It's Halloween!

So today is Halloween, and Madrid sucks for Halloween festivities. Only little kids dress up and there is no parade, no trick-or-treating, no candy.... They only have huesos de santo which are marzipan and a cream filling. They also make buñuelos rellenos which are fried dough with cream filling. The huesos de santo look disgusting but the others look pretty tasty. Who knows what Madrid's Halloween night has in store. I think we are going to go to the most haunted places in Madrid, like Plaza Mayor.

So I know I haven't updated in a while, so here is the lowdown of what has been going on.

The weekend after I went to Barcelona, I traveled to Vienna to see my parents. After being there a while, I was so grateful they allowed Laura to come with me. I would have been miserable. So the journey there started early (flight left at 8 a.m.) and when we arrived at the airport we were trying to figure out how to get to the city. Taxis = no, bus = perhaps, and train = perhaps. We asked one woman she said take the bus. When we went to the ticket office the guy at the counter tried to rip us off and say where the bus stopped was too far to walk from our hotel. Bull shit. He just wanted us to buy the train ticket. But to put it back in his face we bought the bus ticket. I think it was a lot easier taking the bus. It took at about 15 minutes. We got off and went into a cafe to get breakfast. After breakfast, I realized I lost my belt to my beautiful trench coat. That was a sign this trip was going to be horrible.
We quickly realized Vienna was FREEZING. I am talking like 4 degree Celsius. It also started raining. Luckily I brought an umbrella. We checked into our hotel, and took about a 4 hour nap. HAHA. We got up and walked around the city. It was cold, wet, and miserable. We eventually found this bar called Don's Bar. It was a Godfather's themed bar but they had hooka. Random? After about 20 minutes, we realized that this was an underage hang out.... We spent the entire time watching the free drama of 16 years olds. It was hysterical. We left around 10:30 and went back to the hotel room.
We got up early the next morning and tried to find a good place to have breakfast. We ended up at this really touristy market thing, but the waffles there were AMAZING. We then started walking to the Belvedere museum so we could see the Klemt exhibit. While there, I got a call from my parents. Apparently, their flight was delayed in Memphis and they missed their connecting flight in Amsterdam. This meant instead of getting into Vienna at 2 they would be there at 10..... If anything else could go wrong. We tried to keep occupied. After the Belvedere, we went to this really cool museum called Haus auf Musik. This museum was INCREDIBLE!! They spent a lot of money on it. I can’t describe it, but if you look at the website you will understand. After that, we went to the hotel to wait for my parents to call. Around 10 they phoned, and we journeyed to the hotel. Dinner was incredible. The best I have had since I left the states. We decided we would try to get my and Laura’s flight changed since I would only be seeing my parents for about 5 hours total.

We got up at seven the next morning to meet for breakfast. After breakfast we started calling the airline. No one answered for about an hour. So we couldn’t change it. We left at about 11. It sucked. I wanted to actually spend time with my family. When we got to the airport, the security check-in just put the icing on the cake. They threw away majority of the stuff my parents brought to me from the states AND the stuff I brought to Vienna. I apparently can bring in more that 100 mL of liquid to their country but I can’t take it out. Clearly the European Union really isn’t united. They seem to have different rules for each airport. I broke down and started crying in the terminal… UGH. So emotional!

The next weekend was pretty fun! We went out to Malasaña every night during the weekend! We met some Portuguese guys, a guy from California, and found a really cool Brazilian bar! They played Brazilian music, which was pretty cool.

Monday I started feeling sick. Like runny nose, cough. Just bleh. Well Thursday, I woke up with a terrible earache. I went to the doctor yesterday and he said I have a really bad infection. Pretty much my ear is so inflamed that I’m bleeding from my ear. It’s awesome…. I don’t think my body likes Madrid. The end. haha

PICTURES FROM BARCELONA!!

http://mersyearabroad.myphotoalbum.com/

BARCELONA!!!

Disclosure: Sorry this post is full of simple and run-on sentences and bad grammar. I am tired and wanted to make a post before I left for Vienna.

So this past weekend I went to Barcelona....

I missed that city so much. I think I will always like Barcelona better than Madrid.

The first day we took a 9 hour bus ride at 1 in the morning. It was terrible..... We got in at about 10 and walked to our hostel. We walked down this really cool street and found lots of little places to eat and shop. When we got to our hotel, the rooms weren't ready yet, so we put our stuff down and got breakfast. We came back around 12 and took showers. We took a little nappy and went around wondering. We walked up La Rambla and went to Barri Gotic. There we went to the Dali museum. This museum was actually a private collection of his pieces. I saw this museum when I came three years ago and wanted to see it again. That night we walked around and just took in the city. I feel the best way to see a city is at night. I think they just come alive and you see how beautiful it really is. While on our way home, we met Nicola and Lorenzo, two Italians. They were our best friends the whole weekend.
The next morning we got up early and walked around Montjuic. This is a really famous park near the coast. Daniel, a traveler from Brasil, came with us. We saw the Olympic stadium and this really neat place called Poble Espanyol. This is where two architects traveled around Spain and Portugal looking at architecture and created a little enclosed space that incorporated their favorite styles. It was really neat. Then we went back to the hostel. Laura took a nap and I started talking with this guy named Alex who was from Chile. I feel like the best way to meet people is in a hostel. There are people from all over the world here. That night we had dinner with Rhea, our suitemate from last year who was also in Barcelona for the weekend. It was SOOOOOOOO wonderful seeing her. We then met up with the friends she came with and walked around La Rambla. They left and we hung out with Lorenzo and Nicola. Pretty much we walked around La Rambla and Barri Gotic, found a couple of bars, but nothing special.
Saturday, we went on my Gaudi tour of the city. haha. Pretty much we walked the city and looked at Gaudi's architecture. He was such a character. We then went to Parc Guell. Guell was an apprentice of Gaudi. While we were climbing, we met this guy named Soren who was from Sweden. He was selling mojitos on the mountain. hahahah. We went to dinner with him and just talked. He had come to Barca for vacation and never left. That seemed to be the continual occurrence with the people we met. They came for vacation and decided never to leave. I wish I was an European Union citizen because I would do the exact same thing. After dinner, we went back to the hostel and got ready to go out. We met this girl named Marie Eve from Montreal and invited her to come with us. We were like Charlie's Angels. She was a red-head, me a brunet, and Laura the "blonde." hehe. So we met up with Nicola and Lorenzo and wandered around for a bit before deciding on going to club. Pretty much we got no sleep that night and had to leave Barcelona at 10:30.
Sunday we left and we both were very sad.... I grew to love Barca even more and Laura, experiencing it for the first time, came to love it. We think we might go back before we leave.... hehehe.

NEXT STOP: VIENNA TO SEE THE PARENTS!!!! YAYAYAYYAYAYAYAYYAYAY!!!!

Pictures!

So I uploaded the pictures!!! Go to:

http://mersyearabroad.myphotoalbum.com/

They are very, very pretty!!

Cuenca and Valencia

So this weekend was our first out of Madrid weekend. NYU Madrid did a sponsored trip to Grenada/Cordoba and a Valencia/Cuenca. We originally wanted to go to Grenada and Cordoba but we didn't get to the sign up in time. It was full when we got there. However, I am very glad we got to go to Valencia and Cuenca.

We started out at 8 in the morning on a bus. Buses are not comfortable, especially when you are trying to get your sleepy on. We arrived in Cuenca at about 11. Cuenca is mostly known for its being a heavily populated Muslim city in the past. There are some Moorish ruins there. Also, the first Gothic cathedral, Our Lady of Grace Cathedral, in Spain was built here. It's quite a cute town. My favorite part was the "labyrinth" that our wonderful tour guide Angél took us through. There are these little secret streets through Cuenca that he said are good during the evening times. haha. There was this one secret passage where there was a real life Romeo and Juliet story. There was this woman in one of these dark streets that always sat at a caged window. One day this guy comes by and starts talking to her. They fall in love by talking through her window. Well the guy has to go off to war, and when he comes back he sees her talking to another guy at the window. The men begin to duel and the Romeo character is killed. The girl feels so terrible she places herself in a convent. Romantic huh?

Now Valencia.

The hotel we stayed in was immaculate. We had a complimentary breakfast which was incredible. The location was perfect. The first night we went to an amazing restaurant called L´Hamadírada, which means hamadryad in English. Apparently these are Greek mythological creatures, nymphs, that live in trees. The food here was delicious. I had grilled squid. It was one of the best things I have ever eaten. My two friends shared a paella of black rice and baby squids. The reason it is black is the paella is cooked en tinto, which means it´s cooked in the squids ink. Sounds gross but it´s delicious!!!

The next day we had a walking tour of Valencia. We saw Roman ruins, an amazing cathedral, an old palace, the famous market there, and most importantly, the BEACH!! They fed us an amazing lunch at a restaurant on the beach, and after we had free time to lie out or go in the water. Although it is October, the water was still warm. I haven´t been to the beach in FOREVER. It was incredible. That night we went out for tapas and Agua de Valencia, which is cava, Spanish champagne, orange juice, Cointreau, an orange liqueur, and sugar (lots of it!). It was pretty taste. The reason there is so much orange stuff is Valencia is known for its oranges. I bought one at the Mercat we went to. It was the most tasty orange I ever had. After tapas, we met up with some more people and went to a free discoteca. haha We of course had to get our dance on. The played a remix with Martin Luther King, Jr.´s "I have a dream..." speech. I felt like it was disrespectful. Oh well. The Spanish are not known for being politically correct.

The next morning we went to the City of Arts and Sciences. This is a futuristic looking combination of buildings hosting the best Aquarium in Europe, an IMAX, Planetarium, Laserium, an interactive science museum, and an opera house. I was really wanting to go to the Aquarium, but we only had an hour to walk around everything, and the cost was 25 Euro. I didn't feel it was worth it to go in for an hour. I am sure I will return. Laura and I both loved it, so I am sure we are going to go back.

ALSO They speak a dialect of Catalan there, so it made me really excited to see Catalan everywhere.

When we came back I realized the sickness I was developing finally manifested itself, and I had to go to the doctor. Some type of infection, but know I have antibiotics and feel 80% better!!

This weekends agenda = BARCELONA!!!!!!!!! I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!

Pictures will be posted soon!! I promise!!

Wow.... I am really bad on the updates.

So. It is now October and I haven't updated in a long time. Sorry guys!!
Honestly nothing has really happened. I have just been experiencing the craziness that is Madrid.

Here are somethings that I have realized:
1. The majority of the women on the street are judging you for one reason or another.
2. The men are very nice. Mostly the old ones... womp. You know what that means. Here they are called viejo verdes, which is dirty old man in English.
3. The concept of being on time here is unheard of. They are late and everything just goes slower. Laura has been without her computer for almost a week. They promised she would have it back this past Tuesday. Oh well.
4. They love to stare. I mean even walking down the street people just stare at you especially the old ladies.
5. People are terrible drivers and pedestrians never have the right away. Even if you walk when it says to you can get run over. Scary.
6. No one knows where anything is. You ask them for directions and three people try to give it to you. This ends in confusion.
7. (AND MOST IMPORTANT) People here are rude. RUDE RUDE RUDE. I even had a Spaniard tell me Spaniards are not simpatico, or pleasant.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty hectic. Getting into a routine here is hard when you can't sleep. I think I have extreme anxiety as in my brain in the evening goes round in circles and keeps me awake. Meh. Hopefully the tiredness will ensue and sleep will come.

The most exciting things I have done lately are going out with my host brother and his friends and experience La noche en blanco. The white night was pretty fun. They close down the "Broadway" of Madrid for walking traffic and they have a huge dance-along in Plaza de Cibeles. The museums are open later than usual and are free. We went to the Archeology museum and saw lots of cool Spanish artifacts, like Visigoth crowns and ancient coins. We then walked around the city on Gran Via and just couldn't believe the amount of people that were there. In one of the Plaza's there was a huge dance-a-long going on. Quite strange. Europeans love to dance. The weekends mostly consist of going to the bar for tapas and drinks then to the discotecas.

I also saw Green Day here. I know...I know... obsessive but I had a perfect plan to get up on stage with them. I made a sign that looked like the Dookie cover and had the question "Can I sing Longview?" I remember in Nashville them letting people get up on stage to sing. Well little did I know that someone would rip the sign from my hands and throw it towards the back of the crowd. There was no way to get it back.... My purse also broke... womp womp. I realized if I had gotten the chance to go up on stage with them, the like stardom magic would be broken. haha. I took some really great videos and pictures though.

We went to Cuenca and Valencia this weekend.... That will be in a new post haha.

Pictures!!

I finally made an online picture album for those without Facebooks.

http://mersyearabroad.myphotoalbum.com/

The pictures I have taken so far are up and ready for viewing. I am so glad a bought a new camera. Best birthday present eva!

So much has happened since Friday.

Friday we went out. Got into three clubs for free and were hit on continuously by Europeans. I think they have a American radar because the moment we walked in the clubs they knew we were American. After these clubs we wanted to go to Joy (save the best for last). Well, even with the discuenta we recieved it still was going to be 15 euro. We were like hell no. SO we ended up standing around in the street for a bit. We then met these two Spanish guys who invited us to this Chocolateria in Sol right near Joy. The place was packed, and we got there around 4:30. We had churros y chocolate. Delicious. We ended the night, like most Madriyenos at about 5:30 and went home.
Saturday we didn't wake up till about ummm three or so. So it was a waste of a day. We then went to Parque Retiro were we had an intercambio with some natives. Laura and I had this really nice guy names Hugo. He was going to Leon in France in a month or two to go to study. Pretty cool. Parque Retiro is BEAUTIFUL. I wish I took pictures. But I will eventually. We then came home and Laura passed out about 9:30. I on the other hand watched two movies. What a boring Saturday. haha
Sunday we got up around 10 and went to el Rastro. This flea market is amazing. There is just so much STUFF. We bought harem pants so we could fit in with all the women here. I wanted to buy more stuff but I only brought 20 euro.
Monday we started classes. I had class from 9:30 until about 10:45 then had to wait until 4 for my next class. I officially found out my 9:30 class does not count towards my major. The Spanish Department at NYU can suck it. Why would a class in Spanish about the Economic and Public Policy of Spain and its interaction with the European Union not count towards a Spanish Culture major??? I hate them... so much. Oh well. I now will have class at 12:30 and will be taking a Cultural Anthropology class. Sounds fun.
Carlos, our host brother, finished his exams Monday so he invited us to celebrate with his friends. He took us to a discoteca called Verde. It was very posh. We met Fernando and David. Fernando is a complete gentleman as well as a good dancer. hehe. He is studying law but doesn't know if he wants to be a lawyer. His English is a lot better than Carlos's. hehe. David is a character. Hilarious. He is a free spirit and doesn't really know what he wants to do. He has officially chosen International Business. Here in Europe when you go to "college" you go with a major already picked. And he has changed twice so he has four years of college left. Oh well. I am just glad we are finally meeting real Spaniards.
We are going to Kapital with them on Saturday. More shenanigans to come.

Madrid and Segovia

So we have been in Madrid for almost a week and everyday has been one discovery/adventure after the other.
The majority of the week consisted of going to boring classes. Every morning we had an advanced Spanish class where we pretty much learned how to order tapas, how to tell a boy off in a club, how to answer the phone, and slang phrases and words. Some of the stuff was useful, but most was just a refresher from high school (Thanks Senyora Negroni!). The class after was a history course. The book we read over the summer had exactly the same information, so I guess this was a way for those who didn't read the book to have a bit of knowledge on Spanish history. We started from the beginning of Iberia to what Spain is today. What really interested me is we spent almost 30 minutes talking about some king but only about 5 minutes on Franco....
This in a way pissed me off. I mean Franco is pretty much influenced Spain to what it is today. He was a HUGE part of Spanish history and the only thing the professor said was that under him during:
the 40s Spain was in isolation
the 50s "El Cambio"
the 60s Spain experienced a boom in their economy

No discussion on the horror that occurred during this time, the harsh establishment he created nor the positive things he did. Perhaps certain Spaniards don't like to discuss this period as a result of the hard persecution their ancestors experiences. Oh well. Very interesting. OK back to to more less nerdy stuff...

Here is where we have been this week:
1. Plaza Mayor
2. Palacio Real
3. Reina Sofia (the Madrid equivalent of the MoMA)
4. Segovia

They were all pretty amazing. I think the most interesting was Segovia. It is a city about an hour outside of Madrid. The contains to much history. Some interesting facts:
1. Walt Disney drew inspiration from the castle in Segovia for his movies.
2. The Roman Aqueducts in the city are the largest and most well preserved anywhere in the world. They were built around 100 A.D.
3.The Gothic Cathedral of Segovia is considered Europe's last great Gothic Cathedral.
4. There is a synagogue that dates back to the 14th century and in the 15th century converted to a church as a result of the Expulsion of Jews from the Iberian Peninsula.

I will make a new post for pictures from all of these places. Some random stuff to say:

Maite is an amazing cook. Everyday Laura and I discuss everyday what she is going to make for dinner. We had this zucchini with goat cheese casserole thing yesterday. It was incredible.

We are becoming close with the host family. Last night we even watched a movie with them! In Spanish of course. Wonderful film.

Tonight we are going out for the first time. Our host parents, I think, think we are very lame. They kept asking when we were going out. haha I think we are going to hit up Joy, a popular club here. Should be fun!

The First Two Days

These past two days have been amazing. We got into Madrid around 10 yesterday and waited in the airport for two hours to take the bus to a stop where we were put in taxes. Laura got there before me so we had biffle catch up time on the bus. When we reached our homestay we couldn't believe it. The apartment is HUGE.


The mother, Maite (Short for Marie Theresa), is an amazing painter. Throughout the house are her paintings, in the bathrooms, our rooms, the kitchen, living room, etc. She makes amazing food. Last night we had the traditional tortilla of Spain. This is not what Americans think it is. It is mostly egg and potatoes. Delicious!! Then tonight she made us some version of paella. yums yums. Enrique, or Quique as they shorten it in Spain, is very nice. He is lawyer and from what I understand works with life insurance. Carlos, their son, attends a university outside of Madrid where he studies film. He also does Martial Arts. Apparently he used to work with nunchucks. lol. But we are getting to know them a lot better, which is really nice.

Mostly we have been walking all day. When we came in we unpacked, ate lunch, and went on a walking tour with a the NYU people for like an hour. Then they let us roam. We started out with a group, but we saw a side street we couldn't resist. We just walked around really. I think Laura and I have walked at least ten miles in the last two days. We walked down that street and around a really big shopping area. Around 6 we were hungry and got tapas. I think that's going to be a staple here. We came home around 9 and ate, then walked to campus and home. It's far haha.

Today we had orientation. It was booooooring.... I was dying. I mean it was helpful information, but I was restless. Laura and I met these two girls, Monique and Traci (sp?), with who I think we are going to be good friends. All of us decided to meet at the metro stop Santo Domingo at 5:30. We had some things on the agenda today, like buying:
1. A hair dryer
2. Cell phones
3. Shampoo and Conditioner
4. An alarm clock

Well at 5:30 we got to the stop. No amigas. When then realized about after ten to twenty minutes there might be two different stop entrances/exits. There were and we didn't get to the other one till 5:50 ish.....With no way to contact them we decided to go on. We walked and walked and walked looking for a Vodaphone store. We made a circle around the area. We made it to chueca, an incredible part of the city! It's the Village of Madrid. Rainbow flags everywhere, cute boutiques, bars, and couples holding hands everywhere. We finally found a Vodaphone here. YAY!! After, we stopped for tapas and directions to fnac, the Best Buy of Spain, at a local bar. We left and went there. Alas... they didn't have alarm clocks or hair dryers as we were told. BUT we have an alarm on the phone so check for phone and alarm clock... As for the shampoo and conditioner lets just say I won't give up my American products. We went to a nearby pharmacy and they had some funky European brand. I need my Pantene or Fructis. hehe.

So now we are done with dinner and sitting in our rooms relaxing. We probably will be so tired during the week to go out haha. BUT at least class doesn't start till 11 tomorrow!! WOO HOO!!