Madrid-- It's been Real

I'm so thankful for such a wonderful semester here in Madrid.  After visiting 5 countries and 18 cities this time around.... I'd say I got a pretty good start on my Euro-travels.  Oh yea, and my Spanish has improved 10-fold.  My final weekend included plenty of farewell fiestas and cheering on hometown hero Kyle Singler who is now playing basketball for Real Madrid-- what a treat!


Madrid is so pretty at Christmas time.  There are Christmas lights absolutely everywhere!  

Here is a pic of a few good friends and me at our farewell party. 

A great trip overall- I can't wait to come back one day.  That said, 23 straight hours of travel tomorrow (if all goes according to plan) will be well worth the welcome home.  I can't wait to eat a salad that is not transformed into a soup with oil! 


Un abrazo muy fuerte y besos para todas!

Turkey day (Madrid y Munich-land)

My bruddah Bay flew out for a whole week this Thanksgiving! Here are a few pics of us exploring Parque Retiro and a Real Madrid futbol game (6-2 win!).

 After a rainy few days in Madrid (tastes of home in Oregon) we took off to Munich to visit Sean McQueen and Skriti.  Sean's family has been living in Munich for over a year now and were kind enough to become our personal hostel for the weekend.

 Munich was beautiful with loads of Christmas twinkle lights, a tree-lighting ceremony, mulled wine, and of course, beer-tents.

 Thanksgiving dinner was everything we could have hoped it to be.  Also, fun fact: Skrit's first American Thanksgiving was in Germany. Thanks to Momma and Poppa McQueen for cooking for us all! (And Madeira for generously giving up her room for us!)

 (The aftermath...)

 Also, the BMW headquarters were awesome! This is James Bond's car in "The World is Not Enough".

Photo Credits: Sean McQueen

oops! sorry about the one month delay!

I've just been having too many adventures this past month.  Sorry for the lack of updates!


Posts coming soon from Paris, Florence, Milan, Munich, and Madrid... but first in reverse chronological order, here are a few snapshots from my previous few days in London-town with the lovely Monica for her birthday!

Here we are in front of parliament. 

Amy and I met in Argentina this summer.  She was able to take Mon and me on the London Eye- the giant ferris wheel that takes forty or so minutes for a single rotation but from which you can see Parliament, Westminster Abby, Buckinham Palace, and quite frankly most of London.

Amy and I then went to the aquarium! So many fishies!

At the wax museum, I let Angela Merkel know exactly what I think of her Economic Policies.

My lovely prince...

And of course with our star futbol players!

Thanks to Sean, these yummy boxes of Annies Mac-N-Cheese (White-cheddar of course!) travelled from Washington DC to Munich, where I took over custody for a week in Madrid before at last landing in our tummies in London.  Worth every bite!

Bryn (another friend from Claremont) and I help Monica celebrate her 21st birthday!

Here we are iceskating in front of the Tower of London.  Neat scenery, though it made me miss the nearly empty skating sessions at the outdoor Ashland rink.

Freiburg, Germany...aka FREEZEburg!

In general, I enjoy airports and flying mainly for the incredible people watching opportunities.  Occasionally I have the good fortune to sit next to an interesting person and share a lovely conversation throughout the flight.  Just my luck, I sat in between a beautiful young musician and a professional hockey player (might I add a gorgeous Brazilian at that!!).

-Side Note: For some reason, nobody selects the emergency exit row seats here and the are left open until the very end of the boarding process when people like me who are too lazy to line up for 30 minutes before boarding finally get on; the cheap airlines that I fly here in Europe don’t assign seats so I thought I was going to be stuck somewhere miserable!

 Anyways, the three of us bonded by watching the idiots across the aisle struggle with basic plane conduct (bags up above or under the seat, electronics off etc.) and the darling crew of 3 year olds that sprinted clumsily up and down the aisle the entire flight.  We had a lovely conversation entirely in Spanish, and they were shocked to find out I have only been in a Spanish speaking country for a total 3.5 months (2 in Argentina, 1.5 here in Spain); apparently I’m at an impressive level now!  It was a great compliment and a lovely way to begin my weekend in Freiburg, Germany.

In case you didn’t know, Germany is cold.  Even in October.  My outfit for the weekend included no less than a fleece, a flannel, and a shell jacket paired with a scarf, gloves, and a beanie… at all times.  My two Pomona friends I was visiting laughed at my outrageous number of layers, but hey, I didn’t want to be miserable!  Despite the cold, the sun was out 2 of the 3 days and it was lovely to see so many colorful trees and breathe clean air.  Have I mentioned Madrid’s legal level of pollution is 45 micrograms, which is one of the highest in the EU, but currently the level of pollution is above 55 micrograms!? YUCK! Add in the lovely cigarette smoke and I’ve got lung cancer headed my way in a hurry. 

Freiburg, on the other hand, is a lovely, eco-friendly and outdoors loving ideal city of happiness.  Situated in the heart of the Black Forest, a stones throw from France and Switzerland, it is the homeland to outdoors-enthusiasts galore.  It is well regarded for its green-eco-friendly urban design and lifestyle.  The old town center is almost entirely car free and the majority of Freiburgers use the fantastic (though slightly expensive) tram system. 

Freiburg was crushed during the War like so many German cities; thankfully, the city planners decided to rebuild the city in the traditional architecture style, not the new, "fashionable" 1960’s and 70’s esque design that so many other German cities chose.  This led to a lovely traditional German feel as we wandered around town.  

 

Moreover, Germany is famous for its Christmas Markets.  Bay and I will be going to the opening weekend of the world renown Munich Market this Thanksgiving.  The daily market in Freiburg was already showing signs of Christmas season with gorgeous woodwork toys, Christmas ornaments, wintery wreaths and floral, and other happy seasonal goodies! I wish I had a little toddler niece or nephew in my life to buy these toys for; alas, perhaps on another trip to Europe in a few years!  Needless to say, I’m very excited to return to Germany next month!

 

This picture doesn’t do justice to the “Prettiest Street in Europe”, but boy was it lovely.

 

Also, many thanks to Mr. Phillips for his latin lessons way back when.  This sign reads “in vino veritas” aka, in wine there is truth.  A fun mockery of the typical latin saying and many college mottos “lux et veritas!”, "light and truth" (cough cough Yale) amongst others.

Alright, that’s it for me.  I’m off to “work”.  Only three days of class and then my next 6 day weekend! #MyLifeIsRough!

Spanish accomplishment and pic of the week:

Spanish accomplishment: While my Spanish has dramatically improved, talking on the phone is never easy, especially with a native.  Needless to say I was a bit nervous when I received a phone call yesterday from the airline company's 1-800 number.  But, I managed to hold the conversation, successfully cancel unneeded tickets, and answer all of his questions with very little faltering! 


To celebrate, I'm off to Germany for the weekend to visit some Pomona friends and remember what 40 degrees feels like! BRRRRR!


Pic of the week: Celebrating my housemate's and our host-brother's birthday (same day!).  Paella and cake galore! (Please admire my host-dad's face.  For some reason, smile on three is a hard concept)

Je ne parle pas français

Thanks Mom for teaching me that phrase 8 years ago in an airport.  It was quite useful this weekend in  Aix-en-Provence (just outside Marseille in the South of France).  I went for a short trip to visit two good friends from Claremont.  Aix (pronounced "x") is a precious town, though very pricey.  The program center for my friends had a beautiful sunny garden where I enjoyed reading while they finished classes.

 Isabel and I took a boat tour in and around the Marseille harbour.  It was cool to see the places so many books describe...

... like the Count of Monte Cristo Fortress!!

 Way up on the top of the hill is the Notre Dame basilica.  It was pretty impressive and you could see it all over town.

 The water was crystal clear and turquoise in parts.  I really wished I had my suit and could've jumped in!

 Naturally we hunted down the frozen yogurt place in town. YUM! Also, the crepes were incredible.  I'm addicted.  Nutella coconut is by far and away the best flavor. :)

Barca!!!

Our recent group excursion was to the fabulous Barcelona!  The architecture, nightlife, and food were incredible.  Our first tour was to the Olympic stadiums of the 1992 Games.  This is where the USA "Dream Team" played lead by Michael Jordan.  A few friends and I ended up going to a huge concert inside this stadium Saturday night.  My ears are still ringing... 

 The first day was overcast but Sunday was sunny enough that my friend Nora and I got to swim in the Mediterranean Sea! Thankfully we ran into some American girls there that were nice enough to watch our bags as we swam; theft is an enormous problem in Barca.

 Segway tours were quite popular although unfortunately we didn't have a chance to do one.

 Of course the food was scrumptious! Here's the paella at one of our group meals. YUM!

 The Obama bar was hopping with a cover band and of course Mr. President himself!

 

and finally, the stock market bar is by far the greatest bar idea I've heard of.  Prices change according to popularity; if several people in a row order a Heineken, it is in high demand, and it's price rises.  Meanwhile other prices drop relatively.  You watch the screens as the prices change and have to correctly time when you order your next drink.  There are two of these bars in Barcelona.  The second one, Dow Jones, which we weren't able to go to, puts in an additional twist in that every hour there is a "crisis". Sirens go off, red lights flash, and all drinks drop to one Euro.  As you may guess, utter chaos ensues until demand drives prices back up.  I think CMC should be paying us to go! If that's not training us for Wall Street, I don't know what is!

Seville and Granada

Southern Spain is beautiful! Some friends and I jumped on the train and headed down to Seville.  After hearing all sorts of wonderful things from Jess, who studied there last spring, I was very excited to go.  The architecture was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for better weather!

 

Plaza de España was definitely my favorite. 

 

  

Bull fights are especially popular in Seville.  Although we didn't go see one, Jeff was kind enough to act it out for our tour group.

 

Then we scooted off to Granada, a short train ride away.  Granada is an incredible mix of Islamic, Jewish, and Christian culture.  It was the final muslim stronghold in Spain during the Christian conquering.  The mix of architeqture was fascinating, but I think I liked the 4 am arabic food best! But beware, some English translations aren't quite right...

La Alhambra is an enormous palace on top of the hill overlooking the entire city.  The gardens and towers were gorgeous.

 

 I can't decide if this is the best job, or the worst.  The carousel requires someone to manually bike the entire ride.  Paid to excersize? Not bad.  Unfortunately it gets pretty hot down in Southern Spain.

And lastly, this might be the prettiest ice-cream display I've ever seen.  Scrumptious too! Off to Barcelona for the weekend! yahooo!