it's hard to keep track of everything that has been going on, as we have been keeping busy and doing so many different things on a daily basis. however, last week we found this awesome place that i mentioned from my last post called CATS, well let's just say nora and i may have made a reappearance at this joint and enjoyed getting to know the nightlife and people of madrid. definitely going to make some appearances in the future at this joint otra vez
i finally have a good picture of me and my new bestie
saturday was very fun as well, as my friend and i indulged in a pub crawl in sol and we ended the night at this authentic spanish dance bar that i was always curious about going into called el son- so many authentic latina and spanish dancers in this club- i definitely felt out of place, i think i'm going to need to take some dance classes when i'm here? who wants to finance this idea? flamenco dancing is a little different from salsa but i'm definitely open to learning all and any kind that involves the moving of the hips! me+music+dancing=yes please!
this last week was fairly uneventful during the week aside from monday which was valentines day :) i decided not to be one of those "happy singles awareness days" people and instead i put my red bow in my hair and went on my way to school and to my surprise my aphi sister laura had written me a beautiful poem about our spanish romance! probably the best surprise ever, along with emily bringing us all homemade valentines complete with glitter. however the best part of the story is what happened later in my evening.
my host sister elise and i decided to surprise our mama gloria (who is widowed) and bring back a cake, and roses and to celebrate valentines day together! elise set the table with a table cloth and gloria was so shocked when she walked in. she was so excited she even whipped out a bottle of her finest champagne from france to share with us! it was the perfect way to celebrate vday- we talked about love and life and all the good and bad. gloria is such a dynamic woman i love listening to anything she has to say and she always has good advice to give us girls :) i ended my day skyping some of some of my favorite people that i care about too so all in all it was one of the best days in awhile here in spain.
laura and i sharing some love at school on vday
on tuesday, nora, laura and i decided to go to cave bar to meet some of our friends since we don't have class on wednesday- but first we stopped at nora's piso for some tapas and wine. nora had invited me to sleepover because the place we were going was super close to her house and i live about 45 minutes away. so, nora introduced us to her house mom marisa who is basically the funniest, sassiest, sweetest, most petite and polite spanish woman ever- basically all kinds of adorable. she welcomed us into her lovely apartment (which was huge and full of beautiful antique furniture and artwork) and we sat down and had some tapas and wine and gaseosa (bubbly that makes the wine taste a little better if you are a poor student who can only afford 1 euro bottles of wine).
we all got to our girl talk and had so much fun talking about spain and what our experiences were like thus far, then i put my sleepover bag in my room that marisa had prepared for me complete with towels, and a candy dish on the night stand (i die, this woman is so cute!) and of course she said that i was welcome to stay anytime- i might have to take her up on this because i had so much fun. after we got to talking for a few hours, we finally made our way to cave bar and of course most of the pictures are pretty self-explanatory but i ran into one of my friends from high school who is studying at the same university as me here in madrid-jenna- we've ran into each other a few times, but this time we had time to share a drink and chat a bit. cave bar is awesome! their specialty drink comes out of the stalagmites in the ceiling and the name explains how it looks- good company, good drinks, fun place- i will be returning for some more "leche de pantera" -panther milk as they call their special drink....
hey jen, should we send this to the crown and shield?
cave bar
panther milk? yes please.
and now for the all very exciting part of my blog when Thing 1 and Thing 2 enter madrid. let's give a warm round of applause for the entrance of Theresa West and Taylor Roseberry! i had been looking forward to their visit all week- especially because i've been missing and thinking about my friends a lot. it was so nice to have such great people by my side this weekend- we had a blast to the least. as soon as they got in, i took them to go get tapas and the touristy sangria that ever visitor of madrid should enjoy and told them about everything madrid had in store for them. then we decided to make moves and take names so we headed over to the famous nightclub joy that was conveniently located a block away from their hostel in the heart of sol. we stayed out very late and i had class early, but your friends are only in madrid once right?
<lovefestnumerouno3 commencing at joy
the following day, the girls did fun touristy things while i was in class and recooping, however i made my way back to my loves around dinner time and we met more of their friends in the hostel to come out with us for the evening. i took the girls to mercado de san miguel for some of the best tapas and vino in madrid, and after some great chats in the crowded corners of the market, we headed back to some of the plazas and then to the hostel to get ready for the much anticipated night ahead that i had promised--kapital--all 7 floors of the discoteca-- so we made our way. first i promised the girls that we would do it the spanish way and botellon for a little bit with some wine in plaza mayor!
botellon-ing in the plaza mayor with the chicas and new amigos
after the madrileno experience, we headed to kapital. we danced the night away, had some wonderful chats, and took some funny pictures. this turned out to be one of the craziest, most fun weekend with my friends since i've been in madrid. i can't wait to go visit them in the following months and take me around!
making moves with the best kind of girls -minnesotans!
the following day i had to wake my sorry bottom up for a day trip in segovia with our marquette program (i had to leave my amigas-sad face) but segovia was actually awesome. it rained most of the day and i was on about 2 hours of sleep but it was worth the trip! i'm hoping i can make it back when it's sunny out and when my family comes so i can take them around and enjoy it more freely because most of our day consisted of cheap umbellas and puddles. also, i was too tired to take pictures on my cam today and was a bit fearful of the rain so i stole these from some of my amigos from marquette. here are some pHOtos:
welcome to segovia! holy roman aqueduct.
this thing is bigger then the pic gives credit for too!
a rainy day in segovia
view from Patronato del Alcazar de Segovia
(from the royal palace on top of the hill)
little church with some muslim influence/architechture
la catedral de segovia
my favorite kinds of tourists: the ones the take pictures of absolutely nothing.
i wish i were joking but this is honestly just a wall....
royal thrones
the beautiful views from the palace
intricate building with mini pyramids all over it
rain rain go away
so many suits of armor in the palace.
after treking around in the miserable weather, we finally made our way back to madrid and i passed out on the bus instantly only to find myself awakened an hour later with drool on myself as well as my makeshift pillow/backpack.....hey i was on 4 hours of sleep for two days hahaha you have to laugh at yourself when that happens. after walking through my door, i showered up and called my friends to go meet up with them and say goodbye since they were leaving early next morning to go back home. so, of course we went to get some sangria and tapas for dinner- which eventually turned into our favorite wait staff bringing us all a total of 4 rounds of free shots the entire duration of our meal. can you guess what happened next? can you say rally? phew. we decided to venture out to chueca (the best gay scene in spain) for one last night on the town.
i took the girls on the metro with all of their suitcases/backpacks and we made our way into an irish pub in chueca to start and to meet some of my other friends studying in spain from london- after some more great convos we decided to actually check out the chueca club scene so we made our way into this great little disco/dance bar called phoenix and theresa taylor and all of us danced the night away, and met some interesting characters (per usual visit in chueca) along the way, backpacks in the corner and all. needless to say our night had to be cut off at 4 a.m. when the girls had to leave for the airport and catch their flights at 6 a.m, so i put them in a cab and said farewell- saddest moment ever! although, we have made plans to reunite in both rome and london in april so there is always those exciting trips to look forward to as well and that time i can have them as my tour guide :) so excited ahhhhhhh!
luggage at phoenix in chueca? check.
it was a weekend to remember, with some of the most amazing, genuine, and fun girls i will ever know and i can't wait to meet up later in the semester for more memories. after this long, but fun weekend i spent most all of sunday in bed- in fact i woke up around 5 p.m. and had no intentions of walking more then 20 feet. mission accomplished. however, today i got up and was productive, cleaned my room, went to class, and then got some gelato with hanna and colleen in sol.
things to look forward to:
sevilla this weekend with some amigas. i've heard great things so i have big expectations.
dad and steph are coming to visit this week! i will be staying in their apartment in caja baja and trying to spend as much time with them as possible/do fun touristy things. possible a real madrid game? looking into it yayayaya! can't wait to have my fam with me and feel a little at home.
spending st patricks day week/weekend in ireland (tuesday night-sunday night/monday morning) with all of my favorite alpha phi sisters!
going to the royal wedding in london!!!!!!!!!!! once in a lifetime opportunity ahhh! (and hitting up another love fest with theresa and tay)
mom, tom, and mokey are coming to visit me in madrid from the beginning of april (right after all my midterms are done) until the day before my birthday! COUNTING THE DAYS!
21st birthday in april- not a big deal here but oh well
spring break 2011 in april italy and greece -tay and theresa will also be present *like*
more travel details to come for may, but one last note- i only have three months left here! coming home june 1st, and will be living in milwaukee this summer. so bittersweet because i can't wait to come back and see many of you, but also it seem slike my time here is so short now. time to take advantage before time runs out!
i'll leave you all with one last thought that was given to me this week by the lovely and wise mom of mine herself:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."-Jeremiath 29:11
God's efforts are strongest when our efforts are useless :)
thanks for reading this novel of a post, and keep in contact with me! love to you all. stay tuned for more blogging after sevilla this weekend.
un beso y abrazo,
-your madrilena carolina
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