Monday, March 24, 2014

9 months of winter? I'm from Chicago.

So once again, I have been lacking in my blog posts. I swore this wouldn't happen again..buttttttt you know how things go.

Well we are almost to springtime here in Madrid and have been getting some really beautiful weather.  But of course, not everyone feels this way.  The madrileños feel like in Madrid, they have 9 months of winter, 3 months of summer. By the way, the average temperature here in the winter is approximately 53 degrees Fahrenheit. In other words, it was nothing compared to the one that you all have been enjoying stateside.

This is my second stretch from January-July in Spain, and I learned that one of my favorite times in Madrid is the start of spring.  At the beginning of March, that's what we got.  The sun came out, temperatures rose to 70+, jackets came off (or in the case of old madrileña women, the fur coats got switched for wool coats--really, Spain?) and everyone is outside! The parks that I love here- Templo de Debod and Parque del Retiro- are littered with people, the terraces of the restaurants are set up outside, and I finally have an excuse to eat ice cream (not that I really needed one).  This is what I most love about Madrid.  Unfortunately, this next week or so will be a little colder and rainier, but at least we got a taste of what's to come!

In the past few months, I have done a few more cool things here in Spain that I will share with you all.

First of all, I went to a Real Madrid football match at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu! It was really fun!! I really like soccer (thanks, Dubnicka family!) and hadn't seen a professional match here before besides a charity match.  I went with a few of my friends and had a really good time!!! The tickets were not too expensive as it was not a huge game, so it was a really fun thing to do! Plus, it's prepping me for the World Cup this summer!

The view from our seats 

Also, we went to Bilbao and San Sebastian at the end of January.  I had been to San Sebastian before, but not Bilbao, so that was really fun!  The north of Spain is known for its amazing pinxtos.  These are basically tapas on top of a piece of bread and they are incredible.  Luckily, my friends and I all had the agreement that we were going to the north of Spain to eat, and we had some really great food.

Some of the amazing pinxtos at the bars in the north!
The way these pinxto bars work is really cool! Basically, all of the pinxtos are set out on the bar as seen in my picture (sorry for my mediocre photography). Depending on the bar, you can order from the waiter and he will warm them up if need be.  Or, you can just elect whatever you want and grab the pinxto.  Each piece has a toothpick in it that determines the price of the pinxto, and when you're finished, you just count up the number of toothpicks and pay that way.  Last time I was here we didn't really indulge in the pinxto culture, so I was sure to enjoy plenty of them this time around!

Besides eating our way through the weekend, we did walk around each of the towns!  They are both really unique. San Sebastian is on the coast and is absolutely beautiful.  It has an amazing beach called Playa de la Concha, but unfortunately it was really stormy while we were there!! Bilbao is more industrial, but it is still a really cool city home to a cute old town area and the Guggenheim museum (which we didn't go into, but outside).

Beach in San Sebastian 

Spider outside the Guggeinheim in Bilbao!

February was a calmer month.  I didn't go anywhere but stayed in Madrid and had a lot of fun!  My friends had visitors so we did some fun things in Madrid.

One weekend we did go hiking in the mountains of Madrid! We went to Manzanares el Real, which is pretty close by! The trail was fun and it was really nice to get out of the city and do something fun!



Finally March started to feel like spring.  The first weekend we spent outside! The first day we went to a market that we hadn't been to before.  It was really fun but the best part was that outside there was a live band with tons of tables and chairs set up with food and drinks! It felt like summer at home!

Finally, last weekend we went to Las Fallas in Valencia! Las Fallas is their biggest festival that they work on all year.  Literally meaning "failures," the Fallas represent a part of the last year in Spain and are satirical in a sense- they poke fun at the events and the problems of the last year.  Then on the final day, they burn all of them- I guess it symbolizes starting fresh for another year.  This day is always March 19. Unfortunately in Madrid, we didn't get the day off this year so we went the weekend before, when the festivities started!

I arrived on Friday night by the AVE (the high-speed train-- once you use it, you can't go back! It's amazing) after my friends got there Thursday. I arrived to some amazing tapas and we wandered around the town! Saturday was the start of everything! We saw the mascleta which is a huge firecracker display in front of the town hall. It is SO loud- which I was warned of by all of the Spaniards I talked to before I went.  We walked around to see some more Fallas- they were all incredible.

 The festival was a huge family affair-- different from other festivals that are targeted towards young people. Little kids throw firecrackers everywhere (kind of dangerous but you know, it's tradition) and they sell beer in the streets. Some of the makers of the Fallas sell beer from the tap and the euro you pay is a donation to the falla! Kind of cool! We had absolutely perfect weather for it.

That night we went for some amazing paella! Valencia is known for its paella, so we decided to go to a nice dinner for the experience! It was of course incredible. We got paella valenciana, wine, amazing jamon iberico and stayed at dinner for 3 hours! Spanish style. We met some people from Valencia and they showed us around that night!


All in all it was a great weekend!

This past weekend I also was able to see an old friend from high school while she came to Spain to visit her brother! It was really nice to get a taste of home.

So I have about 4 months left in Europe before I go home. I'm starting to get really sad!  I did apply for another year of the program, but am pretty certain I will turn it down.  However 4 months is a long time and is packed with fun trips and visitors, so I can't wait!  I will be going to Germany for spring break in a couple of weeks, so I have a lot to look forward to!

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