The City of Lights

Bonjour!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend because I know I did!  This is probably going to be a super long post because it covers several days and I want to share pictures with you.  So bear with me :)

Thursday after class, I rushed home to transfer my books out of my bag and put my clothes in.  Then I met Victoria and Mary Kate, and we walked to the metro to get to the airport.  It was a longer walk that I had anticipated, but I finally found the Starbucks that I’ve been wanting to visit!  When we got to the metro, we had a 10-minute ride to the airport.  It was a little confusing to get to the actual terminal and gate, but we figured it out.  We also had to purchase a “supplementary” metro ticket because the airport is outside of the main zone of Madrid.  Then I felt like we walked through the entire airport to get to our terminal.  Security was easy for me, although it needs some work to be more efficient and secure.  Several of my friends got through security with full water bottles, and I was disappointed with the lack of organization.  After security, we found our gate and basically fell down because we had nearly run the whole way there.  At the gate, I ate my dinner of 2 nutella sandwiches and an apple.  Balanced, right?  Our airline was Easy Jet.  It is similar to Southwest in that seats are not assigned; you just line up and pick a seat when you get on the plane.  The eight of us all sat together and enjoyed the 2-hour flight to Paris.  When we got closer to the city, we saw the Eiffel Tower outside the window!  I think that’s when it finally hit me that we were going to Paris!

When we landed, we had to figure out how to get to the hotel.  We didn’t want to take taxis because they are expensive, there were a lot of us, and the metro systems are much easier.  However, once we got downstairs to the transportation area, we discovered we had just missed the last train to the metro station.  After talking to a nice security man, we found a bus that took us to the train station where we could get on the metro.  We took one line to a major station, but then we didn’t have the right tickets, and there were no places to buy them.  Luckily, a guy who works at the station was helping us by trying to get tickets for us.  But all of the ticket machines take coins or credit cards, and we had bills!  Of course.  Finally, some very nice Parisians with the credit card-like metro passes swiped their cards to open the gates for us.  It was quite a challenge though.  At one point, we were trying to have 3 people get through the gate at once, and Victoria ended up smashed in the gate.  No permanent damage, and it was really funny.  Once we all got through the gate, we caught our final metro and made it to our stop, Grands Boulevards. 

Exiting Grands Boulevards left us still struggling to figure out where the hotel was.  We found a McDonalds and the friendly people there helped us out, even drawing out a map for us!  One thing I learned over this weekend is that French people are extremely friendly, kind, and willing to help.  I had been concerned about this trip because of my conception of the “rude, snobby French person,” but I found all of the stereotypes to be completely wrong.  Not to say that EVERYONE is a saint or ray of sunshine, but we found most Parisians to be very nice and helpful.  Following the map, we found our home for two nights, Hotel Comprador.  The man at the front desk was friendly and gave us the key to our room, number 12.  Based on the reviews I had read of the hotel, I was prepared to go out and find another hotel because I expected it to be disgusting and horrible.  However, it was clean and comfortable.  There were 3 beds for the four of us, and a decent sized bathroom.  It definitely is not the height of comfort or fashion, but for our purposes, it was perfect.  Prior to arriving in Paris, we planned to go out Thursday night and walk around a bit, but by the time we actually made it to Hotel Comprador, it was 1:30 AM, so we scratched that and just planned Friday’s activities.  Good thing since we got up early on Friday to get a head start on the day, so we needed all the sleep we could get!

Our hotel room

In the metro, ready for the day!

Hotel Comprador

Friday morning I got up at 7:30 AM and started with breakfast, which was included with the hotel room.  Breakfast was French style (obviously), which means bread and coffee, rather than English style, which has more of the eggs and meat.  I actually prefer French-style breakfast because I don’t like a lot of heavy food early in the morning, so it was great for me.  I had a croissant (delicious!) and a baguette, both with jam.  The coffee was good too.  We left the hotel around 9 once everyone got organized.  We had a full day walking tour planned out, starting with Sacré-Cœur, a church at the top of a hill.  There was a wonderful view of the city from the church, and we spotted the Eiffel Tower!  The church was very pretty and serene.  It would have been a better view if it had been sunny, but that’s okay.  We dealt with the gloom and cold and still had fun.  :)

Sacred Heart

This sign outside the church says, "For 125 years, here day and night, somebody has been praying to the Lord.  Come and adore the Lord."  Cool!

After Sacred Heart, we took the metro to Notre Dame, which I found very impressive.  It is right on the river and is breathtaking.  As we toured through the cathedral, noon mass began for the native French people.  It was cool to be in the cathedral for mass, but if I had been there to attend mass, I would have been distracted and irritated by the constant stream of tourists…  Oh well.  Isn’t it amazing to think about all of the work that goes in to building such impressive structures all for the glory of God?  I love that idea.  Since we had already done quite a bit of walking, we were hungry and went for lunch at a place called Quasimodo Café.  Appropriate, right?  :)  Our waiter was very nice and patient with us, which I always appreciate, since I know only about 5 phrases in French.  I had a salami sandwich and fries, and it hit the spot.

Notre Dame

Megan and me in front of the cathedral

Victoria and me

The inside of Notre Dame

We then made our way back to the metro to go to the Arc de Triomphe.  The arc is in the middle of a huge roundabout that you cannot walk across, so you have to use an underground tunnel to get to the arc.  We took a million pictures and finally assembled our whole group there (15 people!).  The arc is also where France’s Tomb of the Unknown Solider is, with its eternal flame.  When we exhausted our picture limit, we went back through the tunnel and made our way to Champs-Elysées, which is a major road in Paris that has a lot of high end shopping.  Here, our group broke up a bit so we could all do what we wanted and then meet up at the Louvre at 5:30.  I was with a few girls, and we browsed through the stores… went in a few car showrooms (sweet looking cars), Louis Vuitton, and H & M, among others.

Arc de Triomphe

The group!

Me at the Arc

Champs-Elysées

Around 5, we headed down the rest of the street to the Louvre.  What an awesome building!  The Louvre used to be a royal palace, but it was converted into a museum and opened in 1793.  It is huge and beautiful.  I love the glass pyramids outside the entrance… they remind me first of The da Vicni Code and secondly of Tri Delta!  We got into the museum free because we are students and under 26, which is fantastic!  I wish more things in the U.S. were free to students.  At first, it was difficult to figure out where to go in the museum because it is just so large, but we managed and saw the Mona Lisa as one of our first things.  I loved the painting.  It is very small and unassuming, which makes it fascinating to think about why she has captivated people for centuries.  Directly across the room from the tiny Mona Lisa is The Wedding Feast at Cana, which is about 22 ft x 32.5 ft.  Absolutely massive.  My friends said that the Wedding Feast is much more impressive than the Mona Lisa, and I agree that, in terms of size and magnificence, the Wedding Feast probably takes the cake.  But I still love the Mona Lisa more.  :)  The Louvre was very enjoyable when I saw paintings that I recognized; it was very cool to see paintings that we had just talked about in my art history class on Thursday.  Things are much more interesting when they have some kind of meaning or story!

The Louvre

Mona Lisa

The Wedding Feast at Cana

An example of the walls in the Louvre

The Louvre at night!

After the Louvre, we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower so we could take some pictures of it at night.  Right when we first saw the tower, a “light show” started, meaning that the tower was full of flashing lights.  What a cool sight!  We took lots of pictures from a distance and then up close.  Then we headed back to the hotel and got dinner at a restaurant near our street.  Friday was a very full day, and we didn’t get back until about 12:30.  One thing we learned on this trip was that we want a lighter first day of a trip.  We saw 90% of what we were going to see all on Friday, and it was probably a bit too much… at least my feet thought so!

I know this should be rotated, but this is an example of the light show!

Saturday started more laid back—up at 8:10… still early for me!  Breakfast again and then we packed our stuff and checked out around 10:30.  We had some friends staying another night, so we stored our bags in their room so we didn’t have to lug them around for the whole day.  A bunch of people in the group went to Versailles, but I wasn’t too interested in that, so I spent the day with Megan and Victoria.  We first went to the Hard Rock Café, which was just down the street from our hotel, so I could get a shirt.  I’m starting my collection of Hard Rock shirts… I got my Maui shirt this past summer, and now I have Paris!  After that, we went back to the Eiffel Tower for daytime pictures.  We also wanted to go up in the tower.  Unfortunately, the very top of the tower is closed until February for renovations, but we got tickets to go about halfway (2^nd level).  The elevator ride up was a little freaky though… the elevator stopped at the 2^nd level but the doors wouldn’t open.  We had to go up and down a few times before it worked.  It reminded me of the Tower of Terror!  After about 20 minutes in the fogged up elevator, the fresh air was welcome.  It was very windy and cold up there, but we got some nice views of the city.  I think Paris looks like most other European cities.  They’re cool, but I think the skyline of Chicago is much more interesting/impressive.  Maybe the view of Paris is better when it’s warm and sunny…

After our tower adventure, we went for lunch and shopping.  I spent way too much on crepes (12,00  !) but I was very hungry at that point.  After shopping for a while (I didn’t buy anything), we headed back to the tower and met up with the rest of the group at a carousel near the tower.  We all took the metro back to the hotel stop and found a great restaurant for dinner.  It was called Tavern Café and was just what we all needed.  I had a Croque Madame, which is a ham and cheese sandwich with eggs on top.  And a glass of chardonnay.  Perfect.  Following our relaxing dinner, we stopped briefly at Starbucks, then got our bags and headed to the airport.  We had a 7 AM flight on Sunday, so we decided to not pay for a hotel room when we would only use it for a few hours.  Our stay in the airport was pretty miserable, since, well, it’s an airport.  It was very very very cold in there; I was wearing a shirt, two sweaters, a sweatshirt, my winter coat, and gloves, but I was still cold.  When security opened at 5 AM, we went through, got some breakfast (I had yogurt and orange juice) and then waited for our flight.  It was uneventful aside from the gorgeous sunrise that I happened to see when I jolted awake at one point.  I made it home to the apartment a few minutes after 10 and went directly to bed.  Ahh sleep  :)

Croque Madame and chardonnay

And there you have it, my Paris adventure.  It was a lovely weekend with friends.  I would love to return to Paris, but it will have to be in the summer or fall, because this trip definitely reinforced the importance of weather!  Walking around all day is less fun when you’re cold and stiff, no matter how beautiful the city is…

I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe and happy.  I hear there is some bad weather back home, so take care everyone.  All my love, Elizabeth

Adios for a few days...

Well hey there!  Haven’t talked to you in awhile… just kidding.

I don’t really have anything huge to say after my post from earlier today, but I did say that I would update again before leaving for Paris.  So I’m keeping my promise.

Today is Wednesday (for one more hour for me), which means I had Spanish and Philosophy earlier today.  They were all right.  I brought my lunch to school today, which was good.  I am going to make some sandwiches to take to the airport for dinner tomorrow since I will miss out on Maria’s wonderful cooking tomorrow. 

Well, Paris is less than 24 hours away, and I’m a mixture of excited and stressed, but more on the excited side.  I love traveling, but packing is a huge issue for me.  It’s a high of 34º in Paris this weekend, but Saturday’s forecast calls for “abundant sunshine,” which sounds lovely.  It also reminds me of my puppy.  Hi Sunshine!  :)  The big picture of Paris is going to be awesome, I’m sure, but I’m a bit concerned about the details—most importantly our hotel.  I’ll let you know when we get back how it is, but from the reviews, I’m doubtful that it’s going to be good at all.  We’ll see, I suppose.

That’s really all I have for you guys tonight.  I love you all and can’t wait to write a super long post when I get back on Sunday.  Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Besos,

Elizabeth

An update

Queridos amigos (dear friends),

I know I haven’t blogged in a few days… nothing much interesting has happened.  Monday was normal—class (Spanish and Philosophy).  I spent my break in the library.  What a fiasco!  It is the loudest, most obnoxious library I have ever been in.  Despite having separate “reading rooms,” you can hear every door slamming, all the people outside yelling, and the rude people talking in the reading room—all with headphones in and music playing!  I have no idea how I’m going to get any work done there, despite working in a cubicle.  Ugh.  It makes me miss Reinert, and I don’t like that library very much, but at least people are courteous there!

Tuesday I planned to get up early at find the Starbucks that is apparently a ten-minute walk from the apartment.  However, when my alarm went off at 8 AM, it was so cold in the apartment that I couldn’t bear to leave my warm bed.  So, I skipped Starbucks, slept longer, and then just went to campus for my 12:30 class.  Kind of a fail of a morning, but if you know me at all, you know that I absolutely HATE being cold.  Totally miserable.  It doesn’t help that the water is always frigid whenever the water heater isn’t turned on (and you have to turn it on manually, but I don’t think I’m supposed to do that unless I’m taking a shower… so washing my face and such all occurs with freezing cold water).  Not what I’m used to at home…

Anyway, I love love love my Positive Psychology class.  I am so excited for that class every day.  I wish I could just take that class all day, every day.  I definitely picked the right major for me!  Nothing spectacular happened in class, but the subject matter totally fascinates me.  :)  After class, Victoria, Mary Kate, Megan and I went to Super Sol, which is the supermarket close to campus.  We have discovered that despite the apparent value of buying lunch in the cafeteria, 3,50 Euros every day is going to add up quickly.  So, I bought a loaf of bread, some nutella-like chocolate spread, clementines, and a cute little Tupperware thing to hold my sandwich every day.  All for under 8 Euros, and that should last me for over a week!  Yay for spending 1 euro a day on lunch!

Art History is already wearing on me.  There are only 4 (possibly 5, but if so, we haven’t ever had a full class) people in the class, and the teacher is interesting.  She wants a lot of participation, but I don’t know what to say about art… I’m taking the class so she can teach me what to say!  She also has a tendency to yell at us, which is a bit disconcerting.  Not my favorite class ever, but I’ll get through it.

After class, I met up with some friends and we went to a bar for some sangria and snacks, since we can’t go out on Thursday (since we have to run home quickly, grab our bags, and head to the airport for our flight to Paris!).  It was a different group than I normally hang out with, but I enjoyed the variation a lot.  Then I headed home for dinner and homework.

That’s basically my life for the past two days, but here are some interesting tidbits I want to share with you:

--One day during dinner, Abby and I were talking about school, and she said that she can only stay at SLU-Madrid (fondly referred to as “SLUM” or if you say SLU-Madrid, Spain, it becomes “SLUMS” haha) for one more year, and then she might have to go to the campus in the States.  When she told me that, she said the campus in “Missouri,” but it sounds like “misery.”  Made me laugh and reminds me of Dad’s joke about being from the state of misery.  Haha.

--Maria showed me how to make croquettas the other day.  She is a fabulous cook and is willing to teach me.  I should probably take her up on that offer more often.  :)

I suppose that’s pretty much it.  I will update my blog again tonight when I get home, but after that, it probably won’t be updated again until Sunday, since I will be in Paris and am not bringing my laptop with me.  Say a prayer for a safe trip, please!

Love you all so much,

Elizabeth

El Escorial: the end of day trips

Jambo!  I know that greeting doesn’t really fit with my adventures in Spain, but I recently read (courtesy of Maggie) that Tanzania is on Lonely Planet’s List of Top 10 Countries to Visit in 2011, so I think Swahili is appropriate in honor of that.  :)

My day trips came to a close today with the last one to El Escorial.  Going into the trip, I didn’t really know anything about El Escorial, but I learned a lot.  Here is some background info: the town of El Escorial is about 45 minutes northwest of Madrid, and is up in the mountains a bit.  It is home to El Real Monasterio de El Escorial (The Royal Monastery of the Escorial), which is a giant building serving as a historical palace of the monarchs, a monastery, basilica, museum, and even a school for kids.  The monastery is the Monasterio de San Lorenzo, who was a martyr (burned to death on a grill) so there are numerous references to him and to grills.  El Real Monasterio is the main attraction in El Escorial, so most of our tour was inside today, which was nice since it was quite cold today.

Part of the Real Monasterio

View of the landscape from El Escorial

We were not allowed to take any picture inside, which is a shame… the basilica is absolutely stunning (although I prefer the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.).  Inside, we saw the basilica, the palace (the king’s and queen’s private quarters and numerous drawing rooms), the library (all the books are lined up with the pages facing out and the spines in… interesting), and the crypt where all of the kings and queens of Spain are buried (is buried the right term?  I must confess, I have little experience with crypts).  The oldest king in the crypt is Charles V, who was king of Spain as well as the Holy Roman Emperor in the 16^th century.  In the main crypt, only kings and queens who bore kings of Spain are buried.  Fun fact: the bodies have to wait in a “rotting room” for several decades before being placed in the crypt (the coffins—or whatever they are called—are much too small for full bodies, so they wait until the bodies are just bones to put them in the crypt).  There are about 20 additional rooms, besides the main crypt, where other royal family members are buried.  I found it a little weird, but it is a nice memorial to the family… just strange to think about.

Outside, we saw the impressive courtyard and the gardens of the monastery.  The landscape from El Escorial is very pretty, but I think Toledo was more beautiful.  After grabbing some lunch (I had pasta and it was delicious!  I also shared a wonderful piece of chocolate cake with Madeline.  Yummy!), we wandered through the town and happened upon a parade!  I think it was a celebration of Saint Sebastian, and there was music and dancing.  Totally unexpected find, but we made the most of it and enjoyed seeing the culture of El Escorial in action!  This town was definitely the least “touristy” of the four that we saw (Segovia, Toledo, Salamanca, and El Escorial), but it was a very interesting tour and a good trip.

Entrance to the basilica

Part of the gardens

It's quite a large building!

Parade pictures!

Tomorrow is Monday, which means class… it’s sometimes hard to remember that I am a student here and not just on perpetual vacation!  Tonight is also the Bears-Packers game.  Hopefully I can get the game online!  GO BEARS!!!!

Good night all,

Elizabeth

P.S.  I will be in Paris in 4 days!  And only 15 days until part of my family visits!  Yay!!

Day Tripper, pt. 3. Because I'm too lazy to come up with a different title.

Well hey there!

This weekend, I continue my exploration of Spain by taking two more day trips—today was Salamanca, and tomorrow is El Escorial.  Salamanca is the furthest from Madrid of the four trips, with a 2-hour bus ride west and a bit north.  We actually left the province of Madrid and entered the province of Castile and León to get to Salamanca.  Salamanca is internationally known as a “university town” as it features the oldest and most important university in Spain.  I hear there’s some great night life there, which is to be expected with university students as a large portion of the population.  I however, did not experience that aspect of the city since it was a day trip.  :)

The day had a bit of a rocky start because our busses were over an hour late this morning due to a car accident on the highway.  Since I left the apartment before 8 (we were supposed to leave campus at 8:30 AM), and the busses did not arrive until 9:45, I was a bit cold.  The sun was barely up by 8:30, so it was not a fun wait outside on the sidewalk.  But we powered through and managed to warm up during the long bus ride.  We actually stopped about an hour into the drive to quickly see the town of Ávila.  Those of you who know Catholic trivia/information might recognize the name because of St. Teresa of Ávila, who is considered, along with St. John of the Cross, to be the founder of the Discalced Carmelites.  She was also an important reformer of the Carmelite Order.  We did not have a tour of the town, but we did take a few pictures.  Ávila, at least the old part of the town, is surrounded by an impressive wall that is something like 2.5 km long.  It is a pretty city and a place where I might return.

Part of the wall around Ávila

Once we got to Salamanca, it was already after noon, and we were all very hungry.  But we had our walking tour first.  And it was COLD!  It was probably about 35ºF, but the wind chill was terrible.  I was wearing multiple layers, a scarf, 2 pairs of socks, my winter coat, and gloves, but it was still miserable at times.  Granted, it wasn’t snowing like in Chicago and Omaha, but you guys back home aren’t doing walking tours of those cities!  :)  Anyway, the most important thing we saw was the cathedral, and there are actually two cathedrals right next to each other.  The “old” cathedral is from the 12^th century, and the “new” one was built between the 16^th and 18^th centuries.  They are both impressive and beautiful.  In the later afternoon, we were able to go up into the cathedral to see the inside and have wonderful views of the landscape from balconies.  The most interesting/amusing part of the cathedral (in my opinion) is on the outside façade.  The façade was renovated in 1992, and apparently, it is tradition for the artist who does a renovation to add something new as a sort of “signature.”  In this case, the artist chose to add an astronaut!  If you aren’t looking for it, you likely wouldn’t see it, but once our guide, Javier, pointed it out, we all snapped pictures!  I happened to Google the cathedral when I got home, and there are some conspiracy theories about where the astronaut came from; you can read everything from “it was aliens!” to “it was just photo-shopped in” but I assure you, it’s real!  Next to the astronaut is a dragon eating an ice cream cone, which is almost as funny.  :)

A view of Salamanca

The New Cathedral

Tiny astronaut!!

And the dragon with his ice cream cone

Inside the cathedral

We also saw Salamanca University, or at least an outside façade… again with an interesting story.  This piece is very symbolic and honors the monarchs and the pope.  It also has a tiny frog hidden in it, and, as the stories go, students would spend hours or days looking for the frog because it gives good luck!  I couldn’t see it until someone took a picture and showed me, but it’s there!  Later when we wandered into a souvenir shop, there were a ton of things with frogs on them—shirts, magnets, postcards, etc.  Too funny!

The whole facade

See if you can find the frog! (hint: he's on the top of the skull...)

Another one of my favorite sites in Salamanca is the Plaza Mayor.  Tonight when I was eating dinner, Maria told me that Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor is the original; the one is Madrid is an imitation of Salamanca’s.  I learned from Javier that the term “plaza mayor” means that the area is completely surrounded by four walls, and Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor is almost a perfect square.  As we walked in the plaza, I was reminded of the movie Vantage Point and asked Victoria if she had ever seen it.  Then when Javier was telling us about the plaza, he said that Vantage Point had been filmed there!  Score for me!!  I was very proud of having recognized that.  :)

Plaza Mayor... now I need to re-watch Vantage Point

I had lunch at a cute little tapas place with a few friends.  Victoria and I split some tapas (croquetas and tortilla) and a bocadillo (ham sub sandwich).  I also had café con leche to warm up a bit.  After that, we found a pastry shop and had some delicious chocolate pastry.  Unfortunately, I do not remember its name.  But I’m getting it the next time I see it!  Que rico! (How delicious!)

Yay for dessert!

We left Salamanca a bit after 5 PM, so I didn’t get home until around 8.  Maria made dinner for me when I arrived, and for dessert, I had yogurt with strawberries!  So good.  Well, I’m surprised I had this much to say about Salamanca, because this was actually my least favorite of the three trips so far.  I wonder how that works out… Regardless, I hope you enjoyed reading about it!

Mañana, voy a El Escorial.  Hasta luego.

Todo de mi amor,

Elizabeth

PS Thanks to Victoria for several of the photos... my camera's batteries died today. :(

This is why I love Fridays.

Hola!

Today’s post is probably going to be a bit longer, since I didn’t update the blog yesterday.  Sorry for the delay (for those of you who noticed!). 

As you might remember, Maria has been trying to set me up with the daughter of a coworker for a language exchange deal where I help her with English and she helps me with Spanish.  The daughter, also named Maria, is 21 and is a student teacher right now.  We spoke on the phone on Tuesday and arranged to meet at McDonald’s, which is 5 minutes away from my apartment, on Thursday at 11, before I have class.  I was very nervous about finding her since we’ve never met before, so I told her that I would be wearing a red coat.  When I got to McDonald’s yesterday morning, she came right up to me and asked if I was Elizabeth.  That was easy!  We went inside (it was a super nice McDonalds… very fancy and chic), and sat at a table.  I wasn’t exactly sure how she wanted to do the exchange, but she said I should speak in Spanish and she would speak in English.  She asked some questions, but I did most of the talking, which is odd, since that rarely happens.  She said that my Spanish is very good, but we both struggled through the conversation, trying to define things using words we both understand.  Before I knew it, it was noon and I had to go to class.  We have arranged to meet weekly to talk and help each other.  I think it will be a wonderful way for me to practice Spanish, as well as help Maria with her English.  I am not a great teacher, and it’s sometimes difficult to remember to pronounce words clearly, but I hope to improve as we continue.  Even though I was very nervous and a little apprehensive about the whole arrangement, I feel that it will be a wonderful, fulfilling experience.

After meeting with Maria, I walked to campus for my Positive Psychology class—this is definitely my favorite class of the semester.  The professor opens each class with an activity of some sort, and yesterday we did an exercise where he asked us to imagine that it is the last day of our life (we’re 99 or 100 years old and have lived a full life) and to write our “legacy” about what we did, what we were like, etc. throughout our life.  It was an intriguing assignment and made me feel very hopeful about everything that I can/want to accomplish in my life.  It also serves as motivation to make sure I achieve my goals.  What an interesting way to begin class, right?!

For lunch, I went with a few friends to a little sandwich shop near campus and got a turkey sandwich.  It was good, but it could’ve used a little more meat.  At 4, I went to art history, which is not my favorite class.  It’s not terrible, but the professor wants a lot of participation, and I simply don’t know enough about art to have many good contributions.  It doesn’t help that there are only four people in the class.  After that, I went with 3 friends to a bar near campus for an “end-of-the-week sangria celebration”!  Of all the sangria I’ve tried, this was the best.  So, we’ll probably be making that a weekly tradition.  :)

Thursday night is party night for us Madrid students, so I went out with a group of friends.  We spent the evening hopping from bar to bar, which was fun.  I went home on the metro (because it’s cheaper than a taxi) so I was home by 2 AM when the metro closes.  Fun evening with great people.

Victoria, Maya, and me with our pints of sangria

Tri Deltas love España!

Friday (today) is my free day, which is something I totally love about this experience.  I made plans with Victoria to meet up at 10:30 to shop.  The major street near my apartment is lined with shops and a few cafes, so we just went down the street, stopping in the stores that looked good.  I ended up buying a cute purse for 7  and a cool jacket for 15 .  I’m happy with the deals.

Around noon, we hopped on the metro and headed to Sol.  Mom has been in contact with this great travel agency called Madrid & Beyond, and, following her suggestion, I Google-mapped the address to try to find it.  With the knowledge that it is a 10-minute walk from the metro and on a street that begins with “B,” Victoria and I ventured through Madrid to find it.   After walking for what seemed like sufficient time and not finding the street, we agreed, “we’ll just go to the next one… and then the next one.”  We came upon this awesome building that Victoria wanted to take a picture of, and it was definitely the grace of God telling us to stop right there because I turned around, looked at the number on the building, and there was Madrid & Beyond!  It was not what I expected though.  The office is in an apartment style building, and I had to use the intercom to ask to be let in.  When we got upstairs to the office, the woman who greeted us was a little confused by our presence (at least that was what I thought), but I asked for Nigel and told her my name.  Nigel came out, and when I introduced myself, he knew me right away!  He was very kind, showing us around the office, and then leading us to his office to talk about Madrid.  We asked for some suggestions for things to do on Fridays when we don’t have class, and we had a great conversation with him.  Nigel printed out a list of suggestions/advice/places to go and directed us to other sources as well.  He was extremely helpful and friendly.  As we were leaving, he commented on what a pleasure it has been to work with Mom; he said there are some people that just warm your heart, and Mom is one of them.  The people from Madrid & Beyond will be rolling out the red carpet for my family when they visit Madrid!

(If you want to check out Madrid & Beyond, follow this link: Madrid and Beyond )

Following that fun stop, Victoria and I explored that area of Madrid a bit more.  I had never walked around there during the day, so it was fun to see the plazas and streets in the light.  We took some pictures in Plaza Mayor and visited Mercado de San Miguel—what a cool place!  It reminded me of farmers’ markets (I think the one in Kansas City, specifically) and Pike Place in Seattle.  I believe it’s the oldest market in Madrid (or Spain… not sure) but it was recently renovated.  The inside is absolutely amazing—tons of stands selling everything you could want: fruits, vegetables, cheese, bread, churros, wine, coffee, champagne, fish, sushi, meat, tapas of all sorts, and even books!  I could’ve spent hours in there.  But we were both really hungry and needed lunch, so we just browsed and moved on.  I’ll definitely be back there though!

It may not look like much from the outside, but the inside is amazing!

Plaza Mayor

Me being enthusiastic in Plaza Mayor :)

We ended up at a chain restaurant called Rodilla for lunch.  I had never been there before, but it was good, so I might go to the one near campus if I need to mix it up some time.  After a leisurely lunch with fun conversation, we waited outside by “our fountain” (the one where we always meet—consistency makes it easier to meet up!) for our silly friends with Friday class to arrive for some more shopping.  We bounced around from store to store, but I didn’t buy anything else.  It was definitely less crowded in the shops closer to home than in the ones downtown in Sol.  But it was a very enjoyable afternoon and quite a fun day.  I got home a little bit after 6, Skyped with some Creighton friends, and then had dinner.  Early to bed tonight because I have to be at campus at 8:30 AM for the day trip to Salamanca… and the high is 38º F there tomorrow!  Burrr!  But Nigel recommended a great wine store where we can do a wine tasting—right up my alley!  That should keep us toasty.

All my love to the moon and back,

Elizabeth ♥