Only 1€ Separates Me from Madrid Society

While attending the wide variety of city, county and state fairs with my family we have always said that only a few dollars separate us from everyone else at the event. Everyone pays the same amount to get in no matter where you are from, the amount of your income or level of education. The same goes for the metro in Madrid, however the metro is almost a requirement while living here. If you look on the map, I ride from one side of the yellow line to the other everyday to get to class, it's about a half hour ride in total. It's amazing what one can accomplish in half an hour:

-watch an episode of your favorite show with commercials

-workout

-read a couple chapters of a favorite book

-or- in my case, spend 30 minutes of the best people watching ever

I have seen people apply a full face of makeup, read twilight, harry potter and any other variety of preteen books as well as some classics. I have watched women give themselves pedicures, men pull out the equivalent of 30 Red Vines covered in sugar from his "murse" and stuff them all in his mouth within 10 minutes. It's amazing what people do when they think you're not looking i.e. continue to pick one's nose continuously for an extended amount of time, but it's even more amazing what people will say when they think you don't understand what they're saying. Also, it seems fitting that since Spanish is a romance language that romance is in the air...a little too frequently. While on the metro I'm sure I have seen at least 3 babies conceived on the seat across from me. For some the experience would be overwhelming, but for me it's like striking people watching gold.

A Fear Conquered?

This past weekend I traveled with my program (IES Madrid) to the northern region of Spain known as Pais Basco. We traveled to the cities of Bilbao and the legendary San Sebastian. How we got there you ask? A 6 hour bus ride. Now, if any of you know me, you know how much I hate buses so this wasn't a simple weekend trip. We boarded at the break of dawn (aka 7am), but not with a little bumps like a few people being a bit late, and me having to run off at the last minute. In the end we all made it on, and stopped 3 hours later in Burgos for breakfast at a nice hotel. There were eggs, chorizo, fresh fruit, cheese, and bread galore. I didn't realize how much I missed sunday mornings with my family eating eggs and reading the paper until I feasted on some of the best eggs ever. Of course after the feast, I faced the bus again for another 3 hours.

Upon arrival a few of us walked around and checked out the bridge designed by Calatrava (the same designer of our art museum back home in Milwaukee). It was gorgeous, both the weather and the scenery. As a program we took a historic walk of the city of Bilbao where we will be staying for the next three days. It's a tiny city in comparison to Madrid, but it's cute. We went out for pintxos (basque version of tapas) later that night and returned home at a decent enough time to get up and go to San Sebastian.

San Sebastian would have been the most gorgeous place I have ever been assuming I wasn't soaked, my shoes weren't puddles and I didn't have a cold. However even in spite of all of these things, it still was up there for one of the most beautiful places I have seen up there next to Denali, Venice and Sevilla. We walked around, saw the coast, visited the town and had an absolutely mind-blowing lunch. The steak was super tender, the bread fresh and warm and parmesan cheese that melted in your mouth for dessert. Overall the weekend was a success, minus a couple of 6 hour bus rides on either end. I may have survived the ride, however bus will not be my mode of transportation ordinarily. I believe for now, this fear has conquered me.

Obrigado Portugal

As our first attempt to backpack across Europe, my roommate Mary and I bought our tickets the day before we left and set on our way to Portugal. To say the least it was not what we were expecting. Did you know that the majority of Portuguese speak English over Spanish? Win for us to say the least. We quickly found our way to the hostel (which we quickly fell in love with, picture is attached). We were roommates with a family of 3 Australians and their best friend. It was quite possibly the best situation we could have imagined. Everything was furnished in Ikea, we got free breakfast, and we were staying at the #2 hostel in the world for a ridiculously cheap price.

While there we did toursity things like going to museums, parks, towers, castles etc. Portugal was kind of a mystery to us since we decided to go so last minute, but it was quite the adventure. In an attempt to order their famous Port Wine Mary ended up with a glass of whiskey, this was just one mishap to be mentioned. Another was visiting a "brand-new" castle, as it was built in the late 1800's and had a lot of modern day inventions like photographs, telephones, running water and electricity. Royalty...so demanding...

While there along with the "Port Wine" we tried the traditional cod and some custard tarts. We heard a Fado, although I'm sure we would've appreciated it more if we understood portuguese (don't be fooled it sounds nothing like spanish, however we were able to read it). Portugal was a good ease into the life of living out of a backpack, I'm sure the next trip we take we'll be pros for sure ;)