exploring madrid!

Tapas & Sangria in La Latina

El Rastro

El Rastro - Artisan Market

 Ábaco - the used bookstore!!

Levi & Elli in the rose garden, with very few roses 

Elli and I at the oldest restaurant in the world

Here is my recount of last weekend and some of last week in Madrid. Friday we went out and stayed out pretty late in the La Latina area. A bunch of girls I had met at orientation including: Sam, Kristen, Maury, Elli, Sara, and Margarthe (this girl from their hostel) went and had tapas and sangria - then we went to a few different bars & a discoteca in La Latina. Sam & Elli both studied in Sevilla (at different times from each other and different times from me) but we all remember Long Island and had to take shots of Ron Miel (honey rum) at the bar because we all are really Sevillanas at heart. 

Also on Friday during orientation last week, I was talking to Elli about looking for apartments in the Chamberí neighborhood. Chamberí is a little north west of the center (Sol metro stop) and closer to the University of Complutense in Madrid. So it's a neighborhood with a lot of students, and it's a little less touristy and less crazy than the center of the city. Mal pal (Mallory Smith) lived in Madrid and did the Ministry auxiliar program 2 years ago and recommended that I live in Chamberí somewhere. Elli had already found a great apartment with Spaniards in Chamberí but she told me about this apartment that she saw that was her second choice - that is brand new, with 4 bedrooms, and 4 bathrooms. So she gave me Javier's (the land lord's) info and I went and saw it first thing on Saturday.  I loved it and told him I wanted to live their right then when I saw it, which was amazing. 

On Saturday, after I saw apartments, I went home and joined Blanca and Cassio for lunch. I spent the afternoon packing all my stuff to take over to my new apartment. BUT Saturday night was such a bummer... so all week every one was so excited because Madrid was a candidate in the running for the 2020 Olympics. On Saturday night, there was this huge celebration in Puerta de Alcalá and they were suppose to announce at 10pm. So around 8:30, the girls and I headed over there and it was really strange because as we were getting off the metro at Retiro - it wasn't as busy as we expected it to be and people were getting on to leave. Then we go up to the street and by this time it's like 9:20ish, and people are walking away from Puerta de Alcalá. So I asked these like 16 year old girls where Puerta de Alcalá was and they were like "it's up that way, but we just got eliminated." Madrid had been eliminated and the final 2 candidates were Istanbul and Tokyo. SO SAD. All of Madrid was really sad on Saturday night and for the rest of the weekend. If you must know, Tokyo won.

Sunday morning, I got up late and Blanca was like, "Are you going to El Rastro?" And I was barely awake, and so I was like "Um, sure." I texted Elli and we met up/explored to find El Rastro, which is kind of a less ghetto outdoor market than the Mercadillo I went to in Sevilla with Amir & Brian. It's actually really neat because it has so much stuff - clothes, Spanish gypsy pants, fruits, dresses, art, electronics, candy, postres, one guy was selling nintendo gear, etc... I bought a "first day of school" dress. And Elli bought some art to hang on the wall in her room. We actually stumbled upon the Museo de Artes y Tradiciones Populares, which was in the middle of El Rastro - having an El Rastro Artisan Market, where they rent out open space in the museum to bring in local artists (only every once in a while).  Both El Rastro & the artisan market were really awesome. Sunday night I went to dinner with friends at this place near San Bernardo metro stop in Malasaña that had Argentinian Empanadas, which were really good. 

Monday, I went and met with the director of BEDA at my school and she let me know that I was going to work with infantil. Meaning, I would work with 3-5 year olds in preschool to kindergarten. I am soooo excited about this because it is exactly what I wanted. Then Elli, Maury, and I had lunch in Chamberí then Elli and I went to meet up with Levi and we explored around Parque del Retiro (Retiro Park), el palacio cristal (The Crystal Palace), and el jardín de las rosas (The Rose Garden), then went to el Museo de Reina Sofia (Queen Sofia's Museum). It was great because el Museo de Reina Sofia was free (they have random hours free entrance) because we were all exhausted and just went to see the Guernica by Picasso, then left. 

Tuesday, I finally slept in!! I packed up at Blanca's and moved more stuff over to my apartment, went to coffee with Anna Merkle (Mal Pal's friend from Madrid), and found this amazing used book store near 4 Caminos (my metro stop). I went to dinner with Elli and Levi and some other BEDA girls (who like Levi are studying and living outside of Madrid like at least 2.5 hrs - so they are living in their cities and not Madrid, e.g., Navarro but they were just here for orientation) - and we went to Restaurante Sobrino de Botín, which is the oldest restaurant in the world, established in 1725. On Monday afternoon and Tuesday night, Elli and I started talking about Sevilla and how we wanted to travel this week while we had extra time off. So last minute on Tuesday night, we made plans to get up early and take the Renfe (ave) to Sevilla to see old friends, host moms, and teachers. 

Our trip to Sevilla was AMAZING and like returning to my heart/soul, so I'll write another long post about that and more about my apartment and roommates. But I really have to go to sleep because tomorrow is my first day of school/work at Calasancio. So excited! 

Besos! 

-Val