Barcelona study abroad Summer 2011: Day 19, 20, & 21/Madrid

Madrid was awesome!!! We were running a little bit late to get to the train station though and almost missed it! I was so giddy to ride on a train because I have never been one one before. It was really nice and had a cafeteria/food shop. Everybody was sleeping on the way there but I had trouble falling asleep because I was excited for the trip. I really enjoy looking at the Spanish back country, just to see how different it is than in the States. It is mountainous and hilly, and has little towns throughout, some of which have really cool, castle-like buildings. About 3 1/2 hours later, we got to Madrid, only to find out that they put us in 2 different hotels, rather than staying together in one. And just my luck, I got put in the not as nice one, just like my apartment. The electricity in hotels in Spain is weird, you have to leave your room key in a slider in order to turn the electricity on, so needless to say we thought it was broken when we got there. We had free time for the rest of the day, so some of us decided to go get lunch and explore the city. We passed a churros place, so of course we had to stop. They serve churros differently over here though. They are plain, but you get a side of hot chocolate to dip it into. I like the sugar-coated ones better, but the chocolate was still really good! After that, we continued to explore some more and made it over to this really cool, HUGE park, with a lake and big monument in the middle. People actually siesta in Madrid, unlike in Barcelona. We all just kind of screwed around for the rest of the day and had fun doing it. And that night, we went on a bar crawl. It was the first one that i've ever been on, and I thought it was pretty fun, but everybody said that other ones are much better. We went to 3 bars and 2 clubs for only 8 Euros! People separated from the group throughout the night, but luckily we all made it back to the hotel, one way or another. The next morning was rough because we were running on little sleep, but the free continental breakfast definitely helped! It was the most complete breakfast that i've had on this trip, so you know I went to work on it. They had churros, croissants, fruit, eggs, cereal, hashbrown-type stuff, materials to make tapas bread, fruit, yogurt, apple and orange and peach juice. Peach juice is phenomenal! Don't dog it til you try it! After that, we went on a guided tour of the city, half on the bus and half walking. We got to see some really cool buildings and more of the city, but half of the people on the bus fell asleep at some point, including me! After that, we went to the Royal Palace and walked around inside (only some of the rooms are open) and then inside of the armory. It was really cool, and HUGE. The dining room table was easily the biggest table that I have ever seen. It had at least 40 chair on each side! There were also really beautiful paintings on the top of each ceiling, but of course, no photos were allowed. After that, we went inside the Prado museum, which is WAY too big. We only stayed for a little while though because it was really crowded and we were museumed out. We go to see the original "Las Meninas" by Velazquez though, which was interesting. After this, it was time for a little siesta before heading out for the night. I probably got a kebab for dinner every night that we were here. Then we went to the other hotel and met up with everybody for a little while. One of the bedrooms had at least 30 people inside of it, so needless to say, we got kicked out because we were making too much noise. So, for the next 30 minutes to an hour, we were all trying to hide from the CEA staff. After this, we went to a popular club called "Kapitol". It was INSANE. 7 stories high, with probably 5 or 6 dance floors, and uber crowded. When we got there, we somehow snuck into a VIP section and managed to be here for a little while until we got kicked out. On the top floor, they had an open-air roof and a big fountain in the middle of the room. Each floor had a different style of music, with the main floor on the bottom having electronic/techno type. AND a huge machine on the ceiling that blew cold smoke down every couple of minutes, so that was refreshing. They also had a hip-hop floor, a reggae floor, a karaoake/chill floor, and other types. We were here until 5am or so, and then headed back to the hotel, only to wake up a few hours later to another great breakfast. We had a few hours to kill between breakfast and when we were leaving, so I went to the Real Madrid stadium. It was really cool and more modernized than FC Barca's, but i'll stick to pulling for Barca. After this, I walked around for a little bit, but ran out of time so I didn't get to do some of the things that I wanted, but oh well. Before we left, I went with some friends to a restaurant right next to our hotel. They had tapas and some good meal selections, but what lured us in was the dessert menu. It was beautiful! They had ice cream, waffles, pancakes, and more! I have heard of the "Gofres con helado" which is the waffles with ice cream, so of course I ordered it. It came with waffles on the bottom, with whipped cream and ice cream and chocolate syrup and strawberries on top, and looked so good that I almost forgot to take a picture of it! But, luckily my tourist instincts kicked in. After this, we went back to the hotel and met up with the rest of the group and headed to the train station. I was able to sleep a lot longer on the way back, so that was good and helped me a little bit. Not enough to shake this cold though! All in all, Madrid was AWESOME and so much fun. The people there seemed nicer too than the people in Barcelona, I don't know why though. And although the temperature was hotter, there was much more shade to cool off. Although they don't have as much natural beauty, I think the city is prettier than Barca. But, I have a soft spot for Barca since I've been here for a little while now. We got back around 6:45pm, and we were all tired but it was our last chance to catch a bullfight, so that was our plan...until we found out that you cannot buy tickets after 7pm. BOOO!!! So, I never got to catch one, and this is the last year that they are being held in Catalonia. Oh well, I guess i'll just have to catch another one when I come back! Heck, maybe i'll even catch one in Pamplona when I come back to run with the bulls again! As soon as I got back, I took a nap and then began working on a paper and project that were due today. I have been running on fumes lately in terms of sleep, but there is no time to sleep because of finals coming up and this is our last week together! At least I know I can function with little sleep if I really need to. And, not getting any sleep is really not helping me overcome this cold but i'm in Spain, baby! The past two days have been rough with all of this schoolwork being piled on and trying to see all of the sights before we leave, but it's been fun nonetheless. I'm glad that I finally got this blog in! Only took me 4 days, haha.