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.