Por fin!

Had my last exam yesterday! It was awful, terrible, frightening good to finally be done! So yesterday I pretty much vegged out for the rest of the day and went out with some friends to my favorite tapas bar one last time (El Tigre!) and a bar that plays fantastic 70s, 80s, and 90s music. Goodbyes are no fun. Speaking of which, I said goodbye to some of the IES staff this morning, including my Spanish teacher/mentor/savior, Beatriz. Twas very sad, but I promised to keep in touch! How else am I gonna practice my Spanish?!

Packing at the moment. I'm finding it amazing how much I can fit in my fairly small suitcase, even smaller carry-on suitcase, and my tattered Wal-Mart backpack. It's gonna be interesting, that's for sure.

So tonight I'm going out with some of mine and Sam's Spanish friends, which should be fun. Tomorrow I'm finishing packing and having a picnic with them in the park with some Mexican food that Sam is making. Oh and one final trip to El Chapandáz, of course. Then VERRRRRY early Sunday morning, Sam and I catch a cab to the airport and off we go. Following the exact same route home: Madrid-Barajas to Washington DC Dulles, then from Dulles to Fuffalo, then home sweet home :) Ahhhhh so exciting, yet so sad. MIXED FEELINGS.

Last Monday in Madrid

Yes folks that's right. Today starts the countdown of my last full week in Madrid. As happy as I am to be going home, I'm really gonna miss this wonderful city that I've been lucky enough to call home for the past 4 months (wait, what??). It's hard to balance enjoying my last few days here and, y'know, STUDYING.

Made my big purchase today that I've been wanting to make since I've arrived. I am now the proud owner of some genuine Spanish hand-made leather boots. Black and super-cool :) Check out Sendra and look at the rest of the stuff they have!

Tomorrow: Studying more and then my friend Rachel is coming over to make pancakes. OM NOM NOM.

Procrastinating? nahhhh.

One exam down! Definitely think I aced it :) Or at least did well enough to pass the class. AND THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS, YO.

After said exam, some friends (Abby, Rachel, Sam) and I went to Parque del Buen Retiro (aka.....just El Retiro) to soak up some sun. Everyone was out biking and running and sunbathing and just enjoying the weather. Twas beautiful! Glad I had some time to relax :)

SO nowwwwww I'm supposedly studying for my next exam on Thursday. This one's gonna be a doozy.

HOME IN EIGHT DAYS :D

Madrid, all by me onesies

First of all, check out this madness:

"Real Democracy" Protests



Protests and whatnot in Sol. I actually encountered this crazy scene while out with some friends tonight, but only stayed on the fringes of it all. I guess Spain's elections are this weekend and everyone's got something to say about it. Read the article for more details, because I don't really understand it myself. Ignorant? Maybe.

So it's been about four days since the last of my roomies left for the US. I'm enjoying life here in the new apartment. I have a lot of "me" time, usually taken up by studying (or trying to) and walking around. I've been hanging out with my friends who are still here, which has been nice :) Just trying to keep myself busy so that I'm not wishing I were home like all of my other program friends are right now. Le sigh. Twelve days!

Plans? I have a final this Saturday, which is gross. I'm taking one final trip to El Rastro on Sunday. Then next week I'll be studying for my exam on Thursday. And after that it's PARTY TIME WITH MY SPANISH FRIENDS. Oh. And packing. Yeah.

Buenas Noches :)

*sniff*

Lots of happenings this week. Conquered my fluids exam, two IES finals, a ten-page lab report, and a final paper. I ended up doing well enough on my fluids midterms and labs that I don't have to take the final next week, so that makes my last few weeks here a little easier. Just have to focus on my Engineering Management final (5/21) and Strength of Material final (5/26), both of which are worth 60% of my final grade. Yikessss.

What else this week. Oh! Last student night at El Chapandaz (cave bar!) this past Tuesday with Aindrea, Gillian, and Lisa. Gonna miss that place lots. Yesterday was nice too. Went out to TGIFriday's (the first place we went out together in January!) with some of my fellow engineers and Beatriz, our Spanish teacher/lifesaver. She's just the best. I'm gonna miss her a lot. This afternoon was the IES end-of-the-semester lunch. Got all gussied up and had a great time with my friends. Most of them are leaving either tomorrow or this weekend. Gonna be kinda rough. I've really met some amazing people here and it's so hard to say goodbye after spending so much time and sharing so many experiences with them. *sigh* BUT we still got one more night tonight ;) Tomorrow, I am moving to another apartment for the last few weeks that I'm here. So I'm essentially all packed up. Gonna be a tight squeeze, friends haha

El final de las clases.

Chyeah. No more classes as of yesterday! Hence, the completion of another year in my undergraduate career. Ay ay ay SENIORS???

Went out to celebrate such an occasion with my roomie Sari last night. Fun was had by all. Today I'm being a major bum in not leaving my bed, eating an entire baguette, and not even getting out of my pajamas. Trying so very hard to be productive too (as you can see haha). I have a fluids exam on Monday, two finals (Spanish and art history) on Tuesday, my art history paper (on Las Meninas) due Tuesday, and a really long lab report due Wednesday. Sheesh. But I'm working on art history now, collecting information on all of Gaudí's works and I got to thinking about how much I miss Barcelona! It really was such a cool trip. I want my professor to include La Sagrada Familia on the exam just so I can go bananas in my expression of love for that place.

Last week with the roommates. Except not really, because I'm in denial :(


OKAYBYE :D

"Ten Things I learned in Ibiza" and musings on that one place where I’m actually studying abroad

Spent Thursday through Sunday on the little Balearic island of Ibiza! Things I’ve learned…

1) It is of utmost importance and necessity that you listen to this song all morning as you pack before your flight. It will be stuck in your head for the entirety of the trip.

2) Ibiza is a fairly decent-sized island. Miscommunications could result in you being further from your friends than you think you are. For instance, when we all (there were at least ten of us going for Sari’s birthday) booked our hostels thinking we’d be in generally the same area. We weren’t. Aindrea, Gillian, Avery and I ended up in the little town on the northern inlet of the island called San Antonio.

3) No, they’re not spelling “Eibissa” wrong. They’re apparently big fans of Catalán here, just like in Barcelona. But, also like in Barcelona, the number of people who spoke English here was both refreshing and annoying at the same time.

4) Hey, BBQs thrown by your hostel owner can be fun! As soon as Aindrea and I arrived, the guy who owned the hostel, Miki, invited us to a free barbeque that would be happening later that night. At least two hundred people coming! So we stop by only to find that most of the two hundred people are above the age of 35. And this Spanish barbeque involved people just passing around pieces of pork for you to pick (from what I saw, with your fingers) your helpings out of. And of course, there was lots of bread. We opted for lots of sangria instead.

5) The Royal Wedding is best enjoyed at the local British bar on the beach with a jar of sangria at noon. Yeah. Nuff said.

6) It’s apparently bachelor/bachelorette party season in Ibiza. We went back to the British bar (Lineker’s) on Friday and Saturday night and joined in on the fun of at least three bachelorette parties, two stag parties, and a gay couple’s stag party. Most amusing.

7) The famous West End clubs are really cool (from what we saw as we walked briskly past them all)! So there’s this area in San Antonio called the West End and it’s where all the clubs and bars are, apparently. Aindrea and I decided to venture over there Saturday night only to be attacked by bar promoters all along the way, trying to convince us to come in for this two-for-one drink deal and that free shots offer. Most intimidating thing ever. We walked as quickly as we could out of there, not quite sure what to do…Lineker’s it is!

8) Meals? Optional. Especially with a grocery store across the street from your hostel where you can buy all kinds of things to snack on to your heart’s content.

9) Bartenders come to the beach to practice their crazy bottle-flippin' skillz. We saw two guys practicing their slick moves on the beach while we were there. The bottles don't break if they drop them since they practice on sand. And for a more realistic effect, they can fill the bottles up with ocean water. Genius!

10) It WILL be sunny on the day you are scheduled to go home, and only on that day. Which definitely calls for morning mimosas on the beach before our flight home on Sunday! Classtastic.










So now this little world traveler has unpacked her suitcase for the last time until it'll be unpacked for good back in the states. Now it’s time to really crack down on schoolwork and stuff. Easier said than done, right? Speaking of which, since I’ve been so focused on re-caps of my travels, allow me to provide some musings on, y’know, MADRID:

- Madrid is in the spring is just LOVELY. I swear, I came back from Semana Santa and all of a sudden the trees had LEAVES! GREEN leaves. Spring has sprung!

- Before we all left for Semana Santa, some friends and fellow IESers went to watch our boys soccer team play a game against the students from the university here in Spain. It was so much fun! We won, too :)

- Just a glimpse of my “new” apartment. Our room is so cool and we have a great view and I really like it. We’re doing alright, despite the complications we went through last month. But, as always, everything works out.

- My classes are going alright, I guess. The pressure is on to make sure I get a passing grade in all of them. And for the students at Carlos III, getting a passing grade is actually doing really well. So it’s gonna be a struggle. Bah. I CAN DO IT.

- I just bought my last Metro pass and will be putting the last bunch of minutes on my phone in the coming weeks. I go home in 3 weeks and 6 days. Holy. Cannoli.

- I’m looking forward to spending a weekend in Madrid to catch up on work and return to our weekend traditions like Sunday morning trips to El Rastro and our favorite Indian food restaurant.


Alright gang, I suppose I should go work on a paper or presentation or exam preparation or SOMETHING. Now that I’ve bombarded you all with updates. Hasta Luego!

Besos,

Andi

SEMANA SANTA. Phase Two: Sicily!

The last we left our heroine, she was bumping along on a bus from Barcelona to Madrid…

DAY ONE- (REALLY FREAKIN EARLY ON) Wednesday

So my original plan was to get to the Avenida de América bus station in Madrid, where I had caught the bus to Barcelona. Then, I would work my way through an intricate series of night bus transfers to get to Barajas Airport. However, upon boarding my bus from Barcelona, I found out that the bus would make a stop at the airport, saving me a whole bunch of time and stress. Since this was not the original plan, I landed at the airport at 1:00 AM in anticipation for my 7:00 AM flight. So I did as the true seasoned traveler does and picked out a nice comfy bench for myself and slept in the airport. Except not really, because I think I only got about an hour and a half. But still. 5AM rolled around and I dragged myself upstairs to check-in and security and I was on my way once again! I had a slight layover in Rome before I landed in SICILY and was reunited once again with my favorite Italian chica, Miss Susanna Virgilio!

A few more buses later and we’d finally arrived at our bed and breakfast! It was so so cute and the lady who ran it, Anna, was very nice. The room was perfect and we had full access to the terrace, which had a spectacular view of the sea and the mountains that our little town was nestled in-between. Our B&B was about 2 km from the town of San Vito lo Capo, home to some of the most beautiful beaches in Italy. Lucky us! However, that night, we (mostly me) were pretty tired from traveling, so we just opted to stay nearby. We went to dinner at the restaurant right next door called Antico Borgo Ristorante. And here’s where my weekend of eating began. For my first authentic Italian meal, I had linguine with sea urchin and it was SO YUMMY. They’re really big on seafood there, which made me a pretty happy camper. But anyways, after we had dinner and a bottle of wine, it was to bed with us!

DAY TWO – Thursday

Thursday morning we woke up and went out onto the terrace (la-dee-dah!) for breakfast. Then, we set off on our journey to San Vito lo Capo on foot in the hopes of finding some bikes to rent there for the weekend. We walked along the seashore and oh-my-gosh it was wonderful. The water was the clearest I’d ever seen and where you couldn’t see straight down to the bottom, it was a beautiful crystal blue. Just perfect. We followed a not-so-clearly-marked path along the shore and up some steep hills. Along the way we ran into some COWS who were calming grazing right in the middle of the path. Crazy! And of course we had to hike up the side of a cliff (or so it seemed) and through fields of bugs and flies and cow poop (hence, flies). But we made it! We explored a little bit in the town and alas, we could not find bikes to rent. So this was our route into town pretty much every day. Huzzah!

The town itself was small and quiet, of course because like everywhere else we’d been, it wasn’t quite tourist season yet. But we did manage to find some gelato (uh, YUM) and we got to stick our feet in the sand. This was after the sun decided to disappear behind the clouds. Booooo!

We once again went to Antico Borgo for dinner. This time, I decided to try the cous cous, which Sicily is famous for. The cous cous was served with fresh grilled fish and it was fabulous, of course. Gosh the FOOD here…

DAY THREE – Friday

Alas, more clouds and gloom and even RAIN today. So what did we do? Well Susanna decided that she wanted to play with my hair. And makeup. And take pictures. I’ll let you creep on her Facebook for those pictures because they’re pretty interesting haha. Afterwards (me still very much beautified), we went for a run along the shore. Look at us being active and healthy and such! I definitely paid for it in the days to come because my buns were on FIRE. But anyhoo.

We managed to brave the elements and walked back to San Vito lo Capo for dinner. I had busiate pasta with pesto trapanese(kept it simple this evening) and enjoyed every bit of it. Lucky for us, Anna was able to pick us up and drive us back to the B&BB, saving us another hour’s walk.

DAY FOUR – Saturday

So today I ate probably more in a day than I’ve ever eaten in my entire life. We decided to make lunch the featured meal of the day, complete with both courses (Italian style!). Fresh bruschetta to start followed by asparagus and shrimp risotto and then grilled swordfish. Oh. My. Goodness. And then Susanna had me try arancini, which is basically a fried ball of rice with cheese in the middle. Also yummy. Actually, let’s be real. There wasn’t anything I tried on this trip that I didn’t like. Good. Glad we got that settled.

Since we ate SO SO MUCH, we decided dinner should be somewhat light. So on our way home, we picked up a bottle of wine and some cheese and crackers and decided to munch on our terrace. Quite a lovely day despite the cloudy weather.

DAY FIVE – Sunday (Happy Easter!)

(really cute pics ganked from Susanna)

FINALLY! SOME SUN! Back to San Vito lo Capo we go but this time in hopes of catchin’ some rays on the beach! But not before we have some gelato, of course! Oh and some cannoli. And maybe crepes. And I tried stuffed mussels! Goodness…

The beach was so nice. Everyone was out and about, which was surprising for Easter Sunday, I thought. Guess we all had the same idea to go out and enjoy the sunshine while we could. We saw our friend Crazy Dog, who is this dog that wandered around the beach and liked staring at peoples’ shadows. We were told by some locals that he was crazy because he lived on the beach. Hence, Crazy Dog.

We still had some wine and cheese left over from the night before, so we decided to give a proper farewell to the Sicilian sun. We took the wine and cheese and some crackers to the rocks on the shore and watched the sunset and it was just perfect. So gorgeous! Couldn't have asked for a better end to our adventures in San Vito lo Capo.

We had our last Italian dinner at, of course, Antico Borgo! Except tonight was special. Tonight was the night that I was to try spaghetti al nero di seppia. Aka. Spaghetti in squid’s ink. Yes, folks. BLACK spaghetti. I’m brave, I know. It was actually really good! If you couldn’t see it, you’d think it was just pasta and garlic sauce. Very glad I tried it!

DAY SIX – Monday

Time to bid farewell to San Vito lo Capo! Up early to get a ride to the airport. Of course, our flight ends up getting delayed just a tad so we chill out in the airport, get a few pastries, etc. Our flight from Palermo to Milan went swimmingly. Yet another meal was had at the airport. Then it was time to say goodbye to my Big/personal translator. We really had such a great time and I can’t wait to see her in June!!!

So yes. Milan to Madrid and then back to mi apartamento. Was hard to shake that overwhelmed feeling one gets after returning home from a big trip. It was so much fun though and I am so glad I was able to experience everything that I did! A new exciting city in Spain, beautiful food and beaches in Sicily…everything :) I have a LOT to do in the coming weeks before I can finally return to the US of A. But wait! Next up…trip to IBIZA!