Hello all!
It's been a while, but welcome back.
Before I catch you up on my recent activities, let me just say a quick note about my favorite part of living abroad.
Last night I spent the evening at an apartment close to Parque Retiro, on the other side of Madrid. It was a friend of my roommate's last night in Madrid, before returning back to Germany for the second semester. At the friend's apartment, we spent the evening conversing, listening to music, and drinking wine. Although this sounds like an evening enjoyed by groups of people all over the world, our's was unique. In the living room circle of chairs, sat five people from Germany, two people from Denmark, one person from Belgium, one person from Italy, one person from Argentina, and myself from California. Throughout the night you could hear a mix of english, spanish, and german. I often found myself sitting and marveling at the uniqueness of our situation.
I love the variety of people I am able to meet thanks to studying abroad! I even met a Finnish girl a few weeks ago.
As I waited too long to blog about my recent activities, pictures and minimal details will have to suffice, as my memory is lacking in terms of the small details.
Before break my friend Chris and his friend Daniel came to stay in Madrid for a few days. We did the standard tourist stuff, like the Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Parque Retiro, and El Rastro.
The day before break, my housemates and I decided to have a Christmas dinner, which consisted of small appetizers and sitting in our living room. It was an enjoyable evening.
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| La Tabacalera |
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| La Tabacalera |
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| La Tabacalera |
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| El Rastro |
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| El Rastro |
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| El Rastro |
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| El Rastro |
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| El Rastro |
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| El Rastro |
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| La Tabacalera |
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| La Tabacalera |
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| Sunset at Templo de Debod |
On the 22nd of December I flew from Madrid to Heathrow airport (in London), where I met up with parents in Terminal 5. It was the first time I had seen my mum in 4 months, so many hugs were shared. We flew an hour north, and made our way to my grandparent's house. During the week-long visit, we visited Hadrian's Wall, played scrabble, watched television, went to a Christmas Eve service, celebrated Christmas Day, cooked up a Christmas Dinner, ate delicious Indian food (twice), and just enjoyed each other's presence.
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| Cooking Christmas dinner |
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| Three generations! |
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| Sold in english stores: hilarious |
On the 29th of December, my parents and I flew back to Madrid. They stayed in the hotel across the street from where I live, as my apartment isn't necessarily ideal for having people stay. As both of my parents have visited Madrid before, we had less of the touristy things to see. They also had exhausted all of my restaurant suggestions during previous trips, so finding places to eat was sometimes a little bit difficult. Luckily we all still shared our common love of Mercado de San Miguel, and were able to find other restaurants. The "nicest" restaurant that we dined at was Casa Lucio, and was recommended by many, and often has celebrity cliental. Strangely, my family and I were underwhelmed by our food and service. Still, at least the wine was nice.
My parents were also here for Nochevieja, aka New Year's Eve, which was the first New Years in a big city for all of us. Now being in a big, and more importantly, spanish city for Nochevieja can be a good and a bad thing. The good: the tradition of eating grapes at midnight, drinking champagne at Sol with thousands of people, silly hats and hair worn by people of all ages, and more. The bad: the majority of stores, restaurants, and tourist attractions are closed for the days surrounding Nochevieja, most restaurants only offer expensive set meals for the big night, and the hoards and hoards of people and pushing. Still, my family and I were able to have a great time, ringing in the new year surrounded by thousands of people.
A note about the grape-eating-tradition: technically you are supposed to eat one grape at every clock chime after midnight. So 1. It helps to be able to hear a clock chiming and 2. spanish grapes have seeds in them... Sorry to whoever's shoes I spat my seeds on.
After midnight, I met up with my friend, went to a small new year's get-together (where I met two australians), and surprisingly went to sleep fairly early (for Spain, at least).
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| Dad's first churros and chocolate! |
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| My New Year's head ware |
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| So many people! We couldn't even make it into Sol! |
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| Mum :) |
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| Mother daughter minnie bows :) |
My parents remained in Madrid until the 3rd of January, on which we had a sad but hopeful goodbye. When I'll seem them next is still to be determined, but thankgoodness for texting and skype.
Luckily I didn't have to remain sad for too long, as my friends Vicky and Ben came to visit! It was great to show them around the city, although my Iphone getting stolen (after I left my purse in a bathroom) put a tiny damper on our activities. Still, I had a great time overall. We even made a day trip to Toledo, a beautiful and small city, 45 train minutes south of Madrid. We went on the "Día de los reyes magos" or Day of the Kings, which is a huge spanish holiday that is connected to their Navidad (Christmas) celebrations. For this holiday, it is typical to eat "roscon de los reyes" which is a circular sweet bread with candied fruits. Often there is a small doll somewhere in the bread, and the person who receives the piece of bread with the doll is in charge of the next celebration in February. Vicky and I shared a piece of the "roscon" but did not find the doll! No need for medical concern, I don't think it ended up in either of our stomaches :)
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| Toledo |
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| Toledo from the bus |
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| Ben, Vicky, and I |
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| Toledo |
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| Toledo Cathedral |
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| Toledo |
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| Cervantes |
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| Toledo |
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| Toledo |
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| Toledo |
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| Toledo |
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| Toledo |
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| Top of the Bellas Artes building in Madrid! |
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| Top of the Bellas Artes building in Madrid! |
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| Vicky and I in Parque Retiro |
So what is up next: As I am on the semester system, unlike at UCSB, we have finals in February. My schedule worked out with one presentation this Tuesday, and then three on the 1st of February. I am most concerned for my 19th century spanish literature class, as I still have a lot of reading, and more importantly understanding, to do. Still, I know I will get it done, like normal, even if I do generally push things up until the last minute :)
So as you can see, the next few weeks aren't going to be overly exciting, but at least I have my 20th birthday this Wednesday, the 18th. Yes, 20th, not 21st like most of the people around me! I am unsure if much will happen, but at least it gives me an excuse to take a break!
After my finals on the first I am intending to travel, but to where is still unknown. Maybe eastern europe, but we will have to wait and see.
Hope 2012 has started out great for everyone!
Best wishes are sent your way, wherever you are!
C
