Madrid

Oh Madrid….

So Tuesday evening we arrived in Madrid and ventured onto the metro system- heading to our hostel. Our hostel was in a really sketchy part of town. I was really disappointed because the hostel looked really awesome online… yeah, it wasn’t horrible, but it was definitely the worst I have stayed in so far. Also, what was so odd about this hostel is that ¾ of the people there were in the country illegally and trying to find work under the table. I don’t get that. There were these two guys that have literally just been wandering around Europe and working horrible jobs for horrible wages and lying to customs in order to stay longer. It just seems so odd to me. They were Canadian, I don’t get why they didn’t just work legally in Canada and save up money to visit Europe legally… I don’t know- it just baffles me, but that’s okay.

Madrid was really fun. It was not as great as Barcelona to me, but there were some really incredible moments.

The best part of the trip by far, well of course besides seeing my sister, was this little hole in the wall bar called “La Solea” that I found randomly online. It was a traditional, old school, family run kind of bar where no one spoke English and little old men played guitars and sang tragic love songs in the traditional flamenco style. I LOVED IT! Oh and apparently I got married there. This waiter kept calling me his wife… haha it was very funny because he didn’t speak English and I only speak a little Spanish- I don’t think the marriage would have really worked out… but yes, that night was incredible. The old Spanish people loved Katy and I and kept calling up “guapa” and trying to get us to dance. It was a great night.

Katy and I had a lot of fun. We spent the majority of our time just walking around the city. We saw the palace, a beautiful park, the financial district, all the plazas and puertos and everything along the way. We went out at night, but other than La Solea- they were all just kind of generic and not too impressive. Oh, but Katy and I have now gone to an Irish pub in every city we have been. When we go to Paris in a couple weeks, we are going to make it a goal to find and Irish pub there.

Friday morning Katy and I met up with Amanda and her friends/co-workers Nick and Aman and Aman’s friend Michael who is Australian but is studying in Barcelona. Her friends are really great. Aman does not have a serious bone in his body and was definitely the weekend entertainment. Nick knows more random facts than anyone I have ever met in my life, and Michael is just an Aussie… but I try not to hold that against him….. no but really, was very nice as well as a great reference point for all us short people trying to stay with the group- his height was very helpful. So we met up and went to starbucks, as all real Spaniards do, and then went out to see the city. Friday night we had dinner at 9PM at this really expensive restaurant (thank you Amanda!) and at like 2 AM we ended up a dance club and somehow five hours went by without us knowing. I got to bed at 8AM Saturday morning. Let me just say- I have never stayed out that late in my life- and just so you know- Thursday-Sunday nights I got a total of maybe 10 hours asleep- and that is probably stretching it. I am so tired right now.

Saturday we walked to the palace and looked at some dead people in old churches. We ate lots and lots of food including a really good dinner at a place we just stumbled upon. Saturday night we stayed pretty low key- we went to another Irish pub with a live band and just hung out for a while. I got to bed at 4AM- at least a little bit better than the previous night.

So now I am at the airport getting ready to go back. Part of me is really ready to have a stable place for at least a week- and the other part of me is dreading going back to school and doing work- yeah, I definitely didn’t do much reading during my “reading week”. Alright- I am signing off now- time to write an essay.

Much love,
Rachel