madisonmaintospain

[madisonmaintospain]

Spring Break Adventures!

It’s been almost two weeks since I got back from all my travels, and I’m still not caught up on sleep. Haha, well I should be cause that’s all I did pretty much these past weekends. And get caught up on my tv shows :) And I have been very busy with homework. Who knew I’d actually be studying during study abroad? Hmm. 

Anyway, let’s travel back in time... (I’m not going to go into crazy detail about each place because my break was like 20 days, and that’s a lot to remember, write and read. So I’ll just blog about the main parts of it. )

The first day of my Spring Break Adventures was the 6th of April. I got up super early and got ready to head to my first stop: Italy!

I stayed with my friend Eleonora and her family. She was a foreign exchange student my senior year of high school, as well as Helene, who is from Norway, who was also staying with El’s family. It was so good to see them after two years! El’s family was super nice and hospitable and I’m so grateful they let me stay there. She lives in between Florence and Pisa, so you can imagine that we had days filled with adventure! 

I got to live the Italian lifestyle for almost a week, which meant having pizza for breakfast!!!! Amongst other things of course, but like pizza for breakfast. And NOT breakfast pizza. Like real, amazing, pizza. Let’s just say the food was amazing, and I am still thinking about the mozzarella and the gelato. 

I got to meet some of El’s friends, who were awesome, and I’m so glad I got to know them!

They are so nice, and they showed me so many new things and places! I felt like I was a real italian sometimes! I can’t wait to see them all again!

Some of my favorite parts of Italy were...

This beautiful view of Florence at night!

Meeting Willem Dafoe in Lucca, Italy!

Gorgeous views again!

Florence with these beautiful ladies!

Drinking on a terrace in Florence, enjoying the view. The house behind is where Kim and Kanye got married, no big deal. 

Drinking wine and watching the sunset on the beach. Doesn’t get much better than this. 

Last stop in Pisa before flying to Glasgow! 

Had the best time in Italy, now onto Glasgow! After El had to go back to school and before I had to meet my aunts in London, I had a couple days, so I went to visit Devon in Glasgow, where he is studying this semester. It was nice that everyone spoke english, but they drive on the wrong side of the road, so.. ups and downs. :)

First time in the UK, on the WRONG side of the road!

Went to some pretty cool clubs! 

Devon’s University - So beautiful!

Seeing a movie at the tallest movie theater in the world! Kong was soo good!

So, yeah! Just explored the city, ate some good food, saw some men in kilts playing the bagpipes! Over all, had a fun time, met some of Devon’s friends who he is studying with, who are very nice! I loved the culture, and I definitely want to go back! 

Next stop: London! This is the part of the trip where I met up with my Aunts from California! It was so awesome to see some family, also awesome to stay in nice hotels with nice beds, instead of hostels with strangers! 

Here are some highlights from London!!

Loved this geo-filter on snapchat! 

Buckingham Palace - There were sooo many people outside the gates that I think it took about 10 minutes just to get a decent photo.

Tower Bridge! Walking across was beautiful, even though the Tymes was nasty.

My aunts surprised me with Kinky Boots tickets on the West End! It was AMAZING! Thanks Michelle and Cristina!

Was on the double decker bus and looked down and saw Leo Howard! If anyone knows him, I’ll be impressed. He’s mainly known for a Disney channel show called “Kickin’ It.” He waved and smiled. I wish I could’ve got off the bus, but I didn’t want to bother him during his meal. 

Selfie with Big Ben!

Big Ben once more - gorgeous view from the Double Decker bus!

Inside Shakespeare’s Globe Theater! A little construction going on.. don’t mind it. Our tour guide here was soo funny and such a theatre nerd too!

After the tour of the Globe, we had “High Tea” at the restaurant connected to the theatre. Mini ‘sammies’, cakes, desserts, scones, and of course tea! It was so British and we loved every minute of it! I had a pear ginger tea I think, and my favorite dessert was the shot glass looking thing. It was filled with very tasty mysterious liquids. :) 

Statue of Peter Pan in Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens. If anyone has ever seen the movie “Winning London” with Mary Kate and Ashley, you’ll recognize this landmark!

Platform 9 1/3 from Harry Potter in King’s Cross Train Station! The line to take a professional picture with it was way too long, so I just took a picture of it, then boarded a train to Paris! Bonjour!

Bienvenue à Paris! 

Celebrated Easter in France the right way! With some gelato and a macaroon! 

Where I get my soft smile ~ thx mona 

I think I’m funny...

Seriously the Louvre was amazing, but very crowded. And A TON of armed guards walking around. I’m not complaining, but it was a little intimidating. 

Hehe :)

This was INSIDE the Eiffel Tower. I have the best life. And yes I ate all those macaroons within the span of like an hour.. :)

Again, amazing view from the TOP of the Eiffel Tower! 

And another.. I think I took like 1000 pictures that day..

This was the coolest thing - I saw while on the tour bus. A cookie store called Laura Todd - which are my parent’s names! I wish I could’ve made the bus driver stop but I forgot everything I learned in my two years of French class, désolé, madame. 

I rode the Ferris Wheel at sunset in Paris. Seriously what is my life? 

And of course can’t forget to put up 1/15643458 pictures I took of the Eiffel Tower at night.. Seriously I’m surprised my phone didn’t crash. 

All in all, I absolutely loved Paris. LOVED. Seeing the Eiffel Tower was always on my bucket list, and I’m so happy that I got to check that off! 

Now on to our last country: Holland! Where we get to see more family!!! Yay!

Cousin Tom has lived in Holland, for about 15 years now, and it’s took 15 years too long to come and visit! His town, Delft, was so beautiful. He showed us around, made us traditional dutch food, (no I didn’t eat the herring), and we even got to see him play a show! (He has a band - Tom White Band - check them out on iTunes! They are pretty good!) 

Here are some of my favorite moments from Delft:

Beautiful canals everywhere!

Cousin Maya will eat the Herring.. Wow. Girl’s got some guts. 

I will eat these though - AKA my new fav treat. Stroop Waffles - Traditional dutch treat. I’m bringing some back to the U.S., so if you’d like to try one, hit me up before they are gone! So good!! (I even got stopped at the airport when flying back to Madrid because “Wow, that’s a lot of waffles.” Hahahahah..... 

Tom and the band rockin’ it at the Haag!

Saying goodbye to cousin Emma, last time I saw her, wow it was so long I don’t even remember! Glad to see everyone again though! Can’t wait til the next time! 

And for our final stop: Amsterdam!

Took a beautiful night cruise on the canal & got to see the gorgeous city at it’s best!

One of my favorite stops: the CHEESE museum! I just stayed and sampled the many different cheeses for as along as I could.. 

Took this in the Red Light District... that was an experience. Wow. No me gusta. 

This is NOT where you get coffee in Amsterdam. Seriously the whole city smelled like weed. It was everywhere! Such a culture shock and not something easy to get used to. 

Let's just say with the Red Light District, the people, and all the coffee shops, it kind of overwhelmed me and made me not like Amsterdam as much as I thought I would. I guess I didn’t know what to expect, but it was a bit too crazy for me.

But one of my favorite stops was TFIOS (The Fault in Our Stars) Bench. Of course I recreated the scene from the movie.. It was beautiful there and one of my favorite parts of Amsterdam. 

Whew! That’s all folks! If you’ve made it this far, I salute you. I barely did! 

To conclude, I am so blessed for the life I get to live. I had an amazing time with my family and friends and I have an infinite amount of gratitude for the people who helped me to get to where I am today, and be able to explore the world like this. I am so happy and I will never forget all the memories I have made, and things I have seen, and I’m so glad I got to experience it with my wonderful aunts, and close friends. Until next time, hasta luego! xx 

[madisonmaintospain]

Vamos!

Hola a todos! 

Wow I am pretty far behind here on this blog of mine.

 I'm at the airport waiting for my first flight to start off my spring break! I have about 20 days of a break and I'm super excited! I'm starting off going to Italy, to see some old friends, Eleonora and Helene, who were foreign exchange students in my high school. It's been almost 2 years, which is way too long! After Italy, I'm off to Scotland to visit Devon just for a few days, before my Aunt and her wife come from California to finish the trip with me! We will be going to London, Paris, and Amsterdam! I'm so excited and blessed that I get to be able to travel like this, with people I love! 

Anyway, let's see what Madison has been up to since her last post.. :) 

Since Carnaval and meeting up with Devon in Austria, I have done a lot, and time has gone by sooo fast. Let's see, the weekend after Austria, we had another excursion. This one was to El Cañón Del Río Lobos, which is a national park in Spain. It was very pretty, I got to explore some caves, but it wasn't my favorite. A lot of walking/hiking and that's not really my favorite activity.

After the excursion, I went to Sevilla (Seville) and Granada, down in southern Spain, with a few of my girlfriends! It was almost a 10 hour bus ride to Sevilla but it was worth it. We spent the rest of the night and the day Saturday in Sevilla, exploring, taking photos, and enjoying the warm weather. Then Saturday night we took a bus over to Granada, which was even more beautiful than Sevilla. Granada has a very Arabic vibe with like Moroccan rugs, cool patterned souvenirs, (so so so many souvenir shops) etc. I actually got my name painted in Arabic from and artist on the street. We also tried to see La Alambra but it's the most visited tourist location in Spain, and we had the wrong tickets so it didn't end up working out, but we got to go on a Segway tour of the city instead, which is one of the biggest highlights of my trip so far! We segwayed all the way up a mountain basically and had the best view! The city is so beautiful and after a while I got pretty good on the Segway. :) (Pictures on Facebook/Instagram) Then we had a late bus back, and none of us wanted the weekend to end. But I hope I will be able to go back someday! 

A week or so after, can't remember exact timing, I went down to Madrid for a Ortho appointment. My orthodontist back home has a family friend, who is an orthodontist in Madrid, so thats why I took the journey all the way down there. It was a crazy day, but so worth it to get an adjustment. It was too long without one. I kinda got lost a bit, and missed my train home, so I had to buy a new one, but it was a fast train so I got home before my other train would have. All in all it was an interesting day. 

Then the next day, I got to go to a fútbol (soccer) game in Valladolid. Our team isn't the best, but it was so fun to watch! The stadium was huge! It was a really cool experience! I want to go to another one while I'm here and maybe we will will that time! Ha! 

Last weekend, we had another excursion. This was to El Escorial in Madrid. It's a Royal Monastery, that has tombs of all the kings of Spain, and lots more from the history of Spain. It was cool to see all of it, but it kinda dragged on a bit too long. Then the second half of the day, we hiked to the top of a huge mountain that has a cool view of Madrid, and El Escorial. Again, hate hiking, so didn't really have a good time. Actually had an anxiety attack and couldn't breathe for a solid 15 minutes so it wasn't the best day. I just wanted to go home. Lol. 

We've had my "host nephew", if you will, over quite a bit lately. My host mom is a grandma and she babysits him, her grandson, a lot during the week while the mom is at work. Anyway, his name is Fernando, we call him Nando, he's almost 1, and he is the cutest baby human on the planet. Ugh, he learned recently how to give kisses, so he's been giving me kisses non-stop - it's soo cute!! I also have a "host niece" who is a little older and she is also extremely adorable. I love when my host moms family comes over, I feel like I'm a part of it and it makes me really happy. She has a big family and I love just listening to them talk, and learning new words! My host mom was super sad when she realized Anna and I don't have that much time left here! She said the time went by so fast and I agree, I'm not ready to go home yet.

[madisonmaintospain]

¡Carnaval, La Sonido de la Musica, y mas! (Carnival, Sound of Music, and more!)

Well, it’s officially been two months that I’ve been living here in Spain. It feels like one week, but also feels like 6 months at the same time. I’ve been pretty busy, traveling, studying, napping, lol. I’m a little behind on this blog and photos but I’m trying to catch up.

Quick update about my personal life: I’m obsessed with the show Brooklyn 99. Anyone watch it? It’s super funny, like the office. I highly recommend it. In fact I’m getting distracted by it whilst writing this. 

Also, a Spanish friend of ours, who works publicity for the University, was tasked with updating the school’s brochures. The following photo will be the new cover of the Spanish Programs Brochure through the University! 

Mom! I’m famous!

So two weekends ago, was an event called Carnaval. It’s a big festival in Spain and bordering countries where there are plenty of parades, concerts, and parties. Me and two of my friends, Cece and Anna, headed down to the Spanish Islands of the Canaries. We stayed in Gran Canaria, in the town of Las Palmas, which is huge for the Carnaval festivities. 

We explored the city, trying new foods, (not really, we ate pizza and pasta most of the time), new drinks, and meeting new people. Our hostel was called Pura Vida Hostel which means “pure life” or “good life” in Spanish, and it is the tattoo I have as well. It’s a very popular phrase in Costa Rica. They say it all the time there. Anyway, we didn’t know when we booked it, but the hostel was a surf hostel. All of the guests were hardcore surfers. Lol oops. It wasn’t a problem, we still bonded with the volunteers and other guests, and they showed us around Carnaval a bit. It was very nice.

Everyone wears costumes to all the Carnaval Festivities - it’s like a mix of Mardi Gras, Halloween, and St. Patrick’s Day. The ‘theme’ of this year’s Carnaval was like peace and love and tye-dye, so I thought the hippie theme was appropriate. There were sooo many people dressed as hippies so I was for sure not the only one.

The weather wasn’t the best, it was partly cloudy a couple of the days, but it was still beautiful. The most perfect weather day was when we took a day trip down to the southern part of Gran Canaria to a town called Maspalomas. There, WE RODE CAMELS. Yeah, you read that right. We got to ride camels in the Maspalomas Sand Dunes. It wasn’t Africa, but it might as well have been. (Look on a map, it’s very close) The weather was perfect, we were right by the ocean, it was amazing. 

Then after the camel ride, we got to spend the rest of the day at the beach, soaking up the sun and enjoying our last full day in the Canaries. It was a nice way to end our little beach vacay! 

I want to go back! Now!!

After the magical weekend on the Island, it was back to reality on Wednesday, but only for a couple days, because my next trip began Friday morning at 2:00 a.m. 

I flew out to meet my BFF Devon, who is currently studying abroad in Scotland, in Munich, Germany!! We only stayed in Munich for a night, because the next day we took a bus to Salzburg, Austria! Which was the main highlight of the weekend, and actually my entire study abroad experience so far.. 

Our first day in Munich was a bit, let’s say, slow. First of all, my flight got in at around 9:30a.m. or so, and I had to wait at the airport for Devon’s flight which came in at around 3:00 p.m. I tried to find somewhere to sleep for a bit. I did, then I got kicked out because “Ma’am, you can’t sleep in the restaurant.” Whatever lady.

Anyway, once Devon arrived, our next step was to get to our hotel. Long story short, it took us 3 hours to navigate our way from the Airport to our hotel, when it only should’ve taken like 20-30 minutes.. German is hard. But we did have the BEST pretzel ever. It was a soft pretzel with butter and chives - OMG. So good. We finally arrived at our hotel after some speed bumps, literally. Have I mentioned that the drivers in Europe are terrible?? Ugh talk about motion sickness. Dramamine anyone??

After we got settled, we found a nice little place by our hostel where we had pizza for dinner. Surprise, right? We had some german beer, salami pizza, and then got a good night's sleep in preparation for the following day’s activities!

Then Saturday came! Travelling day! We let ourselves sleep in a bit, but also gave ourselves plenty of time to get to the bus station because of the events the previous day. We got to the station, did a little snack shopping, and boarded our bus to Salzburg! When we arrived in Salzburg, we had a little time before we could check into our hostel, so I looked up “Things to do in Salzburg,” and these gardens called Mirabell Palace and Gardens, and so I was like “Oh Devon, this looks cute, let’s go!” Not paying much attention to the photos shown on google, I didn’t realize it was actually the gardens where the filmed “Do-Re-Me!” Of course I freaked out and was like, how did I not know this? So we stayed there for a while, acted out the scenes, and loved life.

I was extremely happy, in my element, and couldn’t stop smiling! It was so funny that I found it by accident. After exploring, and taking mounds of photos, we started to make the trek to our hostel. We noticed that right by the gardens, was a theatre, and believe it or not, they were playing Sound of Music. Devon and I obviously wanted to go, so we thought we would come back about an hour or so before the show and see if there were any tickets left. Fast forward to about 6, we show up to the box office, and get the LAST TWO TICKETS. They were box seats right by the stage, but with a cut off view, but we could see about half the stage so it was fine. But here’s the kicker: the show was in German! Even the songs! It was so strange! I mean I knew what was going on  because I know the movie, but still, it was so weird. It was so cool though, really a once in a lifetime opportunity. Also did I mention it was closing night?? How lucky are we?? Extremely. And after the show, the cast bowed a lot, because it was closing night, but also had a sing-a-long - in English, thank god. And the woman who played the Baroness, waved at me! It was a magical night!

Thinking this trip couldn’t get any better, it did. Sunday was our pre-booked, Sound of Music bus tour! It was a four hour long tour that included multiple stops where the movie was filmed, a bus sing-a-long, behind the scenes fun facts, and the best crisp apple strudel & vanilla ice cream of my life. We saw so many cool things from the movie. It was the best day ever! There were some things I wish we could’ve spent more time at/gone up to see them, but then there were some things that were very cool that I wasn’t expecting! It all balanced out! 

Amazing crisp apple strudel, just like the song! 

The famous Gazebo! Wish I could’ve done the dance.. I was practicing!

All in all, it was an amazing weekend, filled with music, theatre, friends, food, love, and laughter. It was so great to see Devon, and I miss him so much already. We got a taste of what living together was like, and we can’t wait until next year! More adventures to come, I’m sure!

I had the best time in Germany/Austria, and I wish we had more time there! But isn’t it like that with every trip - there’s always something you wish you could’ve done but didn’t get to? 

So, until next time.. (I hope I didn’t forget anything)

Hasta luego! Besos xx

[madisonmaintospain]

¡Es Solo Febrero! (It’s Only February!

I titled this blog post, “It’s only February” because I feel like I’ve been here for sooo much longer. I’m having the best time of my life, seeing so many things, and learning so much.

I had the best day today. So last night, my friend Devon and I booked a trip to Salzburg, Austria! Devon is studying abroad in Glasgow, Scotland this semester, and we are so excited to see each other! Salzburg, Austria is where the Sound Of Music was filmed, and so us two theatre nerds are going to have the best time seeing all the sights! So of course on the bus this morning, I listened to the soundtrack to get in the mood. I am soo excited! Also this weekend, for Carnaval (Similar to Mardi Gras) I am going to the Canary Islands for a few days! Can’t wait to soak up the sun on the beach and experience what Spain has to offer for Carnaval.  

Another reason my day was the best, I had a massage today. 

If you’re not interested in how my massage went, or how it differs from massages in the United States, you can skip this next paragraph. :)

Since being here, my back has been hurting so bad, from all the walking, especially with my backpack, sleeping on trains, planes, etc. So I wanted to find a chiropractor here, but I decided that a chiropractic massage would be better than an adjustment. I found a really good place, with really nice people, and really good prices. It was half of what it is in the states. I got an hour massage, and she didn’t only rub my back, she cracked my back, hips, and neck, as well as cupping. If you don’t know what cupping is, it’s a technique used to bring the pressure and blood flow to the surface to the skin, and draws out toxins, and stimulates the flow of blood. If you remember, it was a trending topic during the most recent Olympics because Michael Phelps had shown up to swim with circular bruises on his body, and then it became a popular topic. (You can google it) But for my massage, she only did like two cups and it didn’t really leave a mark. My experience here though, was a lot different than the massages I’ve gotten in the past in America. I took everything off, except my underwear (which is normal). and had a towel over me. Normally in the states, you get under a blanket, but I just had a little towel. Then during the massage, she didn’t really care about exposing me, whereas during the massages I’ve had before, they are so careful about “exposing” me. Like when they rub your arm they will carefully take your arm out carefully from under the blanket and when they are done with it, they will put it back very carefully too. But today, basically the whole time, the towel was tucked into my underwear and the only parts under the towel were the tops of my legs. With all that said, it was the best massage I’ve ever had. At the end, I tried to tip her, even though I know that they don’t really tip here in Spain, like at all, I wanted to give her something because she was soo good. It took some convincing but in the end, she took it :) Also, the entire booking/massage/payment, we talked in Spanish, and she said I speak very well and have a very good accent, which made me happy! Can’t wait to go back!

Now onto the excursion!

This past weekend, we had another excursion. We went to Salamanca, Spain which is about an hour southwest of Valladolid. It was very beautiful! The day was a bit rainy, so we didn’t explore as much as we could, but what we did see, was awesome! In the photo above, I am in a tower in one of the two cathedrals that are in Salamanca, and the view was amazing! 

In this photo, I am sitting in a chair that legend says if you sit in it, you will pass your exam. Students used to spend the night in this chair, and the next day, take their exam in in. The professors would come in and ask the student comprehension questions. Hopefully this means I will pass my History exam this Thursday!

It was just a very beautiful city and my phone takes good pictures :) 

Anyway, I was feeling a bit homesick yesterday, but I just have to stop and think how grateful I am to be here and how much fun I am having. Yes I do miss home, my parents, and my friends, but I am having the time of my life here! I am really getting excited for all my upcoming trips and everything so I think I’ll be fine. It’s just sometimes, there’s something that will remind you of home and then you’ll get sad, but then get over it. :) Circle of life, am I right? 

I hope everyone who is reading my blog is enjoying it. Even if no one is reading it, that’s ok too because it’s still good for me to document my adventures so I can go back and look at them in the future. 

Love to all!

Hasta luego <3 

[madisonmaintospain]

¡Barcelona Otra Vez! (Barcelona again!)

Hola a todos!

This past weekend, I went to my favorite city; Barcelona. I love it there so much. That was my second time in Barcelona. The first time was with my high school when we went to Spain, France, and Italy, and it was just as magical this time around. 

We flew out of Valladolid on Friday, and the flight was only like an hour, which was really nice. When we landed in Barcelona, we had to take a bus to the center of the city. While we waited for the others to arrive from the other bus, we fed and played with the pigeons in the plaza. 

We then ate McDonalds, checked in our hostel, bought champagne, and drank it by the ocean. It was a wonderful night admiring the beauty of Barcelona. We explored a little more before we went back to the hostel where they had free dinner, which was actually pretty good. It was pasta, if anyone cared. :) We mingled with some other people staying at the hostel, from all around the world, and got a good night’s sleep in preparation for the full day ahead of us.

The next day was filled with adventure!

On Saturday, Sophie, Raquel, and rented bikes to explore the city, but we had a little trouble at first. I got handed a brochure the night before about bike and walking tours in Barcelona, and so I told the girls, and they loved the idea of having a guided tour on bikes. So we booked and paid for this bike tour, and went to the meeting place on Saturday morning, and no one showed up for like 15 minutes, then the walking tour girl from the same company showed up, and we asked her if she knew where the bike guy was. She was super nice, and from Scotland, so we could speak English with her, and she tried calling the guy and everything. We ended up waiting almost 45 minutes before the girl apologized on the bike guys behalf and offered to take us to a different bike rental place. She even drew us a route! She was super helpful. So we rented bikes from a different place, and made our own tour, which was nice because we could spend as much, or as little, time at a place that we wanted. I was the Master Navigator, because I’m good with maps, so I was really proud of myself. It also helped that I had been to Barcelona, and all the sights, before, but anyway.

So we biked around, saw all the sights, and had a great time! Most of the sights are kinda close to each other and there aren’t much hills between the places, which is nice when you’re on a bike. BUT, we wanted to visit Park Guell, which is on a mountain, kinda outside the city. So we had to bike up a mountain. It was miserable and my thighs still burn. But it was so worth it. 

For those of you that don’t know, Park Guell is a very famous tourist attraction in Barcelona, for multiple reasons. 1) It is a very beautiful park, designed by Gaudi, with an incredible view of the city. 2) It is also one of the places where they filmed part of The Cheetah Girls 2 movie.. which I love and I recreated a lot of the things they did. I love recreating things from movies. Like when I went to Washington D.C. and recreated Riley’s speech to Ben on the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, saying he shouldn’t steal the declaration. 

ANYWAY, one thing that was really nice about the weekend, was that the news said it was supposed to rain ALL day Saturday, but it never rained a drop. It was kinda gloomy, but I would take that over rain any day. We got really lucky. 

After seeing all the sights,

(Arc de Triomf)

(La Sagrada Familia)

After seeing those, we returned the bikes. (The ride back was really fun because it was all downhill :)) Then we walked through town, saw some art/craft fairs with jewelry/souvenir type things, went on a boat tour, then ate dinner by the ocean, and went shopping a little too! It was amazing!

The boat that we rode on, had kind of like a submarine room, where you could see underwater, which was really cool. We couldn’t see any fish cause the boat was going too fast, but it was still cool. 

On our walk back to our hostal, we came upon a concert right by the ocean, so we stopped and watched a couple songs, and the band was actually really good! They were called Ice Crime; very (Spanish) punk rock!

Then I was super exhausted and full of good food, so I wanted to go to bed, but that was kind of difficult because we were staying in a Party Hostal, so the party kinda came home with you. Let’s just say I learned my lesson and am never staying in a Party Hostal again...

All in all, it was an amazing weekend. Until next time, Barcelona! 

P.S. This is a “magic” fountain located on Las Ramblas, which is the most famous street in Barcelona, and it is said to have magic powers. The sign is in Catalan, which is a ‘dialect’ of Spanish, and it basically says that if you drink from this fountain, you will fall in love with Barcelona and always return to the city. I drank from it last time I was there, and well, here I am again. 

So, hasta luego, Barcelona!

[madisonmaintospain]

Portugal Tiene Mi Corazón (Portugal Has My Heart)

Hola a todos!

So last week, I booked a trip to Lisbon, Portugal because some of my friends were going and I wanted to do something fun for the weekend. I had no idea what to expect. It ended up being one of the most amazing weekends of my life! Portugal is insanely beautiful and even though we were only there for less than two days, we saw so much! 

We had overnight round trip trains, which was good and bad. Good because we got to spend the entirety of both days exploring instead of wasting time with the hassle of travel, and bad because it was awful to sleep on the train. It was about a 7 hour trip, and the way there it was hot, uncomfortable and loud, but the way back was actually way better and I slept most of the way. I also had a fun little panic attack because I got on the train, with everyone else to go home, and went to my seat and someone was sitting in it. I said “Excuse me, that’s my seat.” And she goes “Let me see your ticket...... Um this ticket is for tomorrow..” and I said, “Excuse me, WHAT?” So yeah, I booked the train for the day after that. It was the same time, gate, everything, just the wrong day. Thankfully the conductor was super nice and helpful, found me an empty seat, and let me stay. Thank God.

When we arrived, it was very early in the morning. We even had to wait for McDonald’s to open! But it was worth it: I had a macaroon and a mocha, while enjoying and amazing view of the ocean. 

Then we walked along the ocean, taking in the gorgeous views, while also getting attacked by the wind and rain. Worth it. 

The girls! 

After a photo shoot by the ocean, we went to an aquarium! We got to see really cool fish, watch the otters get fed, and learn about animals that are native to Portugal. After our tour of the aquarium, we were very hungry! There might have been some correlation there.. (Yum, crab!) So we found a very cool form of transportation!

This was the view! Que guay :) (How cool!)

Then we had a really good meal at this buffet we found. They had Portuguese, Brazilian, and Chinese food. I had sooooo much sushi, I almost exploded. It was soooo good, and the waiter loved us so he gave us a free plate of beef! (Best beef I ever had!) After that, we took the telecabine back to the other side, then decided to take a bus to ‘downtown’ Lisbon, where our hostel was. We couldn’t check in yet, so we explored. We walked up a lot of hills, (reminded me of San Francisco) to get to this amazing castle called São Jorge Castle (St. Jorge’s Castle) I was out of breath and my back hated me (because we all still had our backpacks on) but it was so worth it even though the weather was kind of crappy. I mean, see for yourself. 

You can see the most of Lisbon from there, the ocean, and the beautiful suspension bridge. It was amazing. I wish I could live in a castle. 

We stayed at the castle for a while, then decided to go check into our hostel. First time ever staying in a hostel and it was an amazing experience. 10/10 would recommend. The workers there were super friendly and helpful, the rooms were clean and spacious, the showers were roomy and hot, and the atmosphere was fantastic! There was free sangria tasting, and we also got to try a typical Portuguese sausage too. Me and my friends had a blast playing cards, and meeting people from all over the world. We decided to cook dinner at the hostel instead of eat out, which ended up being super cheap and much more fun! Julianna and I made spaghetti, and one of the workers gave us some cool cooking tips! If you put a chicken flavored bouillon cube in the spaghetti sauce, it gives it soooo much more flavor! Our meal turned out really great! My favorite thing about the hostel was the atmosphere, the workers are interacting with you, you can meet people from all over the world, everyone is hanging out, playing games, watching movies, making food. It chaotic, but peaceful at the same time. I loved it! I can’t wait to experience more hostels in the future!

The next day we woke up, had breakfast and had our day all planned out. Until... (we got to leave our bags at the hostel, which was awesome because that meant we didn’t have to carry them around all day) the worker that was helping us put away our bags, asked us what our plans were for the day, and we told him, and he’s like “Eh, sounds alright, but if I were you I’d go to Sintra for the day.” And then he showed us some pictures and we were sold. We ditched our plans, bought train tickets, and rode the 40 minutes to Sintra, Portugal. We are so glad we changed our plans because it was one of the most beautiful cities I have been to ever. 

Sintra is a tourist city with a huge mountain that has 5 castles on it! They are all so beautiful and unique. The hostel worker’s recommendation was to go to the Quinta da Regaleira which was a “summer estate” palace and garden that was so incredibly beautiful. It had this huge well that lead to underground tunnels and caves that we got to explore! 

This was one of the towers of the palace. In the background, you can see the rest of the mountain and on top if you look close, you can see another castle too!

So beautiful! We could have stayed just at that one palace all day because there was so much to explore. We wanted to see more of the castles and mountains, so we had to move on. 

Next, we wanted to go all the way to the top of the mountain so we were looking for transportation because we didn’t have time to walk the hour plus hike. We met this woman that was super nice and gave us a ride to the top in her tuk tuk. They are very small, so we had to take two. She also told us about the history of Sintra and the Kings and their castles. Basically, a long time ago, there were some castles and buildings in the city of Sintra, where a King lived. Then there was a HUGE earthquake that destroyed the entire city, and parts of Lisbon. So the next King rebuilt the entire city, bigger and better than before. He was very creative and innovative and his beautiful castles and gardens still stand today.

This is a classic Tuk-Tuk!

After the Tuk- Tuk dropped us off, we had to buy a ticket to get inside the castle grounds. We didn’t go inside the beautiful and colorful Pena Palace, but we did climb to the very very top of the mountain. It it called Alta Cruz (High Cross) and there, we got to see a 360 degree view of the city. We could see the ocean, Lisbon, EVERYTHING. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life. Definitely in my ‘Top 5 Most Beautiful Things I Have Ever Seen.” It took my breath away. I could have stayed there forever. We then caught the train to go back to Lisbon, where we looked for a restaurant to have dinner. (We were starving. Especially me because I hadn’t eaten anything so far.) We found one in Plaza Mayor, right by the ocean, where I had an amazing meal! I had a salmon burger, with garlic fries! YUM!

After dinner, we went back to the hostel to pick up our bags, say goodbye to the workers, and head to the train station. First we had to pick up some classic Portuguese pastries before we left! This is called Nata. It was amazing. We each had two... We also got some souvenirs, and then enjoyed our last hour in Lisbon, appreciating the ocean and taking in the beauty of the city. 

Even though we had some bumps along the way, like my train ticket, Juj having to wait an hour for her SALAD, and getting caught in the rain, it was still an amazing weekend. Back in the school routine now, but not for long, because this weekend I go to Barcelona! I’m so excited to go back there. I think it’s my favorite city in the world! Hopefully it’s as lovely this time as it was last time.

Wishing I was still in Portugal..

Hasta Luego Amigos!

[madisonmaintospain]

Somos una Familia (We Are a Family)

Oh boy, it’s been a while since I’ve written. I need to try hard to keep up with this..

I titled this post “We Are a Family” because I’m blessed to have such an amazing group of friends to experience these adventures with, we are a family. My host family, too, I am so thankful that they are very nice, and they want to be present in our lives. 

Anyway, wow. I love it here so much. I know I say that every time, but it’s so true. Here are some reasons why:

So last week on Friday, we had this thing at the school called Intercambio, where the locals who want to practice their English, and the English students who want practice their Spanish, go and mingle. It was kind of like speed dating. We spoke 4 minutes in English and then 4 minutes in Spanish, helping each other with words, etc. Then we would switch partners. The locals ranged from my age, to grandmas and grandpas. It was so cool to talk to all different types of people and hear their stories and experiences. 

Then on Saturday, if you saw my pictures, we had an excursion to Segovia, Spain. We have one once a month here, where the professors come with to tell us the history and cool tourist spots of other cities in Spain. Segovia was so beautiful.

This is the famous aqueduct of Segovia. Que bonito!

This castle was so beautiful, inside and out! The views were incredible!

I wish I lived in a castle.. 

Then Sunday, me and some friends met up with some Spaniards and had tapas! There were even cheese curds! Of course not even comparable to the ones in Wisconsin... but “dey aight”

Yummm!!

Today, Wednesday, I finally got to pick up my bus pass! Where I live, is quite a walk to school, and it’s kinda chili when I don’t wear my jacket, but too hot when I do. It’s a constant struggle, so I just take the bus.. If I make it on time. Yesterday I was just SECONDS late, I even run to try to catch it, but I was too late, so I took a taxi.. hahahaha. I would've walked but I would have been late. Classes are going good. My favorites are Culture and Grammar (just because I like the teacher, not because I’m good at grammar. Because I’m not.) Literature is the absolute worst. History and Geography are taught by the same professor and he is the best! His name is Alfredo, and today I was trying to get his attention, but he didn’t hear me after I repeatedly said “Alfredo! Alfredo!” So I go.. “CHICKEN ALFREDO!” That got his attention an the whole class couldn't stop laughing... :)

Now here are some more pics of Segovia because it was so beautiful!

Hasta luego amigos! (Until later friends!)

[madisonmaintospain]

El Primer Gran Obstáculo (The First Big Obstacle

So, it was inevitable but I didn’t think it would happen so soon. I’m sick... :( I’m getting over my cold now, but boy it was a miserable few days. I stayed home from class on Monday and then I tried to go Tuesday, but it was awful, so I stayed home again on Wednesday. Today I felt much better, still suffering from gnarly coughs and sniffles though. Thank god I’m feeling better because this weekend we have an excursion to Segovia! So we meet a bus at the school Saturday morning, then ride with all the students and professors and they give us a tour/history lesson of the city. Segovia is so beautiful from the photos I’ve seen, so I’m super excited!

Lets see, what did I do since my last post? 

My new favorite drink.. Sangria! Made by my new friend and favorite bartender from La Negra Flor - Carlos! He’s a great guy and we all love him! 

This is Plaza de Zorilla which is super close to my apartment! Isn’t is beautiful?? I get to see this gorgeous view everyday. :)

This was from Orientation Day, but I just found it on the university’s instagram, lol. Can you find me?

Café con leche is all I drink.. 

I thought this was so weird.. At the market, they had all the chocolate locked up. Lol

So, if you hang around me a lot, or even a little, you know that I get hot a lot. Like I sweat all the time so I rarely wear lots of layers, socks, etc. Here, in Valla, it’s so much warmer than in the snow back home. So I’m enjoying it. I don’t feel the need to wear a jacket, I wear open toed shoes, etc. But because I do this, I get stared at by all they locals. I think it’s hilarious because they are all bundled up in their winter coats and scarfs and I’m like IT’S SUMMER! It’s just funny to me.. Like before this trip, they told us to try to blend in when we are here; to not be obnoxious and obviously american. Well I don’t really know how to blend in. I don’t really want to either. In my life, I’ve never blended in, I like standing out. 

A video posted by Madison (@madisonavenuemainstreet) on Jan 16, 2017 at 6:03am PST

 Here is a small clip of what lunch looks like here. The Spanish culture is that lunch is the biggest meal of the day. I learned in my Culture class that the tradition of having siesta ( a break after lunch where people rest, sleep, close their stores for a couple hours, etc.) came from the Romans. They would work in the morning, they in the middle of the day, it would get really hot so they would go home and eat with their families, then wait until it was cool enough to work again. That tradition has held. So a normal day here for me is: I get home from classes around 2-2:30. It depends on the day. Then we have lunch, and everyone eats with us because it’s family time. Then we have siesta; I usually nap. Then wake up - go out shopping/churros/tapas etc. Come back for dinner which is small, personal pizza, burger, sandwich, etc. Then either get ready for bed or go out to a bar with friends. It’s way more relaxed here and I love it.

I also booked a trip to Barcelona for February! It’s so hard because I want to go everywhere, but I need to watch my money... lol. It’s really nice that there are excursions included in our program. We have 5 throughout the semester all around Spain. I’m so excited.

Anyway I love it here. I’m so grateful everyday. I am soaking up so much culture, knowledge and experience. I don’t want to leave.

[madisonmaintospain]

Primer Día de Escuela! (First Day of School)

This is me outside of the University today! First day of classes was a success!

I’m not counting yesterday as the first day of school, because it was just orientation, but here is what I did yesterday! :)

We had orientation where we learned what our semester will consist of, what weekend excursions we will be taking, and a lot more information that I can’t remember! LOL. Then we got a mini tour of the city, where we saw some cathedrals, beautiful architecture, and amazing streets. 

This fountain is really close to our house. It is located in La Plaza de Zorilla. It is also our meeting place when we hang out with friends because we all kinda live by each other!

We had spaghetti for lunch and it was soooo good!!

The dog’s name is Keka and I love him. 

After lunch, Anna and I met up with some friends to explore the city and get some things we needed. 

We went to look around at this mall type thing called El Corte Ingles! Very fun and very different to the malls back home. 

This is one of the things I NEEDED. Churros con chocolate! It’s my favorite thing!!

Then we had dinner will all the students studying abroad and the professors too. Everyone was drinking wine and eating tapas (appetizers) and there was even a mariachi band that played and sang! Twas a good night!

Then TODAY, was the first day of school. I had art and grammar today and I love the professors! They are so funny and nice and I’m so excited to go back! 

Also, I wanted to just say that I’m super impressed with myself and my ability to speak and understand all the Spanish that I have. I’m immersed into it; it’s everywhere like in the streets, music, school, stores, everywhere, obviously! I’m doing really well, a lot better than I thought I would be. Like I understood everything that the professors said in school today. I’m in a really good place and I am so happy. I’m so grateful for this opportunity. I am thankful every second of every day to be in such an amazing city, in such a beautiful country. I’ve only been here three days and I’m in love. It feels like I’ve been here longer. Mom don’t read the next sentence. I never want to leave! :) 

Also our host mom just made us homemade pizza, so how can it get any better??? I love it here. So much. 

[madisonmaintospain]

Sobre Ayer.. (About Yesterday..)

Hola Amigos!

Wow, what an adventure it’s been already. Technically it’s day 2 in Spain, but I didn’t get a change to write yesterday. And today is my first full day here. 

So, these three bags are what I will be living out of for the next 5 months... Wish me luck. If you know me at all, you know I obviously over packed, but I will still have a hard time! Lol! 

It was very snowy in New Jersey!

This photo was taken before we knew that our plane was going to be delayed for about 3 hours. Then we had to wait another hour for maintenance things to be fixed on the plane. We kept getting delayed, and we were worried we were gonna miss our bus that was waiting for us in Madrid. It was frustrating, but I got to almost finish a movie even before takeoff. The plane ride was kind of awful actually. There was also a screaming child right next to us on the plane that would NOT stop for like 45 minutes. It was insane. Some turbulence, but not much, but it was very uncomfy, didn’t get much sleep, and we definitely missed our bus. But I had good pasta for dinner. Once we got to the airport, we had to find our own transportation from Madrid to Valladolid. We were so lost in the airport, trying to find a bus or train to take us, and we were all exhausted and nervous to speak, but we ended up finding a ticket station for the bus and all was well. During that waiting time, was when a couple of us bought our first legal drink! (Didn’t take long, huh? lol) We finally got on the bus and had about a 2 and 1/2 hour ride to Valladolid. We got off at the bus station and waited for our host mom. It was communicated to her that our plane was delayed, but somewhere in there was a miscommunication and she thought we were meeting her at her apartment. So we waited a while until another host mom came to pick up her kids, and let us use her phone to call our host mom. We ended up having to take a taxi to the apartment and the addresses are a different format here, so it was hard to communicate with the driver where we were supposed to go. We finally found it and he parked a bit away and we were like “Oh, we will walk.” and he’s like “Okay!” Then he gets in his car and starts driving with our luggage and we are like UM?????? but he was just pulling up to the door so we didn’t have to carry our luggage, thank god, but it was scary - we thought he was gonna drive off with our stuff! Thankfully everything was okay, and the driver was actually very nice and helpful. We get inside the building and have to figure out the elevator system and it was soo confusing, but someone helped us. Finally we get up to the apartment and meet our host mom and get settled in. She is very kind and apologized for the miscommunication. She also knew that we were exhausted so she let us rest and unpack. For dinner, she made us what I thought was a ham & cheese sandwich with butter, but I realized it was actually ham, egg, and mayonnaise after I took a big bite into it... I gave Anna my egg and ate the rest. Lol (I hate eggs if you didn’t know)

Our room is very cute, and homey. And we get our own bathroom!!

Our room has my favorite Picasso painting - Guernica! 

Anyway those two days of travel were a whirlwind of emotions. It’s nice to be settled in and feel at home. More posts to come! Stay tuned! 

[madisonmaintospain]

T-minus 9 days..

Hello everyone! It’s 3:37 am and I can’t sleep, so I’ve decided to write my first blog post. DISCLAIMER: I’m not a very good writer, and I will do my best to post often so that all my friends and family can know what I am up to over seas, but no promises considering there might be limited wifi, time, etc while abroad.

{Since this is a tumblr blog, some of you might not be familiar with how this works. I’ve made it so you don’t need to log in to view my posts, but you might need to create an account to reply/like/share etc. Just let me know if you have any questions (I’m talking to you Grandma) hehe!}

Who knows? Maybe no one will read this and I’ll be talking to myself. We’ll see.

Anyway its 9 days until I leave this country. I haven’t started packing, well because 1) I have no idea where to start.. 2) I’m putting it off as long as I can (classic me) 3) I just don’t want to.. and ... 4) I’m kind of scared. I have never been away from home/my parents for longer than like 2 months at the most. This will be a huge adjustment for me, but also a great adventure. I’m excited to learn, explore, make new friends, and ‘discover myself’. 

I will be using the hashtag #MadisonMaintoSpain because I think it’s cool and I like it, so I can be found by using that. Also I will be able to be contacted via facebook/whatsapp/snapchat/basically all social media, (because wifi), but I will probably not have access to texting unless you also have an iphone. I will do my best to stay in touch and keep everyone up to date with my adventures! 

The photo above is the University in which I will be studying. It’s so beautiful. I can’t wait!

This photo was taken the last time I was in Spain. I wanted to find my prince, so I tried kissing a frog. Maybe I’ll find my prince this time around?