Partying & Tourism, a difficult balance !

It's been a while, writing takes a while & I feel that sleeping or wondering is always much more fun!

Back to a week & a half ago, YIKES.

Wednesday are my long long long days. However this Wednesday was actually quite interesting and a lot of fun! In my art history class we took a tour around Madrid, mostly puerta del sol, plaza mayor, a nunnery etc.. It was so interesting even though it was freezing because I have always walked around these areas but did not know much of the history behind it. I have my guide book but it is deffiently not as detailed as my professor and it was nice to just hear about these places. We had AMAZING cookies as in I WILL be going back to this nunnery. They were almond cookies almost marzipan like that the nuns make and sell to the public. You can't see the nuns and they can't see you so have to pay in a turning saucer( can't think of a good word for it) type thing and then they give you the cookies. YUM YUM YUM! I learned so much from the tour I was very happy!

Wednesday night was a very very fun night! We had a Tapas Dinner with all of the CEA group at a place in Sol( actually the same tapas place I ate at the first day I arrived(the paella with all the animal heads still attached, QUE ASCO(how gross). After an amazing meal with lots of Sangria we all  made out way to a place called chapandaz AKA ' the cave bar' as everyone knows it by. It's off the Metro Moncloa ,so pretty easy to get to.This was my first time here but everyone says its a must bar to go to madrid. The place looks like a cave( by the name obviously) with the stalactites & stalagmites hanging. Its a cool scene. They are famous for a milk drink with vodka in it I believe called Leche de Pantera. I thought it tasted just like a cinnamon dolche latte at starbucks YUMMYYY. Some people say they don't really like it but maybe it's the milk part or just how the bartender makes it that time, who knows.

Thursday was BARCELONA TIME :) I was sooo excited to finally visit this city since I knew Matt, Dirk, & Acri were going tobe there and because I heard this city is so much fun! A stressful morning though because I hadn't packed the night before & still had to make it to class. Not a good idea leaving packing till an hour before your flight & having to ask your teacher to let you leave within 15 minutes because you miss judged your flight. In any case, he didn't care & I didn't miss a class so it worked out well!  Thursday night I was with my friend Jen and we went to Matts apt right by La Sagrada Familia. I thought that was so cool to be living right by such a touristy spot but they obviously aren't phased because they live there. We then went to Acri's apt where he cooked an AMAZING & i mean AMAZING gourmet meal. Rice with chicken, bowties, fried zuchini, salad, and wine. It was so nice to see all my friends but definitely made me homesick a little bit! Acri had people at his house to pregame and we all went to this place Osham. I had a good time & ended up seeing a few UF kids there which was funny.

 The night life in Barcelona is similar to Madrid but a little bit different in the hours that they party. Madrid: Go out around 10:30( pregame & such) come home around 4 or so depending on the day of the week and where we are going. Usually wed-thurs you go home between 5 and 7. The metro opens at 6 so it just makes it easier to stay up and partayyyy. Barcelona: pregame/party 12 until 2 and then stay out till 5 or so. So very different in the sense that you have more time at night time to get ready & do school work, nap  etc.. All and all I think Madrilenos(Madrians) stay out later :) Although I do have to be fair to Barcelona and say that they do have wayyy more legit discotecas than Madrid does(Madrid has more of a bar with dancing scene.)

Friday: a little difficult to awake early after a fun night out. Jen & I went to Parc Guell. It was BEAUTIFUL & just so much fun! The architecture from Antoni Gaudi was amazing and modern contemporary even though it was done a while ago. It was sunny and really pretty but still cold in Barcelona, wehhhh. Jen & I saw the cave like place where project runway was filmed & obviously took our own pictures there :) We people watched in the main part of Guell( mainly creeping on the little kids who were running after all the bubbles that were being made by performers.) We then met Megan & Brit( who were with their friends from San Diego State) to go for a bike ride along the beach and into the town. It was only 6 euros for 2 hours. It was FREEZING by the water but so worth going to because it was just so nice to be by a beach.We rode into town, which was a tad difficult at times because of all the people, but so much fun. We went down all these sides streets and made it to the bottom of Las Ramblas where the famous Barcelona letters are.Hours later we were all really tired and ready to go eat and then get ready for the night. We went to a place called Catwalk that night. I had a ton of fun because I knew every single song the the DJ played which made it just so much fun to sing along too. I think everyone had a great time!

Saturday: Again, hard to get up early but we were out by 1:30, I think. Jen & I went to see La Sagrada Familia. It was very interesting architecture. I really like Antoni Gaudi's work. It was a cathedral but has a lot of construction going on in it now. We went inside and saw how Gaudi used nature as a way of constructed this building and got to learn about his life( HE DIED ON MY BIRTHDAY, obviously manyyy years ago) and why he constructed the buildings the way he did! I think most people go into La Sagrada Familia to take an elevator ride to the top of it, but there was an  hour and 30 min wait and we did not have the time for this. wahh wahh wahhh. After we met Brit and Meg again and went to  Casa Mila and Casa Botil(I forgot name & toooo lazy to look). We debated on going into Casa Mila but THANK GOD WE DID. I was saying I wanted to see the Pededra because I kept seeing it on all these postcards and wah-la( I obviously cant write french, that was my own spelling of that word) it was at the top of Casa Mila. It was so pretty to see the sandstone  beige pieces of art against the bright blue sky! MUY BONITO. Afterwards we went to Las Ramblas, ate at a random restaurant, and went to the merkat where there is sooooo much food. I thought it was a flea market rastro type thing but I was wrong. The food ranged from all kinds of fruits, candies,meats, and fish. Interesante but the smell was ewwwwwwwwwwwwwie.  Went back to Meg & Brit's friends apt and then back to getting ready again :) Tonight we went to Elephant. I went with Jen & Matt and all of them. I had a good time, it was more a  lounge,club then just a discoteca club. I ran into Shannon there which was funny because there is like 400 clubs in Barcelona but that was nice :) Madrid people stick together!

Sunday:   Jen and I are officially DEAD. Getting up today was roughh but we managed earlier than every other day because we knew we wanted to see the MountJuic before we left for our flight. Jen & I both thought it was just a place where the Jews hid during the Holocaust( well I actually just took her word for it) but apparently its a lot of art museums, cultures, and a bunch of other sites to see that we had NO time to do. ComposeWe basically got there, walked around, took some pics to prove we were there, and then had to leave. Oh well, we should have seen the Picasso Museum or something that would have been a little easier and not required as much time to be at.  Lesson learned after this: You need to look up the times for the Renfe Train to take you back to the airport. None of us thought of this but luckily we did not have to wait a long time and the waiting did not make us late for our flight, but it could have been a close call! EEEEEEEEE.
---> Side Note: I would have like to have gone to the more famous or well known clubs in Barcelona and the bars that a lot of people talk about but it was no big deal, just means that one day I will have to go back. Que Lastima( What a Shame... NOT ) :) 


HOME SWEEET HOME. I love coming back to Madrid, it definitely feels more like home which is good because you know me, I'm homesick very easily.



In short: The week was good. Nothing too too special, although I can't remember things anymore, blahh.. We went to this guy Alex's apt and then to a bar called Lateral. It was awesome because he know so many international people.I met people from France, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Germany. And guess what, they ALL knew english and spoke it pretty well! I know this English is the Universal language but it is still amazing to me that we could all communicate and we were all from different places. I am fascinated by this. I guess the U.S.is not boarded by as many countries as Europe and other continents are so that is probably why we don't know and are not as exposed to other cultures are much! Orrrrrr we are just ignorant, stubborn, and Americans as usual. Either way, I really enjoyed the scene.
     I got to see Danny Lupu on Wednesday which I was very happy about. He went to the cave bar I described earlier. It was SO nice to see him and meet some of his friends! It was weird that we were in another country yet it still felt like it was at home! I was bum the next day and didn't meet him out to walk around but he was with soo many of his friends that I think he was okay! 

Thursday I finally went to the discoteca Joy. It is one of the famous ones here and I had still never went but now that's crossed off my list! I had a good time, got home a little too late but still managed to get up on time for CADIZ CARNAVAL at 6:30am. There was a giant group of us, 20 or so, people who signed up on EuropeanVibe( a company that takes you there).

&& thats where the next post comes in. Mis manos are tired from typing.

HASTA LUEGOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Swiss Alps :) !!

& here comes the LONG LONG entry, BE AWARE!

-->Switzerland was AMAZING! The scenery was beautiful more than I ever imagined. It made me want to go skiing next winter season. I haven't been around mountain snow since I think 5th grade when I went snowboarding with Kate & my dad. The beautiful mountain snow & just the whole picture/scenery really made me want to try skiing again and just be adventurous!  Basically this Swiss trip was the chronicles of Julie & Jen, we knew other people going from our program but those girls also knew their camp friends & school friends so they were off with them. Nonetheless, it was still amazing & so so so much fun! We pulled it together & made it work as if it was our own trip which was really nice!

We left Thursday evening to fly from Madrid to Geneva airport. I wish we could have spent a day in Geneva since we were in Switzerland but oh well, maybe one day. We had the Bus2alps group pick us up at the airport along with the other 150 people( all basically juniors in college) to take us on our 2 1/2 hr bus ride to Interlaken. Interlaken means between 2 lakes. It is surrounded by Germany, so the most spoken language is German(swiss- german) then French etc..  I think everyone slept on the bus because it was already 2am when we first got to the famous Balmer's Hostel. I went to bed by around 3ish because I was exhausted but a lot of people did party, they're crazyy!
--- Note to Self: BRING SHOWER SHOES, AHHHHH---

Friday I got up really early with Jen so she could go skiing. & I could go skydiving. Well that was a fail because skydiving was canceled because the weather was really bad; it was really cloudy & soon later it was to a be a huge blizzard storm. I was really dissapointed since that was my plan for the majority of the day, but oh well it was not in my control! I decided to stay up & go with Jen so she could go skiing. The whole process of getting ready, eating, waiting to get all the equipment took a few hours. I was exhausted & it was stil only 10am.  I didn't want to ski because it was already a VERY VERY VERY expensive weekend & there BUNNY slopes are America's medium slopes. Not for me as basically this would be my first time in 11 years or something crazy like that. I left Jen & hung out with other girls that are on my CEA trip with me. We ate at the best Thai food place right next to the hostel I have ever had! We then walked randomly into the town looking for the so called ' famous chocolate' that Switzerland is supposed to have. We'll we found some places but everything closes during the day, like Spain, so that was dissapointed but we did find a bar to go to until the shop opened up again. It was called Bruddy's( I think) & we all got hot chocolate with Bailey's. It was veryyyy delicious! More groups of people came in so it was basically a college party in this bar in the small town of Interlaken. I guess what else is their to do when you don't do any of the extreme sports they have.  The chocolate shop was finally open & it was sooo yummy!  I obviously had dark chocolate and coconut. YUM YUM YUM! We made our trek home in the blizzard. My feet were FROZEN, whoever said( or maybe no one ever did ha) that boots had insulation, they were WRONG! My socks were soaked, grrrrr. I went back to the hostel, chilled by the fire & then showered etc.. Jen was still not back from skiing & I didn't want  to be in the room by myself so I went downstairs to the tv & the fireplace and just relaxed. I sat next to a guy Ryan, from California, who was traveling by himself for about a month & a half to a bunch of different places. He just graduated in December & I guess wanted to explore the world,how cool yet I don't think I could be alone for THAT long, especially being a girl! NO WAY JOSE. Anyway we chatted for about 45 minutes which was awesome since I had nothing else to do. Thanks Ryan for keeping me occupied!

Metro Bar, is the famous bar in Interlaken that everyone from the town & the hostel goes to at night time. They have happy hour & then really pricey drinks after that but I guess that's what happens when there is 300 students in this hostel every weekend. Now since I'm on the topic of all these students. One word comes to mind: CLONES! I kid you not in the slightest bit. Now I know I grew up on Long Island, but man, I guess well it's true not a guess that the town I'm from is just not like all these other towns. Out of the 300 students there who were studying abroad in Barcelona, Rome, Florence, & Madrid, I'd say 280 of them were Jewish, WITHOUT A DOUBT. These people were japs, not that it is a bad thing persay but just not my usual kind of people I hang out with. I have never ever ever ever seen more BlackBerrys in my life! As soon as we got there on Thursday night, every outlet was taken by people charging there blackberrys & people freaking out that they wouldn't be able to BBM( black berry messanger/chat) which their friends. To my knowledge, all those people they were BBMing were in Interlaken with them, it was just a rediciulous scene. I DID get to see people that I went to middle school with that I used to be good friends with & haven't seen in years which was nice & also girls who I played on the N.Bellmore N. Merrick basketball league with. YAY for actually knowing people ha. But this hostel experience & weekend made me realize that Madrid was the BEST choice I made. I am SO happy I am not in Barcelona or other places where all these people know everyone. It it just not the experience that I was looking for so Thank You God :)
-------------- words to describe this entire Balmer's Hostel student experience: JEWISH, JEW SUMMER CAMP(every1 knew every1 through camp), BBM, JAPS, ----------------

No more venting! Saturday morning woke up at 7;20 am to get ready & PRAYING that skydiving wasn't canceled again. The whole point of this trip was to go skydiving, what a waste it would have been if it didn't go through. It looked really gloomy out & I was really getting worried that it would be canceled but IT WASNT! YAY I was SOO happy. It was all girls who went on the 8am trip. I think about 15 of us went out to skydive at this time. None of us were nervous it was faboulus! We pulled up & immediately got instructions on what to do when we first jump out etc.. I was the third group to go which was perfect because I got to see & hear others reactions but still not be at the end waiting impatiently. P.S. It was FREEZING again, I thought I was going to lose my toes, I had to keep wiggling them around to make sure they were still there, very uncomfortable! I was all geared up & it was finally my turn. Jen& I went up together with 2 other girls. We went up 11,000 feet & the scenery was beautiful! All the snow peaking out with some green underneath, just wonderful! I thought I would be nervous but I wasn't at all. I think I was more worried about my toes & getting hypothermia. We were all squised in a little airplane but obviously worth it. I was the 3rd person to jump. I watched the other two girls infront of me just drop out like flies. Now its my turn, I scoot up on the bench , dangle my feet over  & the next thing I know I out of a plane. My right eye immediaetly started tearing, I couldn't breath for about 10 seconds becuase of all the air rushing past you & the high altitude that I was at, & my ears were completely shot( it sounded like I was under water). All this was VERY WORTH IT! I saw all the mountains & then after a few seconds the guy pulled out the parachute & we were just cruising down. This is where I quickly wipped out my camera & started recording me skydiving :) YAY for a free video( obv not best quality but beats spending $150 on something I will only watch once or twice ). I was soo happy skydiving it was crazy experience that I would reccomend to anyone. HOWEVER, if you want more of a thrill, which is what I thought skydiving would be, I would reccomend Cliff diving/canyon diving. This is like bungee jumping & sinnce there is no one attached to your back, tandem, it is your job to run & jump off the cliff. SCARY! I would DEFF like to try that at some point. Skydiving was awesome it just was a different experience then what I expected.

Later Saturday night we all went Night sledding. It was an hr long ride where  you were each on your own individual slede & went down a barely lit path. The only way to know what was ahead of you was to follow the red blinking lights that everyone had to wear on their backs. It was a great time. We ended the sledding trip with a cheese fondu dinner & a famous food of Switzerland called Rösti. It is basically just hashbrowns and a lot of time it comes with breakfast foods on top etc.. Went back to MetrobBar( thats what everyone does here for the weekend nights) & had so much fun dancing etc...

Sunday, walked around the town again, ate lunch & started our journey back to Madrid. Supringsly I really missed Madrid & just being in Spain. I couldn't wait to get back to see my friends here! I MISSED THEM MUCHO esp Megan, Brit! Flight got delayed, grrr but we finally made it home & I immedialtey unpacked & made my way to the Irish Pub O'Reily's to watch the SuperBowl. It started at Midnight here so it was a VERY long day for me. I stayed until the 4th quarter but then had to make my way home because I had class at 9am meaning I need to get up at 7;30 am. OBV. I didn't wake up at 7:30 and woke up at 8:30 and RAN to the metro to make Spanish. what a tiring morning, my teacher even let us out early because she said we all needed coffee from staying up so late for the SuperBowl. YIKES.  Onto sad news, when I got home I found out that my good friend at school, Kristen, her sister got in a TERRIBLE car accident on Friday from hydroplanning in the rain. Jillan, who I've hung out with before etcc.. is now in the ICU and I haven't heard much news yet. The passenger, Jill's friend was, killed which is an awful thing. I am keeping the Gillis's in my thoughts & prayers & wishing them all to stay strong.

Anyway... GREAT WEEKEND! & Looking forward to this upcoming weekend in BARCELONA!! WOO I get to see Dirk, Matt & maybe Acri. This should be VERYYYY FUN !

HASTA LUEGO !!!!

Planning weekend trips is STRESSFUL!

THIS IS MY 3RD TIME TRYING TO WRITE IN THIS BLOG, grrr for the internet en mi casa. 

Finally sat down in our schools computer lab with everyone and decided to try and plan trips. UNSUCCESSFUL! I am a terrible planner & so is Megan, boo. Megan is my little, well taller than me,  blonde, easily frazzled friend who is hilarious & I'm glad I met her! She calls me a munchkin, well suited nickname I suppose. She claims that she was a planner in HS, what happened there? It's hard to find weekends & coordinating everything with everyone. These final decisions are really tough and wayy more stressful than they should be. There is a bunch of sites to check for cheaper airline tickets and then you have to find hostels(which I haven't even tried yet). Oh well, we just have to make descions and move on OR just have someone else do it for me & hope for the best.

 Otherwise, I feel myself getting a little sick, from just being tired, walking around in the cold, and being around other sick people( my 2 neighbors & my Senor Jorge). Besides that, we all went to Kapital NightClub on Thursday night. It is a 7 story club, it was awesome! There was performers on stage & just an overall great atmosphere. Obviously I saw on one of the floors was a Karaoke Bar & decided I NEEDED to join in. I was on stage with every Spanish person, not that I knew any of the songs they were singing( singing in Spanish is harder than it looks).  My roomie Trent requested Sorry Miss Jackson & that was a mistake. We all forgot that it has a hard rap part in it & none of us could even sing it. So basically we all just stood up their looking like dumb Americans, a standard thing now a days in Madrid.

Friday:
 A TOURIST day needed to happen! We have been here for over a week & still hadn't seen some of the most staple sites, it was a must for a day. Megan, Britney, Jen, & I all decided to start at Sol & then walk to Plaza Mayor.Plaza Mayor was a huge and beautiful square. It had great architecture and an overall good feel. My friend Megan was the tour guide for the day. It was actually really cute of us because we were reading what we were seeing the square as it was right in front of us! We then ventured towards Calle Gran Via to Plaza de Espana which is at the end of this street. It was not as big as Mayor but still really beautiful and calming. There was more benches and a a nice fountain. We decided it would be cute to take staged pics of us sitting on the plaza benches, they came out cute but deffiently funny/weird that we did that! MUSHROOMS, was our next stop. We walked back to sol to a mushroom place that Britney's Uncle showed her when he was here last week. The mushrooms were deliciosa! We were exhausted & went home for the evening until its time to partayyy! Just kidding, my feeeet were killing me so I didn't even want to go out but I did. I went to Sol with Kayla & Caroline( the 2 girls next door). Here we met our spanish friend David. He bought us food & drinks, es muy bueno! David took us through Huertas & to a real Spanish bar. It was my first one but hopefully not my last!

 

 Saturday:
 We all woke up very late in a panic but somehow managed to make it to Atocha Renfe to catch the AVE( High Veloctiy Train) to Toledo. It was only a 30 minute train ride, THANK GOD we got coffee otherwise I don't think anyone would have made it. It was about 15 of us, all from CEA who decided to go to Toledo for the day. It was very nice except deffiently a large group to walk around with etc.. so we split up & the 2 groups all did their own thing. We went to the Alcazar(palace) but it was closed, the cathedral, jewish synnogauge, and walked along the water. I think the water was the best part! It was so calming & made for GREAT yet corny group pictures! You can do Toledo in just a few hours which was a nice easy day trip. We all went home, had our siestas & got ready for the night. I went with ISA people to a girls apt & then to Fontana again. It was a good time minus that I was tired, as usual I'm complaining. I met a DG from ASU which was cool & a bunch of other new people! Always a good time,

Sunday:
Slept in late, YES! I was supposed to get up & go to the rastro( the HUGE flea market on sundays) but I never made it, oh well. Had lunch with the roomies & then went to the mall. Here was an adventure. I was exhuasted & getting sick, not a good idea to be treking everywhere. The phone house. God, this place is sometimes a pain in the butt. Megan's phone wouldn't charge so she had to bring it in to get it fixed/get a replacement. The guy said her phone would be ready on Tuesday. I stepped in & told him, in the broken spanish that I know, that this is a " grande cuidad es no posible, ella necesita el telefono hoy"( This is a big city, its not possible, she needs a telephone today.) We'll he understood me but had NO sympathy. He said she could buy a more expensive phone or that she had to wait. Being that we don't know many words in spanish especialyl in the situation of a phone store, we were helpless :( Megan & I tried to say that we wanted compensation o " gratis minutos" ( free minutes). That was a joke. I was a little mad, but I know things are run very differently, especially the customer service sector, in Spain. I told the guy in my pissy state " La tienda es malo y no me recomiendo( This store is bad, I will not reccomend it). That is the only words I could remember how to say to state my frustration, but he still didn't care...obviously, it's Madrid.  Oh well, good lesson learned!  Felt awful at night but had a good nights rest & felt much better today!

En el futuro:
---I get new roomies this Weds & Thurs.
---It's Trent & Megans 21st birthday, both of which I am missing  but will be here on Sunday for their actual birth-day
-- I go to interlaken, switzerland to skydive & night sled for aonce in a life time experience :)!!!!