Lo Que es la Vida

Hello again. I'm back. I know you are all excited to read this next post!

Let's see what have I been up to in the last two weeks...

I tried a churro for the first time. Heaven. So worth it. Especially dipped in chocolate. It's like a two peas in a pod or a fat kid with cake, they just go together! Yummy!

Lean like a Churro (get your heads out the gutter)

I got to meet some of my favorite actors. Not sure if you have ever heard of the show Teen Wolf (yes I watch it, sue me) well they had a conference here in Madrid. So my friend and I went and we were lucky enough to get to actually sit right near the stage and even converse with them. We even got a picture taken with one of the actors. To top it off they invited us out with them that night however we didn't make it because the staff rushed us out so they could keep on schedule so we didn't get to exchange numbers or anything to communicate. (Tweeting doesn't work when they have 5,000 people tweeting at them every second, note to self). They were so confused when we spoke perfect English until we told them we were from the states. They thought we flew all the way out here just to see them but were even more amazed when we said we were studying abroad here. That's when things really hit off it and we just kept talking. But it was amazing none the less just to be there. The picture topped it off though. We met so many people from so many different places that flew in solely just to see this and we just happened to stumble upon it. Definitely the coolest thing that has ever happened to me. Hey Teen Wolf or MTV, if you ever need an extra, let me know ;)

Tyler Hoechlin. Such a pleasure

I went to my first ever Real Madrid football game. It was amazing. Real won 5-1 with Cristiano scoring 4 goals. Oh and there were like cops next to my section the entire time. Pretty sure the group next me were either trouble makers or involved in something bad because their section was circled by 20 cops the entire game. They weren't even allowed to move. Sucks to suck. Any who, the atmosphere, the people, the stadium. Everything. I have no words. You must go to a game if you are ever in Madrid. My next goal is to go to a Manchester United game while I am in London :) Also, they do not serve beer in the stadium here, you have been warned. But there are a million and one parties happening on the outside so it does not even matter. They have a million chants and they sound so much better than our American ones but just pretend you know the words and you'll be fine. If you don't take a picture at the game, did you even go?

Selfie with stadium because why not?

Real Madrid, te amo

I went to go visit El Escorial. It was beautiful to say the least. It is becoming fall here and the colors just made it look beautiful. The tour took us 2 and a half hours and we didn't even see it all. The town is cute and it's only an hour from Madrid. I recommend going to visit. It's where the Kings and Queens used to live and most of them are currently buried. Yeah that was freaky. They also have a separate tomb for royal children that died at birth. Never have I felt like so many people were watching me. But it must have been amazing to live in this palace. I would 100% get lost every day but that's fine because I wouldn't want to leave. It was miraculous.

This is the entrance of El Escorial...

El Escorial. So nice

I think that is it for now. It's still amazing to me the things I get to see and do. Still feels like it's all a dream but I am making the most of it even if it leaves me broke. It's truly remarkable and it's far from over.

Next weekend I'll update you on my trip to Oktoberfest when I return. Words can describe how excited I am for that.

Adios amigos!

Yeah, I can be artsy

Madrid, Te Amo!

Yikes. I really suck at this whole updating my blog thing. Rather than make this massive, this will be about my first two weeks in Madrid. Let's begin!

Thursday 5:30PM August 28th, I met my host family. Obviously you can imagine the range of emotions going through my head. Will they like me? Can they speak some English? Are they awesome? Do they only speak Spanish? What did I just get myself into?! Well.... showtime! I was introduced to Veronica and Alfonso and it was interesting. They didn't speak any English to me, but they did to my roommate. (Yes, I am basically the translator between them, but it's okay we are all teaching each other.)  We got to their apartment and I instantly died. The view was beautiful and it was perfect. It felt like home from the start. The apartment is spacious, our bathroom is huge and our room is a pretty big size. It's located in the middle of everything, so we can either take the metro which is super easy or walk. They are super sweet and gave us all the details, showed us where we put our picture on the wall once we leave here and they call us their "niños" because they don't have kids. (Insert AWE here). They know just about everything about anything where we want to go and tell us how to get there. Naturally, we try to listen and we get lost. A 7 minute walk home once from this club took an hour. This wasn't just a one time thing either. HA.

The view from our apartment

Did I mention our room is next to the kitchen? I mean, hello Junior 30. Just kidding, the Junior 30 will be from all the food they feed us.... no joke. They look at you like a deer in headlights if you don't finish all the food or say you aren't that hungry. The food however is amazing here. I don't just mean restaurants, I mean our host mom is an amazing cook. They will make a giant plate of something, they both take an 1/8 and leave the rest for my roommate and I. Not to mention they make 1,000 side plates so if you are still hungry after that, I'm confused. Hence why I joined a gym. Not trying to come back and enter into a fast food eating competition. We have ate so many different types of food. My favorite if you couldn't tell by last post is CROQUETAS. I will learn how to make this and you will all fall in love. I have to say the weirdest is calamari in it's own ink. But I mean if you get passed the fact that it's not fried and you can see its legs dangling on your fork, you'll be just fine! Just close your eyes and try to ignore the squishy-ness when you chew, that's what I did...  sort of. They also love rabbit. I'll be sure to let you all know how that is. But they do serve wine with every meal here. It's every underage kids dream. Well that and the drinking age is 18 here. But we generally have a new bottle of wine to start dinner and it's gone by the end of dinner. Not complaining, it's some good vino.

Calamari in it's own ink. Appetizing right?

You would think being in the fashion capital of the world it would be easy to find clothes here right? No. Europeans are highly fashionable, don't get me wrong but their clothes are very different. I have tried four malls and couldn't find any t-shirts because European's like loose fitting necks rather than tight ones in America. Yes loose fit necks are different than V-necks which they have here. They also like skinny jeans and short shorts so that's new. No I will not try that. I fell in love with this store called Pull and Bear and guess what it's all loose fit necks, but don't worry their winter stuff isn't! It's wicked cheap too and I mean I am a poor college student so like nice clothes for cheap prices? Hey now. They dress nice even going to the gym. Really? The gym. I look like a bum off the streets at the gym and they are wearing some nice clothes to sweat in. Speaking of the gym, yeah... we aren't in America anymore. Europeans are very comfortable with their bodies and themselves. By that I mean, naked men and women in the locker rooms everywhere. Basically you are at the beaches here but a gym. The showers only have walls but NO DOORS so it's like a free for all and the towels are so small that they cover nothing, and I MEAN NOTHING. Basically it's a strip club for free but of all the same sex. That's just how comfortable they are here though. It's definitely a culture shock.

School. Yes I am here for school. The building is pretty cool. Nothing crazy and it's 5 minutes from my house. Can't complain. I like my classes and the people in them. I have a feeling this will be a great semester academically so I'm looking forward to learning a lot. The teachers are super nice as well and extremely passionate about the subjects they offer. Our school offers a lot as far as trips, cooking classes, meeting other europeans and even a card that allows us to take advantage on trips. Hello Paris, London, Italy, Amsterdam, Oktoberfest and Denmark. See you all within the next few months! May throw another in there because when will I ever get to do this again? Never.

Fishbowl... of heaven

THE NIGHTLIFE. Wow. Where do I begin. The nightlife here is insane. Never seen anything like it. I know every country has their own nightlife but I'm sorry you cannot top Madrid or Spain in general. The clubs are insane, the music is generally good (and American, go figure) and the drinks are amazing. Pretty sure Europeans just sing American songs without knowing what the lyrics mean, it's quite funny actually. But hey, that's like me with Spanish except I make up the words. They usually offer deals to either get in the club or get x amount of drinks at the clubs. The bars are generally cheap, well at least for shots but I mean what more do you need if you're on a budget. Plus there are so many Europeans and I don't just mean Spaniards at the clubs, that it's basically an international project X depending upon where you go. This is where Europeans dress to impress and just kill it. Beautiful people everywhere and yeah they can dance. Then you find us Americans in a herd and you're like oh... they are American. They'll spot you in a second like the ugly duckling. Especially since Americans are extremely loud and obviously we dress different. Plus we speak English so yeah that's a big give away.

Kapital 1 : Friends 0

My first two weeks here have been amazing. Obviously I've been here longer than that I'm just splitting this up. Can't put too much of a good thing in one blog post! I can get used to this life here. It's amazing, enjoyable and fun all at once. I may get fat from the food (just kidding I will not let that happen) but at least I'll have some European fashion to come back to the states with. And who knows maybe a European girlfriend or some form of royalty? Hey, a kid can dream can't he!

Selfie with the Almudena Cathedral anyone?

HASTA LUEGO.

Are we in Madrid yet?!

Three weeks. Three weeks I have been in Spain. I can't believe it. I've already done and seen so much and my adventure is far from over. Let's do a quick recap of my travels upon arriving in Madrid so far, shall we?

My plane took off from NYC and arrived in Barcelona on Monday, August 18th. It was a smooth ride with some vino (thats wine in Spanish), music and a TV so I could re-watch suits starting with season 1 (I just want to be Harvey). There was a small infant on the plane that kept crying and screaming for about 4/7 hours we were on the plane, so you can imagine my hatred for children at this moment in time... but that's besides the point. Immediately when we landed it was so hot. It was about 97 degrees and I wanted to die.

From Barcelona we went directly to Tarragona where I saw a water festival. 100% the best start to my adventures in Spain. It was so much fun and I got drenched in water (if you didn't put that together) all while enjoying some nice sangria. We also saw the roman amphitheater, basically like the roman colosseum but not as big. Here I fell in love with my new favorite dish, Croquetas. No joke I eat them everywhere. I ate an entire plate one night. Just croquetas. Ask me if I care? Nope. They are like mozzarella sticks but 10x better.

My view in Tarragona

From Tarragona we went to Barcelona, definitely one of the most beautiful cities and my favorite at this point. Barcelona is indescribable. The people are so nice and they are all beautiful. The food is amazing and the clubs are unreal. We went to this club called Opium and I promise you I will be going back. I fell in love with a new clothing store called Pull and Bear. Thank god they have five of them located in Madrid (Am I European Yet?) While in Barcelona we saw the Dali Museum (it's cool if you're into art, but I am not), and we saw La Sagrada Familia, which was designed and partly built by Gaudí (AMAZING, you must go see it). I also recommend staying at Hotel Lleo because, well, it's in the heart of Barcelona and it rocks.

Hotel Lleo view of Barcelona

La Sagrada Familia. Must see. GO INSIDE

Next we went to San Millán in Zaragoza. It was a monastery and yeah it was cool but the guy spoke so fast in Basque (different type of Spanish) that I made up the tour and information as I went along (#American). We only stayed here for a day so it wasn't miserable. Thank god.

HERE COME'S MY FAVORITE CITY. Bilbao. So amazing. So beautiful. So cool to see. We were there during Aste Nagusia (their biggest festival) and it was so crazy. They hate American's so beware, or just don't be American. If you find Hotel Nervion, to the right of it is a place to eat (also on the right) you can't miss it. They have the most amazing sandwiches for 5 euros. Ate there two nights in a row out of my three nights here (no shame right?) I could write an entire essay on Bilbao it's just so perfect. The fireworks are amazing, the Guggenheim museum is ridiculous and it's just so beautiful to walk around. Also, they love to dance here and you have to try to learn it because it is so fun.

Selfie Game on Point. BYE ELLEN

Finally we went to Salamanca. It was nice here. Our hotel wanted us to freeze to death but besides that, you can't go wrong. Also in every hotel, their breakfasts are the same. Eggs, toast, multiple juices, chocolate donuts, some weird coffee machine, multiple types of sausages and eggs. Did I mention eggs? Didn't think so. Salamanca is full of bars and clubs and people trying to get you take a deal and go to their bar. But don't believe them and don't get sideswiped. Ask them to speak english or leave. You will see 100 of them on your walk to any bar and they will all approach you.

I had lunch in Portugal one day! Yup. Just lunch. How cool is that?! Well actually to beat that, I went to Paris one day just to go to the beach. Yeah, the beach. European beaches > America. Actually European everything > America. You will see topless women and men in speedos here, don't say I didn't warn you. Oh and get a crepe. They are to die for. #FatKidProblems

We went to other places in between but these were the main parts. The parts I enjoyed and liked for the most part. There are cathedrals everywhere. I repeat everywhere, and I saw one to three in every city I went to... oiye.

A castle in Burgos

And yeah. That was my Pre-Madrid travel. It was an awesome experience, full of a lot of bread, expensive water and it being so hot outside that I will come back looking like a Victoria Secret's model probably from sweating so much. I'll be sure to post more frequently especially about my time in Madrid so far because well, Madrid is even better.

On our way to France

 Hasta Luego Mis Amigos!