Snapshots of a Madrilena life

so it's been a while since my last post, so in light of that sad fact, i decided to relay the highlights of my epic life:

my roommate, Patri, is moving out at the end of the week, so for my last 15 days in madrid im moving into her room...silly? i think so too.

I went to a Real Madrid v Getafe game last Tues.  I cheered for Real Madrid, because due to the fact that my Uni is in Getafe, i have some negative inclinations towards the city.  Madrid won, and we managed to sneak down from the vomitorios (nosebleeds) to the mid section, with all the europeans. it was very vale.

My summer job is hopefully gonna hire me back for a month, so hopefully the lure of money will be enough to compensate for the fact that all my best friends from home are graduating college and moving away.  Sayville will be a lonely place this summer :(

Last week, Lola called me at 11pm to inform me that her cousin was having a baby and that she wasnt coming home to make me dinner, so i should make myself tuna.  Well, i broke the pull open top to the can, which didn't fit into a can opener, so i tried to hack a hole in the can of tuna with a 12 inch steak knife. 

which failed miserably. i then proceeded to make scrambled eggs...in the micro.

this whole being a hot mess in the kitchen thing really sucks :)

Today, at the famous Getafe sandwitch place, i recieved the highest honor: I got a sandwitch named after me!  Its called El de Jeannie, and it is: pan normal, queso mosarella, cebollas, salsa barbocoa, pollo, y tomate.  Its now on the wall, and i'm damn proud.

i only have one more paper to write for school, which im hoping to finish tonight, so that i can enjoy my last weekend in Madrid before finals start.

Jillian got robbed. I told my mom, who told me to tell her "those bastards will get theirs"

Thanks for that skanky. :)

either tomo or thurs, Jill and i are gonna finish booking ferries and trains for our epic greece/italy adventure.  that will be the most extreme trip of my life to date. 3 weeks. literally with nothing but back packs.  however, nothing will be as extreme as Kevin McConnell showing up at Atocha at 8am with nothing  but the clothes off this back for our Sevilla Cordoba weekend because he fell asleep on the metro and woke up at Sol.  Jokes.

Hasta prontoooooooooooooooo

Semana Santa in Sevilla

Semana Santa was so intense.

like it was crazy.

people carrying Jesus and Mary throughout the city, incense, KKK looking people who are actually priests.

saetas being sung from the balconies by big fat spanish men, making friends in the crowd with 2 old people who explained to me everything about Semana Santa...it was so cool. 

Holy Thurs mass was nice while we were there, and Good Friday was a really cool service, and i kissed the spanish jesus cross, which was a lot different than in the US for some reason.  The place was a mad house, people were on the streets day and night, bc the processions went from like 9 am till like 3am.  It was really intense.  I'm not doing a good job of explaining, but its so hard to describe.

Highlights:

Jill's food poisoning... :(

Epic hostel experience, shitty snoring roommates, bed 14, Ryan's 'lost key', the fact that 14 ppl shared 1 bathroom and that i had to walk thru a hallway and another person's room to get to it, walking over the sleeping man on the hallway mattress on way to said bathroom circa 3am, the nice girls from Taiwan....

Sevilla is like a maze of a city, and i promise i'll post vids and pics soon :)

Side note, Jill and I tried to go to Easter Sunday mass today, but were mildly unsure if the church was Catholic...but it was a beautiful service nonetheless, and I'm sure we got some heaven points for trying ;)

Hasta Luegooooooooo

I left a piece of my heart in London (like that's a surprise to anyone who's known me for the past 21 years)

Ah, nothing like a relaxing weekend with some chill CUA folk in my favorite place in the world, where everyone has an AMAZING Accent, and people speak the King's English.  We squatted with Pat, Mark, and Ryan Hamilton in their flat on Hatton Garden, which was amazing, and a slightly refugee camp like experience.  On thurs night, we had an epic heathrow experience, in which our Iberia airlines pilot kind of was like.." hmmm i think im gonna land the plane....NOW", and people screamed when we hit the ground.  I was a little unhappy.  However, the first night we just chilled, which was really nice, and i feel in love with things like "mind the gap:" and "the tube".

On our first full day, we went to Westminster Abbey, which was TOTALLY BALLER.  A shit tons of famous ppl are buried there, including my personal fav QEI, right next to her sister bloody Mary(they hated each other) and right across from Mary Queen of Scots (who Elizabeth had executed).  Oh the irony.   Sadly, pics were not allowed, but i feel like i'll hang onto that memory for a while.  After that, we walked along Whitehall, past Big Ben and Parliament, and peek past the barricades to shout hello to 10 Downing Strees ;).  We then headed to Trafalager square, then up the Mall, which was decorated with Mexican flags (go figure) all the way to Buckingham palace and the Queen Victoria Monument.  That was pretty baller.  Then, we headed to see the statue of Duke wellington and the Arc and then we headed into Hyde Park, where we saw lots of green, the Peter Pan statue, and the Prince Albert Monument.  Then, we walked to...HARRODS. Which was AMAZING.  It's a CITY block long, and like 7 floors of everything u can imagine.  The escaltors were Egyptian themed, and we got awesome cup cakes in the food hall for 2 pounds.  We scoured all the floors, playing a while in Toy Kingdom and Pet kingdom, and then we hit up the gift shop, where i dropped a few pounds.  After that, we headed back to the flat, and we out to this awesome pub for some food and drinks.  Then, we headed home, where the drinking continued, and i learned everything there is to know about Ryan Hamilton...and i do mean everything (poor chap was slightly intoxicated ;))

The next day, we went to the changing of the guards ceremony at Buckingham, which was AMAZING, and quite long too lol.  Then, we headed to the British museum to see famous stuff like the Rosetta Stone and the pieces of the Parthenon.  After that, we lunched at this cute Crepe place on Museum street, and then hopped on the tube to the financial district, and then walked to the Tower of London, which was extra baller bc they had an epic exhibit of King Henry XVIII's armour.  That place was pretty awesome, and i fully enjoyed the Beef eaters( guards), with whom i took a pic with, and the exhibit in the White tower was really awesome as well.  And oh yea, i saw the crown jewels.  The contents of that building could save the world from the financial crisis.  Case and point: solid gold wine basin from like the 15th century....that was as big as my body. Baller.

After that, we crossed the historic tower bridge (the one ppl think is London Bridge), and walked along the Thames to Globe Theater, passsing Francis' Drakes ship, London Bridge, and the HMS Belfast on the way.  After the Globe, we crossed the Foot bridge, the Millenium bridge, and walked to St. Paul's Cathedral.  After that, we walked home...aka alot of epic walking.  But our night was far from over.  We we to the Fryer's Delight, a famous fish and chips place, and enjoyed England's fine fried food.  Then we bought some booze, made cards, and played Kings and watched 40 year old virgin till everyone was good and drunk.

On Palm sunday, we all slept in and Mark prepared a lovely luncheon feast for us, consisting of chicken, potatoes, and an epic salad.  We met Pat and another guy who's name i can't remember, so i'll call him Nigel bc that everyone's name in england, and we enjoyed some lovely company, some political talk, and good food.  After that, we went to Abbey road and took the famous pic at the intersection...which is REALLY busy, ergo it was really funny.  Then, we hit up the gift shot near St. John's Wood Metro, and i couldn't resist buying both my father and Brian Bligh (aka the 2 biggest beatles fans i know) some stuff lol.  After that, we metroed to Baker Street, where all the walls on the tube are decorated with Sherlock Holmes's head, and saw the historic place where he lived according to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: 221b Baker Street.  After that, we headed to mass in Westminster Cathedral (which is by the Abbey, but is Catholic as opposed to Anglican) to hear the Passion.  After a lovely mass, where our priest sounded like Sir Ian McKellan, we went to King's Cross to see.....PLATFORM 9 and 3/4, which was funny, bc first we were in St. Pancras International train station, which is next to Kings cross, and we asked some ppl and they literally did think we were crazy..or it was just the fact that they didnt speak english lol.  After schlepping to Kings Cross, we searched all over only to find that due to construction, they moved the location of the platform to the other end...so we schlepped over there and took pics with teh Cart that stuck in the wall...AMAZING.  Then we headed back and went to dinner at this Italian Restuaruant, where our waiter was from Barcelona and got a kick out of speaking to us in Spanish.

On our last full day, we got an EPIC behind the scenes tour of Parliament courtesy of Pat and Mark.  It Was AMAZING.  Since Parliament was not in session, we got to walk down onto the floors of the House of Lords and of Commons (red carpets and green carpets respectfully). We got an epic tour, and took some hallways and stair cases that only staff takes, which was extra baller.  We got a look at the chapel thats underneath westminster palace, which is the oldest part of the Parliament and survived the fire in teh 1600's and has statues that date back to the 11th century.  Anyway, this chapel is not open to the public, and it has a lovely organ and is super oldddddd.  We also met John, who;s a doorman in the House of Commons and wears a piece of the crown jewels that dates back to the 1800's on his uniform.  I also rubbed Churchill's foot before entering the floor of the Commons, which is wat all the MP's do before they entered. I was happy.  Then, we ate lunch (which was uber cheap bc it was subsidized) on the Terrace, which is outside and is normally where  the Lords and other MP's eat, and it only open to interns when Parliament's not in session...which made it even baller.  Its right on the river, with a lovely view of the Eye and Tower bridge, and since we had epically good weather (the Best in like 2 months according to the secretary in Mark's office, who was this cheerful brit), it was nice to be outside.  After that, i enjoyed a pint of Guinness in the bar thats in the House of Commons, which was a lovely experience.  We sat in chairs where a shit ton of famous ppl go to drink after a stressful day, and it was quite lovely.  Then, i peed in the house of common;s ladies room, bc i wanted to lol.  After that, we saw some crazy Sri Lankan protest and Katie and I went to the War Cabinet Rooms and the Churchill Museum, which are located underground.  It was an amazing experience. The museum is full of shit that belonged to that great man, including cigars, silk Pj's, the assualt rifle in that famous pic of him, and my personal fav: his maroon velour onesie.  It was a lovely experience to go through his life, and after that, we saw the rooms, which have remained unchanged since the war ended in August 1945.  Like literally unchanged.  Maps hang everywhere, there's awesome telephones with green recievers, and its so cool bc u can see what they went through to protect the place from collapsing during hte Blitz.  SO BALLER.  I of course bought shit from the gift shop, and we met up with everyone else, walked across Westminster Bridge, which we walked all over bc it was closed due to the protest, to the Eye, where we got waffles and walked across another footbridge to Picadilly Circus, up through Coven Garden, to Carnaby Street and to Oxford Street.  We then walked home and saw some poparazzi taking pics of someone, but it was just some brit TV reality star.  We then walked home, got some Subway, and spent out last night quietly chilling.

Lovely trip, im in love with British Airways, and i cant wait to go BACK!

BULLFIGHTS- where mexican matadors almost die!

Went to a bullfight today.

holy shit.

It was epic.

Ps, Kevin came for a visit this weekend, which was awesome. We hit up the Prado, Reina Sofia, Templo de Debod, Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor, Plaza de Espana, aka all the usual Madrid sites.

But today, was the bullfight at Ventas in Madrid.  AND IT WAS CRAZY. 6 bulls died, the 18 year old spanish bullfighter almost got seriously injured, the French bullfighter got his hand stabbed, and to top it all off, i was FREAKED Out when the Mexican bullfighter got throws into the air, and then like basically mauled by the bull.  It was like being in the coliseum during the Gladiator matches.  I was horrified. But, he finished the fight, and was on 2 feet when he walked off, but still; epic. 

Also, i felt bad for the horses that were blindfolded in the bullring, bc sometimes the bull got up underneath the horse and its armour, sad face.

SO EPIC

I was Born in Dusseldorf, and that is why the call me Rolf!

In continuation with the Great Schlep of 2009, I made my way all the way out to Germany last weekend for the long weekend...and it was glorious.

The journey was off the a hysterical start as I realized that we were taking a BUS to the airplane..bc it was that small.  I feel hoodwinked by Luftansa, but oh well.  So, we walked onto the plane, which i was not entirely happy about, but i got over it quick enough.  I also finally got my italian food ive been craving in the form of ravoli and tomato sauce.  I also discovered a wonderful way to cope with my fear of flying...lots of wine.

We landed in Dusseldorf at like 1030, and our friend Lisa was there to pick us up. From there, we drove on THE AUTOBAUN, u know, the one with noooo speed limit to her house in Coesfeld, which is like 50 minutes outside of Dusseldorf in the beautiful german countryside.  Her house was ADORABLE.  We slept in the loft above her media room, which was soo cool.  In the morning we sat down to a traditional German bfast, aka like so much food and sooo goood, and met her mom, who doesnt speak much english.  Then, we took a tour of Coesfeld and saw some of the sites.  I was historically very happy bc the town was one of hte ones that was bombed in WWII, and some of Lisa's family members fought during the war, so it was really interesting to hear about that!  In the afternoon, we returned for lunch at her house, and then went to her Grandma;s farm to walk around there.  It was so pretty, and we ended up staying at her gmas house for a while, even tho her grandma only spoke a slightly arcaic form of german, which was even cooler.  Then, we went to see the big mansion in the city, and went home for dinner.  After dinner, we went to the local brewery to sample german beer.  It was a gooooood night :)

On friday, we were up early to go to Essen, which is where Lisa goes to uni, and then to Munster, which is a pretty famous city.  Essen had a super cool metro, and lisa's school was so cute.  We met up with a few of her friends there and went out to lunch at doner :) and walked around the city center.  Then, we caught the train to munster, which is FULL of bikes.  its considered the bike capital of germany.  We saw the room where the peace of westphalia was signed in 1648... look it up its sooo famous, and we went to a few old churches, one of which had cages outside on the bell tower that they used to kill Anabaptists in the middle ages.  So cool.  After that, we meet up with her friend Christina and went to a GERMAN CARNIVAL! That was sooo cool, and we rode bumper cars bc ive never done it before.  Then we got coffee and caught our train home, where we ate dinner and chillaxed with the fam.  

On saturday, we took a day trip to the netherlands with lisa's sister Uschi and her friend Annuk, whos Dutch.  We went to the market and ate traditional fishy food and these fries with peanut sauce on them...aka SO good.  Then, we went to another small town that's famous for all of its old book stores, and we happened upon a really old Dutch mill...so we went for a closer look and the owner, Martin, happened to be there, speak english, and gave us a private tour of the mill!  That was really cool.  Then on the way back into germany, we stopped at the border to take pictures, bc it was kind of a big deal. Then, we had dinner, got ready to go out, and pregamed while watching Deutchland Superstar, germanys American Idol, and one kid is 16 and sings like James Blunt.  Then, we went out to a discoteca which was like amazing and had like 3 different clubs, one of which was like a skater boy/death metal club called the basement, and everyone down there was like in a mosh pit and like being super hardcore.  We called it a moderatly early night at 3am, and headed home for some sleep.

Sunday was a surprise day, and it really was a surprise because we went to the place where lisa's sister rides horses and got a like 2 hour long tour of hte german countryside from the back of an old fashioned buggy.  The horses were these 2 beautiful black males and they sometimes wanted to go alot faster than our driver let them...but i mean come on dirt roads are realllly bumpy.  However, it was an amazing experience, and afterwards we fed them and got a tour of the farm, which included Cows, calfs, pigs, and bulls.  Then we went back to Coesfeld for the annual spring fest, and we chilled there for a while.  Our last lunch was this amazing fest consisting of all this traditional german food that her mom made, including schnitzel, which was SOOOO good.  For dinner, we had currywurst and fries, which was also super good.  Then we just chatted, said goodbye, packed, and got ready for our 4am wakeup call.

We left at 430 the next morning, and were back in spain by 930.  Overall, it was one of my fav trips ive taken so far, and it inspired me to take german next semester bc its a really awesome language :)....

hasta luegooooooo

Portugal, Europe's Secret Jewel

So, I've come to a decision.  Everyone needs to go to Portugal. its an amazing country.  literally.  Also, when you all go, you must must must stay at Living Lounge Hostel.  Best place ever. I seriously fell in love with the country.

Friday was a whirlwind kind of day, starting with a 930 train to the airport.  Our flight left at 1235, and at 1215 portuguese time (1 hr ahead of Espana! :))  we landed.  Lisboa is beautiful.  Rights next to the Atlantic ocean, it smells salty and looks like a combo of Rome (its built on 7 hills), Rio de Janeiro (big jesus statue and all), San Francisco (sister of the Golden Gate bridge is in Lisboa, along with tons of street cars), and Costa Rica (the ocean was TURQUOISE!).

We hopped the bus to Rossio Square, and schelpped to our hostel, which was right around the corner from an elevator that looks like the Eiffel tower, bc the guy who built it studied under Gustauf Eiffel!  Living Lounge was AMAZING.  IT was so clean, artsy, and had a great crowd of ppl working there.  We were in a 6 person room with 2 Germans, Sebastian and Olivia, who were staying there for a month to do their graphic design thesis project.  so cool.  

We then went to the part of town called Belem by trolly, which was awesome.  We saw Vasco da Gama;s tomb, the monument to the Explorers, had famous portuguese pastries, and went to the tower of belem, which ended up being closed bc the workers were on strike.  typical.  We also went to like a war memorial for all the soldiers who died fighting for portugal which was cool, and then headed back to the city center.  I was not feeling so hot tho, heat and all, so i went back to the hostel for a nap before dinner, which was at the hostel.  Then, we ate, which was an AFFAIR.  We met a girl named Jane from houston, who flies free everywhere bc her dads a pilot, and ryan and and were HAPPY off of wine.  I then tried Port Wine, which was nast, and we hung out with a bunch of irish people and some french people in the hostel for the night over a few beers.  It was awesome.

Saturday, by Jane's suggestion, we caught the train to Sintra to see castles and creepy mansions.  The place was like a fairy tale.  we caught a bus up the mountain to the moorish castle and spend a while walking up and down and around the torrents and towers of the muslim fortress.  We could see for miles.  Halfway thru, we met 2 older Canadians who were traveling thru Portugal and we chatted with them for a while.  After the castle, we bused down and walked to this creepy old house that was like built by this guy obsessed with mysticism and the occult.  It was so cool...one room had mirrors on the floor so it made u feel like u were gonna fall when u walked over to the sides.  After that, we discovered a chapel on the grounds and took pics, and then for a bit we were underneath the chapel trying to decide if we could walk down this creepy passageway.  However, with the help of camera flashes and ipod lights, we deemed it not worth the effort.  We then climbed a few more ruins of towers and saw more of the grounds of this place, and then caught the bus to Caiscaos, which is where the beaches are!

The bus was pleasant enough, and the beaches were so worth it.  We all walked through the agua, which was FREEZING, and yet there were still ppl swimming.  We eventually ended up sitting out on a stone dock that jetted out into the ocean and watched surfers do their thang.  We then stayed for sunset and went home.  Before we had dinner, we rode the Eiffel tower elevator thing, which was cute....but way overpriced. 

Dinner was another awesome affair at the hostel.  We met a girl who lives in Madrid, Jessica Carter (same as my roommate! so FUNNY) doing what i hope to be doing after college, aka fulbright scholar, and her friend, who's from Bombay, Ruchi.  They were both really awesome, and we had a great convo with them.  Then, our german roomies, Sebastian and Olivia were chatting it up with us too, along with Antonio, who was the half portugues half indian hostel worker who was making dinner.  I had to order veggie both nights, bc i DONT eat fish, and both nights my meal was indian food, which i had never tried before, but found very interesting.  After dinner, everyone wanted us to go out, so we went to a bar/club in barrio Alto for a while.  There, i met 2 girls from paris, and we chatted (in FRENCH!) about our lives, which was so cool!!!  Then me ryan and jess went back bc it was 2 and we were beat...funny, all the madrid kids who normally stay out till 6am are going home early.

Sunday we got up and checked out, and then headed to the St. Georges' Castle at the top of the hill in Lisboa.  The view were incredible, and once again, we were just allowed to play atop ruins of old shit. so cool.  Also, there were random cats and PEACOCKS just walking the grounds.  So cool.  Then we bought really cool coin necklaces from this lady who was speaking to us in a combo of english, spanish, and portuguese. 

Then, we headed down to take a ferry so that we could see the Christ the King statue across the bay from Lisboa.  The ride was so pleasant, and then we bused up to the top of the hill, where the views were GORGEOUS. Then, we continued the big schlep back to the airport. 

Twas another lovely weekend trip, and in summation, i am now OBSESSED con Portugal.

Besos, y hasta luegoooo

Mejor Dia en Madrid

Hola todos!

Today was a lovely dia aqui en Madrid.  Sunny, probs near 70 degrees F.  Beautiful.  To celebrate, Jill and I went to Madrid's famous Espidrills store, the oldest one here (opened in like 1854 :)) and bought some CUTE shoes...2 pairs...for under 12 euro.  NOT bad.  Then, we went to Retiro, and rented a row boat and rowed on the big man made lake in front of Alfonso X's tomb.  So cute...and so sunburnt.

After class, we went back into the city for some shopping, stopping at a restaurant in Plaza Mayor to stop and chat with our new Spanish friends :)!  We also got ice cream from McD's...for 80 cents. Again, not bad.  Overall, it was a beautiful and relaxing day where we really came to appreciate the city even more.

I really do love it here...however im SO excited to hit up Lisbon for the weekend.  Hilarity will ensue!

Hasta Domingoooo