Week 24: It's Not Adios, Just Hasta Luego

"Porque Madrid, en realidad, no es nada especial. No tiene un gran río. Ni apenas rascacielos. Ni canales, ni lago. Ni gloriosas ruinas. Ni mar. A Madrid, le falta muchas cosas. Pero tiene la gente por las calles. El rincón inesperado. La variedad. El contraste. La animación constante. Y sus costumbres. Vale la pena levantarse temprano--por una sola vez--para vivir un día la vida de Madrid."

I stumbled across this gem this past week, and it only seemed fitting to include it in my last post. It says: in reality, Madrid isn't anything special. It doesn't have a great river. Or a lot of skyscrapers. It doesn't have canals or a lake. Or glorious ruins. Or the sea. Madrid is missing a lot of things--but the people, the madrileños, make up for it. The unexpected corners and plazas. The variety, the constrast, the constant movement. And the customs and traditiona, it's worth the pain of getting up early--at least once--to live a day in the life of a madrileño.

To me, this captures Madrid perfectly. When you hear people talk about the big European cities, Madrid seems to be overlooked in favor of Barcelona, Rome, Paris, London, etc. Because Madrid lacks a lot of the sights that most people associate with Europe, but Madrid has something better than that--the people and the madrileño lifestyle. I've never met people more friendly and in love with life. Living here for the past six months has taught me a lot, but most importantly its taught me how to be flexible and stop and smell the roses. Why waste the day stressing out over things I have no control over, when I can walk down the street to Parque del Oeste, Templo Dubod, or walk down Princesa and Gran Vía into Sol, or spend the afternoon laying in Retiro?  Madrileños, and Spainards, amaze me, and I'm bringing part of them back with me. 

This past week has been bittersweet because as excited as I am to be going home, seeing my friends and family, celebrating my birthday, and getting ready for my senior year at Purdue; it also means that I have had to say goodbye to all the wonderful people I've met and say goodbye to my favorite places in the city. 

To my parents, thank you for giving me the opportunity to live my dream and see the world. I've dreamt of living in Spain since I was a junior in high school, and now I can happily say I've achieved it. 

To Amy, Mamen, Diana and Ksenja, thank you so much for all the support and encouragement you have given us through the past six months. You encouraged us to completely submerge ourselves in la vida madrileña and gave us the opportunity to be completely independent here.

To Purdue Study Abroad, thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate in the WIPT program. I first learned about this program when I was a senior in high school, and it's one of the main reasons I chose to do my undergrad at Purdue. After hearing all about the WIPT program, and now having participated in it myself, I can say that it truly is one of the best study abroad programs in Madrid.

To Madrid, I love everything about this city and I feel as though a piece of me is staying here. But, that's okay, because I'm coming back for it. So, I'll be seeing you real soon :)

Hasta luego y besitos,

Kelsey

Week 23: A Cautionary Tale of Fog, Skinny Jeans, and Goats (Also, Horse Drama)

Welcome back, dear readers!

I learned three very important life lessons this week and I can practically hear you all asking me: Kelsey, what do fog, skinny jeans, and goats have to do with any of that? My answer to that is all in good time, my dears, all in good time. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

This all started a few months ago, when my friend Amber told me about a national park, called Picos de Europa, up in Northern Spain. She really wanted to go and spend a few days hiking after finals, and I figured #YOLO (you only live once--espesh in Spain) so I got on board and we made all of the necessary arrangements and boom, here we are.

Picos de Europa (Peaks of Europe) is located between three different regions of Spain: Asturias, Cantabria, and Castilla y Leon. The name stems from way back when sailors would sail to Europe from the Americas, the Picos were the first glimpse of Europe they would see. The Picos is a massive park, we opted to stay as far into the park as we could, in Fuente Dé. We stayed at the Parador de Fuente Dé, which is literally the last bit of civilization before the mountains and the swankiest place I've stayed while in Europe. Our view was gorgeous, and it faced the mountains (which were huge--obvi).

Getting to Fuente Dé is a little hairy this time of year. We took a bus from Madrid to Santander (which I almost missed, thank you alarm clock), had a lovely little layover in Santander (in which I nursed a nasty migraine), took a bus from Santander to Potes, and finally a cab from Potes to Fuente Dé. It was quite the long day of traveling (12 hours of buses and cars), but so worth it!

Now, onto the life lessons. Life lesson number one: fog (and clouds) are cold. We learned this the hard way by taking the teleferico (the gondola-tram thingy) up to the top of one of the Picos, which had an altitude of 1,048 meters. It was foggy/cloudy and rainy all day, but that didn't stop us! When we reached the top, after going through the mist, we embarked on our planned 7-hour hike. Needless to say, the rain, fog-cloud, and wind prevented that. It was freezing. We played in the snow, got soaking wet, and then promptly decided we would be better of hiking at a lower altitude for the rest of the day. So, future hikers note this: even if you're wearing jeans, tennis shoes, a tshirt, a sweatshirt, and a jacket in the middle of June, fog is still cold. 

Life lesson number two: skinny jeans absorb water. Especially ones that have a heck of a lot more cotton than denim in them. How did I learn this lesson? The hard way, naturally. After coming back down the mountain, we had a lovely little break and ate some lunch and warmed ourselves up. We decided that, even though it was raining, we wanted to get out and wander around a bit. So we decided to go to Espinama, which is the next closest town to us and only 3.5 km away! So we bundled back up, and set off on our merry way. Even though we were freezing, and the rain just kept coming, the 7 km (roundtrip) walk was worth it. Picos is gorgeous and we found some pretty awesome views and an amazing river, as well as a trailhead for a new hike. However, by the time we got to Espinama my jeans were thouroughly soaked, as was Amber's jacket. So we decided to leave that trail for another day and headed back to the hostel. While we walked back, we regaled the Spainish mountainside with some good, old-fashioned American camp songs. Even though both Amber and I were completely drenched, it was still a ton of fun. Moral of the story: wear thick denim, and have a waterproof jacket--better yet, bring an umbrella!

Life lesson number three: when hiking, if you have a choice between the harder half of the trail and the easier, pick the easier one. As I learned, the harder half of the trail doesn't necessarily mean it has more rocks to climb over, it means that it is ridiculously steep and there are goats on the trail. Yes, goats. That probably sounds a little cray, but it happened. 

Amber and I got up and took the teleferico back up to the top and hiked down through the Picos. It was absolutely gorgeous--the views were amazing and it felt like we were in a movie (Think Lord of the Rings, or the end of The Sound of Music). We hiked about 10.5 km which took about 4 hours. After a quick lunch break, we headed onto our next hike, which was supposed to be a circle from Espinama through some other towns before ending back in Espinama. The hike was quite rigourous, we hiked some insanely steep hills, hopped over some really big puddles, saw some amazing waterfalls, and almost got stampeded by goats. Now, for those of you who don't know this about me, I'm not a big animal person--I'm terrified of birds (no, I haven't seen the movie the Birds, nor do I plan on it), and big, barking dogs kind of scare me. So, imagine my surprise when we're merrily hiking along, and what to our wondering eyes should appear, but a herd of goats being shepareded by three quite large dogs. Luckily, Amber was there and she appeased the dogs (who, were really quite friendly), and led me through the herd of goats while I hid behind her. It was quite terrifying. 

We proceded to hike along until we got to the halfway point and realized the trail for the other half of the hike wasn't very well marked and not very clear, so we hiked back along the carretera (freeway) to Fuente De. So, kids, what have we learned from this story? Pick the easier path. You probs will not have to climb super steep hills and you won't have to navegate through a sea of goats.

Now, where does the horse drama play into this, you ask. Welp, outside of our hotel room was a gorgeous view of the mountains, complete with horses and cows. Every day, Amber and I ate breakfast and dinner in our little sun room and watched the animals, that had some silly antics. Basically, a mini-Trojan war (complete with Hector, Paris, Helen, and Ulyses) was happening with the horses that lived in our field. It was quite entertaining to watch them chase each other around and fight over Helen (Amber and I took mythology together this semester and, as you can see, we've found ways to relate it to the real world). We also met Moo-Moo and Moo-Boo, who were the cutest little cow calfs I've ever seen.

All in all, Picos has been amazing. It was such a great way to relax after a stressful semester, seriously nothing is more relaxing than hiking through the mountains. 

Besitos,

Kelsey

Week 22: Madrileña Traditions

This week, dear readers, I spent some quality time in the city and I was able to experience two Madrid traditions. The first is la Feria de los Libros in Retiro. The Feria is pretty much a giant book market. Seriously, all of y'all who have been to the Taste of Chicago imagine that, but instead of selling food the vendors are selling books. It was pretty incredible to see so many people flock to Retiro and the different booths (each one was for a different bookstore/library). 

A few of my friends and I wandered aroud Retiro for a bit and we attempted to hide out in the shade of the park. Summertime has hit Madrid, this past week it was 95 and up. My piso has been pretty unbearable because of the heat and lack of A/C, fortunately for us the temperature has dropped about 20 degrees so we were able to enjoy being outside without absolutely melting.

The second tradition I saw was a bull fight; I'm not gonna lie, but it was definitely not something I would do again. The stadium was really pretty, and I liked all the matador costumes, and I didn't mind the first part of the fight where they tease the bull a bit, but the minute they started to hurt it, I was done. My friends and I only stayed for about half of it because we were starting to not feel so great while watching it. Though, I have to say, I'm glad I went because I have a feeling its going to die out pretty soon. Its a slightly controversial problem in Spain  because a lot of animal rights groups are very against it because its pretty much torturing the bull.

Anyways, I've only got fourteen days left in Madrid (Seriously, where did the past 6 months go?!?!), and the rest of this week I will be in the Picos de Europa hiking with one of my friends. Until next time!

Besitos,

Kelsey

Week 21: Summer!

Hello, everyone!

I'm in an extremely cheerful mood and I'm sure y'all are just dying to find out why. I have just completed my Complutense exam, which I think I rocked, which means I am officially on SUMMER now! I'm feeling really accomplished, I've taken two courses at one of the best universities in Spain and I managed to do fairly well! Now, we just have to play the waiting game until I get my grades back!

As for what I'm going to do for the rest of my summer in Spain, who knows? Explore my city, go the El Escorial, hit up the mountains for some hiking, go to the amusement park? No matter what I end up doing, I hope these next three weeks absolutely drag on because no matter how excited I am for all the shenanigans I have planned, its going to be impossible to say goodbye to Madrid. But, that's a problem for another day!

Besitos,
Kelsey

Week 20: Light at the End

Welp, folks, the title says it all. My first three finals are done and I don't have to start thinking about my last one for the next few days.

This week was rather bittersweet for many reasons. First, the family has left me to go home for the summer. Its quite sad because I've gotten used to having them on the same time zone as me and I really enjoyed being able to show them around my city :) Second, the end of Reunidas. While I'm really quite happy that my exams are over and I no longer have any more class, that also means that I only have ONE MONTH left in Madrid, which is a very sad and depressing thought--so I'm studiously ignoring that fact.

To celebrate being done with (most) of our classes, my friends and I decided to go to San Sebastian, which is up in Basque country. I think this is one of the trips that I was most excited about. One of my Spanish profs was from Basque country [oh, Ager...], and ever since I took his class, I've wanted to go!

Speaking of Basque country, they speak Euskara there. Its kind of fascinating because Euskara is, like, a phantom language--meaning no one knows where it comes from because it is not latin or germanic based. Its an odd looking language, but most everyone spoke Spanish, so we were fine.

The food was delish! They do pintxos (tapas) there, and when you go into a bar its just covered in different plates with different pintxos on them. Most of them were bacalao (cod) based because San Seabass is right on the ocean. They were really yummy!

San Sebastian is pretty much a cove--it has a huge beach (which is in the top 3 best beaches of Europe). Unfortunately it has been freezing here in Spain (seriously, Wheaton and West Lala have been at least 10 degrees warmer than Madrid/Spain has been for the past few weeks), so we didn't get to lay on the beach and swim. But we walked in the sand a lot.

We went to the aquarium while we were there. It was kind of awesome--they had a huge underwater tunnel with sharks and stingrays and green turtles swimming around. We saw some jellies, starfish, and these really awesome cuttlefish that we had an epic staring contest with. We also may or may not have sat in front of one of the giant tanks staring at the fish for 40 minutes.

We also went to the top of one of the mountains via the funicular (tramway). It was really fun. At the top there was a little amusement park, but a lot of the stuff was closed because it was empty.

All in all, I really liked San Sebastian and I would love to go back when its a bit warmer out!

XOXO,
Kelsey

Week 19: Catenas Take Spain (Round Two)

¡Hola a mis queridos lectores!

So, final exams are officially underway which means I'm a wee bit stressed out right now. For some reason, these exams have me way for stressed than normal--probably becuase they are 70% of my grade!

Anyways, while the fam was in Barça this week I was studying for finals. They got back to Madrid on Friday afternoon and we did some exploring around my neighborhood and got some dinner near Palacio Real.

We went to Segovia on Saturday. It was awesome, we got to see the Roman aquecduct, which was 9 miles long and carried water from the river and mountains by Segovia to the city. It's held together without any mortar, just these giant rocks! It was really incredible to see! We also went to the Catedral, which looked very similar to the Catedral in Salamanca. We went to the Alcazar as well. Unfortunately it isn't the original, but it was still cool to see. It's Mudéjar style, which means its a combination of Moorish and Christian architecture. Ross and I climbed 152 to the top of the tower and got to see and awesome view of the city.

Today, Mom, Dad, and Ross are headed to Granada and Sevilla before coming back to Madrid one last time before heading home. I apologize for the lack of pictures, but I'm having some technical problems so I'll just have to show y'all when I get home!

As for me, I'm going to San Sebastian in Basque Country next weekend! I'm really excited, I've always wanted to go there!

Its back to the books for me, wish me luck!

Besitos,
Kelsey

Week 18: Catenas Take Spain (Round One)

Hola!

So this week was pretty boring, just the average week: class, studied, saw some fireworks in Retiro. Oh, right, and MOM, DAD, AND ROSS ARE HERE!

Classes are winding down, I have to turn in my two term papers this week and I have 3 finals next week. I'm not really ready for them, and I have a crazy hectic schedule for group study seshs this week. But I just have to get through the next two weeks and then I have pretty much a solid month of pure Madrid and travel before coming home [with a Complu exam thrown in the middle]. It's so crazy to think that my semester is wrapping up. I'm part glad because I'm almost done with classes, but I'm also really sad because its getting closer and closer to July 1st [aka back to the States].

Anywhos, this week was the San Isidro festival in Madrid. San Isidro is the patron saint of Madrid, so there were tons of street fairs and cultural stuff going on. Unfortunately, I was bogged down with a ridiculous amount of studying in preperation for finals so I didn't get to participate in a lot of the things. But, my friends and I took a nice little study break to go to the fireworks in Retiro. They were some of the best fireworks I've ever seen--they were coordinated along to classical music. Seriously, the 4th of July fireworks had nothing on these!

On Saturday, I got up bright and early to pick up Mom, Dad, and Ross from the airport. I taught them how to navigate the metro and we did a lot of walking on the first day. We walked around through Sol, Plaza Mayor, and Old Madrid. We also went into Palacio Real--which was amazing. The rooms were so ornate and ridiculous! I couldn't imagine anyone actually living there. After that, we went to lunch at a cafe near my piso and I showed them my piso. We got dinner along Calle Fuencarral at this place called Lateral, which was really good, it was kind of interesting, but it was nommy!

On Sunday, we met up and went to the Prado. I swear, no matter how many times I go [I've been at least 10-12 times this semester] I see something new. The art was amazing as always, and I realized that I really like Francisco de Goya's Pinturas Negras [Black Paintings]. They're all really dark and kind of creepy/morbid, but I really like them. They were painted right before he died while he was going kind of crazy. He literally painted his nightmares onto the walls of his house. After the Prado, I introduced my parents to my Sunday tradition--100 Montaditos. While they went and explored Retiro and Sol, I had to take care of studying. We met up again for dinner in my neighborhood, we went to my favorite Mex-Mex restaurant, La Panza Es Primero. It was delicious, as usual. They serve these little centritos, which are basically fajitas. We also went to San Gines to get some churros y chocolate.

Today, they met me at Ciudad Universitaria and I showed them around my campus. They did a tour bus around Madrid while I was in class. We met up again for a traditional Spanish lunch--menu del dia in Plaza Mayor. After lunch, we went to Santiago Bernabeu [Real Madrid's Stadium], it was really awesome. Its absolutely massive! And they have a ridiculous amount of trophies [fun fact: Real Madrid was awarded best team of the 20th century by Fifa]. We got to see the locker rooms, press room, walk on the pitch, sit on their benches on the sidelines, and see the presidents booth. It was really awesome! We wandered through Sol before finally settling on a yummy tapas place for dinner. Tomorrow, they head to Barcelona until Friday.

Ross on the pitch

Ross and I overlooking the pitch

See ya next week!

Besitos,
Kelsey

P.S. I'm still having trouble posting pictures on here so I'll just have to wait to show you all in person!