This is it. The last day. The last ... oh! In about 24 hours I will be hugging my mom and dad in the Atlanta airport (I hope) ... oh my!
Before I begin, an update on the flight of my Marist companions: Two of them successfully took their original flight on Sunday and arrived home. The others were disappointed at not getting home but their sadness was playcated by a free dinner, free hotel room last night and 600 euros in cash ($800). They left on a flight Madrid-London this morning and at 7 pm tonight took off on a London-New York flight. They are now on their way home (a little more than a day later) but I am glad they are home. However, please everyone hope that I don't encounter that delay. PLEASE!
Ok, now to today ... Elena and I enjoyed sleeping in (as we both do) and rose around 11:30. We both made it to the couch (under blankets again) and watched one of my most favorite Christmas movies: Love Actually. I had to do a tiny bit of translating (there is one scene where an entire conversation is written in English on these big poster cards) but it went well ... and she liked it :) After this we siesta-ed (a great thing for my last day in Spain I think) and then we began decorating. We put up sparkly things on the doors. We put out red decorations on the tables. We hing the light-up star in the window. But, out work of art for the day was the tree! Elena bought a real tree last year and it died and shed needles everywhere. So she is thinking about buying a fake tree in the future. So, Elena's brother had brought her some branchy branches from teh country to make a tree ... which we did! The tree consists of two natural branches, and a big single branch in the back painted gold and accented with gold glitter. We did all the painting and glittering ourselves (Elena prefers handmade decorations to store-bought ones). I still have glitter all over my clothes, hands (and face, according to Elena). The tree came out beautifully though. I wrapped some of the branches with tiny red tinsel and we decorated it with only red and gold ornaments. Oh it is so pretty!!! I am trying to take some pictures that do it justice, but I won'd be able to put them up until I get home to a computer (thanks to my dead laptop). I love the decorated house though and it makes me sad to leave it ... but at least I could help make it cheerful for the holidays since I have to leave Elena here by herself. I am going to really miss her, but we have promised to keep in touch - and we are facebook friends so that helps (one of the many benefits of having a younger señora).
I also taught Elena to make chocolate covered pretzles today! It brought me back to memories of sitting in our dorm room last year with wax paper covering our tiny sofa and making them with my girls. Miss you guys and see you soon!!! :) Elena loved it and we now have two papers full, drying in the kitchen. What a wonderful Christmassy day! And the perfect way to spend my last day with Elena, who has made my experience here wonderful!!!
Now, as I sit here, I am a few hours away from bed. (After a supper of tortilla española I think :D ). Then tomorrow morning I rise early to allow extra, extra time for the metro to the airport ... my last metro. My last flight out of Madrid. My flight home. I leave at 11:30 and am Atlanta bound where my parents will be waiting for me. I cannot wait to see you guys!! I have missed you TONS but I have had an unbelievable, unforgettable semester. Thank you so much. And thanks to my loyal readers. I'll see ou guys soon too :)
For now, signing out for the last time from Spain, yours truly, the Kid in (but about to leave) Madrid! ... Besos a todos. Hasta ahora :)
Monday, December 6, 2010
Mi Último Domingo
This is it ... my last 48 hours in Spain. Oh my. I remember when the count was over 100 days. What happened? Well, a lot i guess. According to the blogs anyway. But that doesn't mean that I can't make a little more happen before I come home. So ...Today, my last Sunday, John and I decided to do one more Spanish mass, this time at La Iglesia de San Francisco, El Grande. Now this was a huge church. So I am assuming that El Grande refers to the largeness of the church itself and is not a comment on 
the largeness of San Francisco's waistline. This church is known for the large dome (something like the largest in ... Spain, maybe?). It was beautifully painted and the mass was nice.
the largeness of San Francisco's waistline. This church is known for the large dome (something like the largest in ... Spain, maybe?). It was beautifully painted and the mass was nice. After mass we had a few things on our agenda ... we were heading to the Prado to see a Renior exhibit. But first we wanted to have Chocolate con Churros and a Calamares Bocadillo. In that order. We went first so San Gines for a last taste of chocolate con churros. 
¡Qué rico! Then we went to El Brillante, for "Madrid's best calamares bocadillo" (fried squid sandwich). I have come to adore these ... and am sad to leave them! This was a wonderful goodbye Madrid lunch! Then, we made our way to the Prado only to find the Renior exhibit sold out. Oh well. This weekend was a long, holiday weekend in Madrid and everything seemed a but more crowded. However, I have been so lucky to see TONS of artistic masterpieces today so missing this one wasn't too devastating. So, we continued with our other possible outing and went to see a movie. The movie Biutiful (with Javier Bardem) opened this past weekend and has had some Oscar talk around it. John had heard of it and stays up on the movies so I took his word for it and we went. Additionally, this movie would be our final Spanish test as it was entirely in Spanish with no subtitles. It was a very good movie and I found myself a few times just watching it and enjoying it ... like any other movie. That was incredible. However, then a line would come out too fast or with unfamilar words and I would be reminded that however much I have learned here ... my Spanish education is not yet over and I know I will continue with it when I return :) Anyway, I recommend the movie. It's hard at some points and confusing at others but I enjoyed it very much. To my fellow students of Spanish I encourage you to watch it while looking at the subtitles as little as possible :) After the movie I said goodbye to John (until we both return to Stetson) and went back home for supper and bed. One day left! ¡¡¡No puedo crearlo!!!
¡Qué rico! Then we went to El Brillante, for "Madrid's best calamares bocadillo" (fried squid sandwich). I have come to adore these ... and am sad to leave them! This was a wonderful goodbye Madrid lunch! Then, we made our way to the Prado only to find the Renior exhibit sold out. Oh well. This weekend was a long, holiday weekend in Madrid and everything seemed a but more crowded. However, I have been so lucky to see TONS of artistic masterpieces today so missing this one wasn't too devastating. So, we continued with our other possible outing and went to see a movie. The movie Biutiful (with Javier Bardem) opened this past weekend and has had some Oscar talk around it. John had heard of it and stays up on the movies so I took his word for it and we went. Additionally, this movie would be our final Spanish test as it was entirely in Spanish with no subtitles. It was a very good movie and I found myself a few times just watching it and enjoying it ... like any other movie. That was incredible. However, then a line would come out too fast or with unfamilar words and I would be reminded that however much I have learned here ... my Spanish education is not yet over and I know I will continue with it when I return :) Anyway, I recommend the movie. It's hard at some points and confusing at others but I enjoyed it very much. To my fellow students of Spanish I encourage you to watch it while looking at the subtitles as little as possible :) After the movie I said goodbye to John (until we both return to Stetson) and went back home for supper and bed. One day left! ¡¡¡No puedo crearlo!!!Saturday, December 4, 2010
Well I'm Bummed :(
I have sad news my friends. I did not have the pleasure of spending the day with my wonderful friend Kaleb. His flight was indeed cancelled. Stupid strike. What was worse (for both of us) was that they cancelled it 15 minutes before departure. He took the train from Avignon to the airport in Marseilles, went through security and everthing just so that (15 muintes before borading) they could cancel the flight ... ¡Qué PENA! Plus, because of limited inter-country communication while in Europe, I then went to the airport and waited for a bit before asking an official about his flights. He told me that Ryanair had cancelled everything (even if the board still said it was flying). So we both returned home sad not to be spending the weekend together. Boo!!! But, at the very least I we have the pleasure of returning to the US to the same place and we can see each other next semester.
So today, after our flight fiasco, Lindsay and I met up. We made a final trip to the Corte Ingles. Then we met up with John and did some Geocaching!!! For those of you who are not familiar with this very fun
passtime I shall breifly. To geocache you must have a GPS. Then you log onto geocaching.com where you can find information on caches. People have hidden these caches all over the world. Caches are usually a small box or film canister. Sometimes they have things in them but they might just have a log to sign. The main fun of geocaching is not in what you find but in the act of finding itself! This website then has the GPS coordinates where each cache is located and usually information about the location (and sometimes a few hints about how to find it). It is really fun - believe me! And today we found three!!! When I went to the Czech Republic in May 2009, I geocached with friends. So I have now been caching in 3 countries. Woo-hoo!
After this we took John to Cortilandia because he hadn't seen it. Then we went to a bar for drinks and reflective chatting on our last night as a trio. Finally, we considered seeking out Chocolate con Churros but it was cold and places were crowded so John and I might do that tomorrow. All in all, the day was certaintly not a waste, but I wish I could have spent it with Kaleb. Thus are the pains of this crisis .... but I wish that it wouldn't mess up the travel plans of my friends! I am now hoping that the Marist group flies tomorrow without too many problems. My thoughts are with them. Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy my last two days in the city ... oh how short a time that is! Besos.
So today, after our flight fiasco, Lindsay and I met up. We made a final trip to the Corte Ingles. Then we met up with John and did some Geocaching!!! For those of you who are not familiar with this very fun
passtime I shall breifly. To geocache you must have a GPS. Then you log onto geocaching.com where you can find information on caches. People have hidden these caches all over the world. Caches are usually a small box or film canister. Sometimes they have things in them but they might just have a log to sign. The main fun of geocaching is not in what you find but in the act of finding itself! This website then has the GPS coordinates where each cache is located and usually information about the location (and sometimes a few hints about how to find it). It is really fun - believe me! And today we found three!!! When I went to the Czech Republic in May 2009, I geocached with friends. So I have now been caching in 3 countries. Woo-hoo!
After this we took John to Cortilandia because he hadn't seen it. Then we went to a bar for drinks and reflective chatting on our last night as a trio. Finally, we considered seeking out Chocolate con Churros but it was cold and places were crowded so John and I might do that tomorrow. All in all, the day was certaintly not a waste, but I wish I could have spent it with Kaleb. Thus are the pains of this crisis .... but I wish that it wouldn't mess up the travel plans of my friends! I am now hoping that the Marist group flies tomorrow without too many problems. My thoughts are with them. Meanwhile, I am going to enjoy my last two days in the city ... oh how short a time that is! Besos.
Friday, December 3, 2010
No more classes! So let's party it up!!
Thursday a grand thing happened. I went to campus, took an Arte Exam with that my fall semester ended! I left campus for the final time and am now on winter break until mid-January. ¡Que guay!
Thursday afternoon I packed a bit, skyped a bit and rested a bit. Then, I dressed up for a night on the town with our whole program. We went first to Isabel's house for a final Christmas party. She has a tini-tiny flat but she still had us all over. There wasn't room for everyone to sit, but this past semester we've become close so it was perfect. We arrived to a table covered with yummy treats. She had tons of food including many Christmas treats like turron, candy covered pine nuts, chocolate three kings and the torta de Reyes tradicional (traditional 3 kings cake). We chatted and finished final business (like program evaluations). During the end of the party Steph revealed the "superlative game" that she had prepared for our final party. She had written superlatives (most likely to...) on slips of paper for us to read out and award. It was great because they weren't generic ones. She had written them specifically about out trip so the game turned into a memory of the semester and all we've done. And what was I awarded? Most likely to be a Señora, Most likely to look like their mom (mom and I got pegged as twins when whe visited), Most likely to return to Spain and Most likely to write a book (this is based mainly on their reading of my lengthy blog entries). After this wonderful party, we did a hard thing. We said goodbye to Isabel. We don't have plans to see her again before we leave ... so this night was goodbye. She cae downstairs with us to say goodbye and it was sad. However, we were cheered by the suprise of falling snowflakes outside (and Isabel's adorable face when she saw the snow). We took a final picture and gave her big hugs. Goodbye Isable, the best program director ever. Thanks for everything! And come visit Stetson so I can see you again!!
Then, after this party, we had decided to go out as a group. This would me my first time really saliendo por la noche (going out, and this time later than the last metro) ... and I figured I would give it my best efforts. We started our night by botellón-ing (enjoy my Spainglish). Botella means bottle in Spanish and to botellón is to drink in the open air (aka, parks, streets, plazas). Drinking in the streets is totally legal in Spain and it is a much cheaper way to drink than buying drinks in the clubs and bars. Lindsay and I classily split a 1.30 euro box of red wine. It tasted alright actually, which was suprising. We botellóned on the metro to our intended bar, and we arrived feeling relaxed and ready to dance. The bar is called Leche de Pantera (Panther's milk). The inside is made to look like a cave and it was a neat bar. Its name comes from the fish bowl drinks (to share) that they sell ... Leche de Pantera because the taste like spiked chocolate milk (someone described it as a giant white russian, but having never had a white russian I cannot defend nor deny this statement). I actually didn't get anything at the bar except a glass of water because I was bubbly enough with the wine I had on the way. This bar was a blast. The music was fun, it wasn't too very crowded and we had a big group to dance with. There were only a few hiccups. When we first arrived, a group of Spanish boys insisted on playing darts where we wanted to dance. We all decided that a dartboard in a bar where there is lots of dancing = a bad idea. No one got hit though, and the stopped playing after a bit, which was much appreciated. Also, there was blue-striped shirt guy ... the very persistant Spainard who wouldn't take No, Gracias for an answer and returned no less than half a dozen times seeking a dance partern. It got to the point that Lindsay and I (my fellow non-single lady) developed a strategy. When he came near, we danced with each other. I would grab her shoulder and we'd hold hands and close him out. This was very successful. Lindsay and I made good "novias españolas" since we weren't looking for "novios" here :) This made dancing much more fun as we were able to defer all unwanted advances. We danced until 3 when the bar closed. After this, we contemplated moving to another bar or club and staying out till the metro re-opened at 6 am ... but tired from our night, 6 of us decided to head home. But first, we stopped in Sol at the 24 hour Pizza shop for warm slices of heaven. After this, I ended up home and in bed around 4:30 am. I was dead tired ... and this is still earlier than the average Spanish night out (all nighters). But I had a great time going out with everyone and it was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of the semester!!
Friday morning, I woke without an alarm at 11:00 am. This was earlier than I had expected but I felt well rested. I think I slept solidly for those 7 hours so they felt like longer. The first thing I did upon getting up was shower. My hair reeked of tobacco smoke (as well as did my clothes from last night). I am looking forward to returning to the land of "No Smoking"establishments!! During the day I rested and packed a little more. I skyped a little and made evening plans. At 5 I met John and we went out the end of the green metro line to Caso de Campos. This land used to be the king's old hunting grounds. Now it is the location of the Zoo, Aquarium and Amusement Park. We didn't arrive early enough to enter any of these things but we walked around the area and peeked through the fence at some of the animals. It wasn't a long outing, because it has gotten quite cold. But, it was nice to get out of the house for a bit and see yet another part of Madrid. I returned home for an evening with Elena, eating dinner, talking about out days and watching a little TV. It was nice. We also discussed a worrying piece of news: an Air Traffic Controlers Strike started today without warning all across Spain ... cancelling ALL FLIGHTS in and out of these airports today. This is bad news bears for 2 reasons. One, my friend Kaleb (a re-appearing figure in this blog) is scheduled to fly into the Madrid airport tomorrow morning. I am worried about his flight. The flights are scheduled to re-open at 1:00 am though so I am keeping my fingers crossed. Two, I am of course thinking about my own flight, the very important one back home, and praying that it is not affected. Elena says that these strikes are usually concentrated on puentes (long holiday weekends like this one) and that my Tuesday flight should hopefully remain unaffected. However, the entire Marist group is scheduled to fly out Sunday. Oh my. Too much to worry about and we know too little about how long it will last right now. But for now, I just hope that Kaleb can get here safely to enjoy a weekend in Madrid with us a tour guides. Here's hoping!
Thursday afternoon I packed a bit, skyped a bit and rested a bit. Then, I dressed up for a night on the town with our whole program. We went first to Isabel's house for a final Christmas party. She has a tini-tiny flat but she still had us all over. There wasn't room for everyone to sit, but this past semester we've become close so it was perfect. We arrived to a table covered with yummy treats. She had tons of food including many Christmas treats like turron, candy covered pine nuts, chocolate three kings and the torta de Reyes tradicional (traditional 3 kings cake). We chatted and finished final business (like program evaluations). During the end of the party Steph revealed the "superlative game" that she had prepared for our final party. She had written superlatives (most likely to...) on slips of paper for us to read out and award. It was great because they weren't generic ones. She had written them specifically about out trip so the game turned into a memory of the semester and all we've done. And what was I awarded? Most likely to be a Señora, Most likely to look like their mom (mom and I got pegged as twins when whe visited), Most likely to return to Spain and Most likely to write a book (this is based mainly on their reading of my lengthy blog entries). After this wonderful party, we did a hard thing. We said goodbye to Isabel. We don't have plans to see her again before we leave ... so this night was goodbye. She cae downstairs with us to say goodbye and it was sad. However, we were cheered by the suprise of falling snowflakes outside (and Isabel's adorable face when she saw the snow). We took a final picture and gave her big hugs. Goodbye Isable, the best program director ever. Thanks for everything! And come visit Stetson so I can see you again!!Then, after this party, we had decided to go out as a group. This would me my first time really saliendo por la noche (going out, and this time later than the last metro) ... and I figured I would give it my best efforts. We started our night by botellón-ing (enjoy my Spainglish). Botella means bottle in Spanish and to botellón is to drink in the open air (aka, parks, streets, plazas). Drinking in the streets is totally legal in Spain and it is a much cheaper way to drink than buying drinks in the clubs and bars. Lindsay and I classily split a 1.30 euro box of red wine. It tasted alright actually, which was suprising. We botellóned on the metro to our intended bar, and we arrived feeling relaxed and ready to dance. The bar is called Leche de Pantera (Panther's milk). The inside is made to look like a cave and it was a neat bar. Its name comes from the fish bowl drinks (to share) that they sell ... Leche de Pantera because the taste like spiked chocolate milk (someone described it as a giant white russian, but having never had a white russian I cannot defend nor deny this statement). I actually didn't get anything at the bar except a glass of water because I was bubbly enough with the wine I had on the way. This bar was a blast. The music was fun, it wasn't too very crowded and we had a big group to dance with. There were only a few hiccups. When we first arrived, a group of Spanish boys insisted on playing darts where we wanted to dance. We all decided that a dartboard in a bar where there is lots of dancing = a bad idea. No one got hit though, and the stopped playing after a bit, which was much appreciated. Also, there was blue-striped shirt guy ... the very persistant Spainard who wouldn't take No, Gracias for an answer and returned no less than half a dozen times seeking a dance partern. It got to the point that Lindsay and I (my fellow non-single lady) developed a strategy. When he came near, we danced with each other. I would grab her shoulder and we'd hold hands and close him out. This was very successful. Lindsay and I made good "novias españolas" since we weren't looking for "novios" here :) This made dancing much more fun as we were able to defer all unwanted advances. We danced until 3 when the bar closed. After this, we contemplated moving to another bar or club and staying out till the metro re-opened at 6 am ... but tired from our night, 6 of us decided to head home. But first, we stopped in Sol at the 24 hour Pizza shop for warm slices of heaven. After this, I ended up home and in bed around 4:30 am. I was dead tired ... and this is still earlier than the average Spanish night out (all nighters). But I had a great time going out with everyone and it was a wonderful way to celebrate the end of the semester!!
Friday morning, I woke without an alarm at 11:00 am. This was earlier than I had expected but I felt well rested. I think I slept solidly for those 7 hours so they felt like longer. The first thing I did upon getting up was shower. My hair reeked of tobacco smoke (as well as did my clothes from last night). I am looking forward to returning to the land of "No Smoking"establishments!! During the day I rested and packed a little more. I skyped a little and made evening plans. At 5 I met John and we went out the end of the green metro line to Caso de Campos. This land used to be the king's old hunting grounds. Now it is the location of the Zoo, Aquarium and Amusement Park. We didn't arrive early enough to enter any of these things but we walked around the area and peeked through the fence at some of the animals. It wasn't a long outing, because it has gotten quite cold. But, it was nice to get out of the house for a bit and see yet another part of Madrid. I returned home for an evening with Elena, eating dinner, talking about out days and watching a little TV. It was nice. We also discussed a worrying piece of news: an Air Traffic Controlers Strike started today without warning all across Spain ... cancelling ALL FLIGHTS in and out of these airports today. This is bad news bears for 2 reasons. One, my friend Kaleb (a re-appearing figure in this blog) is scheduled to fly into the Madrid airport tomorrow morning. I am worried about his flight. The flights are scheduled to re-open at 1:00 am though so I am keeping my fingers crossed. Two, I am of course thinking about my own flight, the very important one back home, and praying that it is not affected. Elena says that these strikes are usually concentrated on puentes (long holiday weekends like this one) and that my Tuesday flight should hopefully remain unaffected. However, the entire Marist group is scheduled to fly out Sunday. Oh my. Too much to worry about and we know too little about how long it will last right now. But for now, I just hope that Kaleb can get here safely to enjoy a weekend in Madrid with us a tour guides. Here's hoping!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Uniformed men on horseback and Nuns who make cookies
It hit me today that I am in the "less than a week" period. In less that a week now I will be home. I am incredibly excited to see you guys. I have missed you terribly and welcome the sight of your faces smiling at me (outside of my computer screen). However, as I was walking from Sol to Plaza Mayor today ... it hit me that I am going to really miss these streets. This is the first city that I have gotten to know almost completely on my own. Madrid has been a wonderful home to me these past few months so these feelings are not surprising. But I will miss her. And the shorter my time here, the more I realize that. These streets are familiar now and I love walking them. And I know that it will be hard to leave them. But I have to. And all I can do is hope to revisit them soon. Ok, enough sappy reflection ...
So today Lindsay checked a few more things of our Madrid bucket list. The first of these was to buy cookies from the nuns! These are the cloistered nuns that make cookies and sell them through a lazy susan so that they can remain cloistered ... after already having tried this a few times unsuccessfully, I had my fingers crossed. I pushed the buzzer and heard a nun-ish voice reply "¿Hola? ¿Dulces?" Dulces were what we wanted so I answered Sí! and she buzzed us in. We walked through a passage, then through a small courtyard and finally into another small hallawy to the a brown window with a lazy susan in it. There the crackly voice of a nun called out to us and told us that they only had almond cookies right now. They were making others but they wouldn't be ready until 11:30. We said almond were fine and the laz susan whirled around with a box of cookies sitting there. This was exciting. We got our cookies (I even got normal change - a 5 euro bill) and made out way back outside. Nun candies at last!
Then we continued on to a cafe for a much needed café con leche to combat the cold. We warmed up in a cosy corner and drank our coffee as we reviewed history notes together. Then at 11:30 we paid and went to the Palace to get a spot to watch the Solemn Changing of the Gaurd. This event only happens the first Wednesday of every month so this was our chance to see it! It was pretty impressive. The show started as mounted uniformed soldiers on horses appeared from the side of the palace at about 11:45. We watched them process and followed
them into the plaza between the Cathedral and the Palace. They trotted around in a circle for a while before entering the Palace courtyard. They performed some neat military style formations. Then a band came from around the corner (from whence the horses came) followed my men with rifels. They too continued into the courtyard. They mounted men, foot soldiers, mounted band and foot band played and marched for a while. An announcer then came on to tell us about the history of this unit and its importance ... this was a good tiny review for our exam later that day. The show continued until at about 11:35 two men switched places with two other men who had been just standing there the whole time (and the gaurd was changed). Then they all processed out again and the show was over. It was very impressive and I am glad we got to see it while we were here. 
After this we too the necessary metros and busses to get to school. There we ate lunch and studied, studied, studied until our 4 o´clock history exam. Lots of writing, my hand hurt after ... but if all goes well I think I came out ok in that class. Now I sit back under my favorite leopard print blanket, writing a blog as I study for another exam, Art this time. The only exceptional thing about this exam: It is the LAST ONE!
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