when we were finally sooooo tired (at 5am!) we left and decided to go to this Chocolateria we heard about that's open 24 hours. Again, crazy Madrid people -- EVERYONE was out and about even at 5am! Even old people! We found the chocolateria and got churros and chocolate - oh my goodness, delicious. We came back to the hostel around 6am and passed out.

Woke up at 11pm because we still had plenty of things we wanted to do! We found another outdoor cafe and got lunch, and then walked to the Museo Reina Sofia - a modern art museum where there is a lot of cubism and surrealism, so lots of Picasso! His most famous piece, Guernica, is there, and i literally died when i saw it. I always wanted to see it in real life and I finally did =) Then we went to a big park right by there and wandered around there, it was beautifullll. Right by all of that was another museum, Museo del Prado, which was beautiful! The art was mostly classical, so I didn't care much for it, but the museum itself was really cool. It was POURING so we took a cab back to our hostel and got ready for the night again. We decided to go back to Venta el Buscón since Angel and the other guys had been SO nice to us the night before, we figured it was the least we could do. We got tapas and sangria there for dinner, and then they gave us free drinks again!! We took pictures with the guys and just had a great time, it was so cool! We went back to our hostel, fell asleep, woke up early the next morning and took a plane back to Paris!! 

I loved Madrid so much - I loved the people, the lifestyle, the food, the architecture, everything! and I was SO PROUD of myself and my spanish speaking abilities! I always knew I could read it and comprehend most things, because of my knowledge of french and italian, but I literally did all the talking for my friends! I was able to understand probably 95% of what people were saying to us, and I could respond in basic sentences or ask questions if we needed. It was very invigorating and made me want to possibly learn more spanish, or at least go back to Madrid since I know I can find my way around. It was such a great weekend, no lie! 

Next big thing - ITALY!!! For spring break, Katy, Laura, John and I are going to Rome, Florence, and Venice. I can't wait!! We leave next Thursday already, I can't believe it. Other than that, we've just continued our routine of school and spending time together. The weather is getting so nice here, like 60s every day. For those of you that don't know, my mom and dad came to visit me the weekend before Madrid =) It was sooooo good to see them, because I missed them SO MUCH and I got to show them all around Paris, which is kind of like "my city" now! I know they had such a good time, and I did, too. I'm extremely thankful that they got to come. =)

I just can't believe how many cool experiences I'm having, not just being able to travel to so many different places, but all the things I'm doing here, too. I'm so lucky to be at this point in my life and doing all these exciting things, and I thank God every day for it. I hope you all are doing well, and i'll see you in about a month and a half! Peace and love. 

Here are pictures from Madrid! 

MADRID.