Taking Back Madrid….
Talk about a little turnover time; after getting home from Greece at about 10pm on Friday and getting a decent night sleep for the first time in 10 days, not 12 hours went by before we had visitors in Madrid! This past week has been a week of visitors and spring break part II- Madrid! In the past week we’ve had Allie Tripp & Lizzie Kidder who we saw in Athens and are studying abroad in Thessaloniki, Brian who’s in Scotland, Darcy who’s in Paris, and Laurena from Ireland arrived today. If you think I haven’t gone out every night for the last 2 weeks, you’re wrong. It has been a crazy fun time, if not exhausting showing them around and letting them experience Madrid for what it truly has to offer— nightlife. We were not short on 4tapas or Lateral, white wine, or buckets of Heineken at Dubliners this week, and it has been great having them see what our life is like here.
Although great to see them and surely sad to see them go, I’m definitely going to be a little selfish and say I’m ready to take back Madrid. With only four fast weeks left before I have to say goodbye to this wonderful city in which I will forever be at home, and all the amazing people that I’ve met here, I want to be a local again for a little while. It’s weird that typically when we go out here, we do have Spanish friends, we read Spanish menus, and speak generally to everyone in Spanish. However when we have people visiting we become tourists too. It’s almost impossible to avoid; you’re speaking English to one another, easily picked out in large groups, and completely targeted by pickpockets, cabbies, and the natives alike. Hopefully the last few weeks for me will be a little more sane a little less crazy, and I’ll be able to sink my feet in one last time before I’m uprooted from my second favorite city in the world to the only one that tops it- good old New York.
Before that rough day rolls around, I still have a few things up my sleeve. Yesterday BC in Madrid took their last group field trip to El Escorial, which is a royal palace from the time of Felipe II and Carlos V, and we also visited Valle de Los Caidos, which is where Franco’s tomb lies along with the fascist Falange leader. El Escorial, I have to say was less than impressive. The marble tombs of the kings and queens were ornate and impressionable, but I’ve raised my level of “wow factor” significantly since I’ve been here and El Escorial didn’t do much to move the meter. Valle de los Caidos, carved into a mountainside with a large cross rising up to the sky, was one of the simplest, most impressive, monuments I have ever seen. However the meaning behind it took my breath away. This low-lit monument to fascism and the fact that people still attended mass there daily, gave me the chills and put a pit in my stomach that stayed there for the rest of the day. Sad, but definitely a must see.
As for the next four weeks, goals include: trying as many new places as I can in Madrid, making sure I’m really living in the moment here, strengthening the relationships I’ve made here, never stop making new ones, take a few more amazing trips, and spend as much time with Eva & Juan as I can, they’ve become my family here. On Wednesday night, I’m of to London-Town and Paris with my BC roommate Katie for 6 days, and in Paris we’re meeting up with a handful of BCers. Although that will be my last big trip, I’m also going to Barcelona the first weekend in May, and the Canaries for a relaxing stint on the beach after I finish finals. The one thing I might be most excited for before I head home however, is going to see Beyonce in concert in Madrid! Seriously, she’s coming. It will be a great segway back to America, and a great last night in this unbelievable city that I will miss so much.
