¡Viva España!

As many people know, I went to Madrid this past weekend in order to visit my friend Annie. And, of course, to see Spain. It's so nice being in Europe, surrounded by different countries and cultures. I just feel so cool when people ask me what I'm doing for the weekend and I answer with, "Oh, you know, just hopping over to Spain (or France, or Austria). . .". The semester break is going to be so cool. I feel sorry for my friends who are only here for half the year. They're all frantic, trying to see as many places as they can over the few weekends they have left. Suckas.

What can I say about Spain? It's interesting because even though I'm American, living in Germany for the past few months has colored my perspective on things, so I experienced the weekend differently than I would have otherwise.

The first thing that got me was the fact that when I boarded the metro, Annie asked if I had anything important in any of my outer pockets and told me to watch my surroundings. This should be common sense, but since I've been living in the safest city in Germany (and possibly Europe, though I'm not sure) I've lost all sense of fear and danger. I guess I didn't pay enough attention, because sure enough, when we switched trains Annie noticed that my outer backpack pocket was open. There wasn't anything in there but pens, but I was irked that someone would try to pickpocket me.

The Agenda for the night was, of course, to party, because that's what they do in Spain. I hadn't brought any 'clubbing clothes', so Annie dressed me in some of hers. I ended up wearing a short, form-fitting not quite zebra printed dress and purple leggings. . . but it looked good, I swear. We went to a club and danced all night, and then went to one of her friend's houses at 5:30 because the Metro didn't open until 6. They all had a wonderful time, but I found a blanket and fell asleep on the couch. It was still fun, though :). At 9 I returned to my hostel and passed out.

I was supposed to meet Annie sometime I can't remember, but I was a half hour late because I didn't wake up. We had a relaxing evening of walking around the city, window shopping, and eating tapas (which I thought were small plates, but were not that small since we could not finish the three that we split). Then we were really tired and had to go to sleep. See what a night of partying will do to you?

Saturday was pretty sweet because we went to two museums. The first one was free for students all the time (apparently a lot of them are, so jealous) and the second one was all fancy and cost 5 euro. It was awesome. I love the crazy european art that came out of the first half of the 20th century, and there was lots of it: Picasso, Dali, Miró, etc. Afterwards, we went to a little café in order to consume what Annie referred to as hot chocolate and churros, but was actually this strange steaming chocolate pudding like concoction in a coffee mug and things that were like churros, but weren't actually churros (they had ran out). Don't get me wrong, it was delicious. It was also an experience ("Dude, how are you supposed to drink this? It's so thick" "Whatever, Ingrid, I drink it all the time" "Don't believe it" "Just watch me. . ." *Annie attempts to drink* ". . . yeah, today it's just hard to drink because it's thicker than usual. . .")

It was perfect for dipping the churro-like pastries in.

Then we partied until 1:30. I had to leave early so that I was able to catch my morning plane. Made it, by the way.

So Madrid, pros and cons:

Cons: 

The crime rate and feeling of fear. I wasn't afraid because I'm not used to it, but Annie was a little nervous sometimes because of the men. They're a little crazy there. We were sitting at a window table in a restaurant, and a group of guys started taking pictures of us. What are they even going to do with those pictures? Doesn't make any sense to me. I mean, there are girls just as pretty as me online, with the frizzy hair and zits airbrushed out. Very strange.

The city seemed dirty to me. Of course, anything would seem dirty after Munich, the magical land in which literally no one litters, but when I got back to my hostel one night after walking around in flip-flops, my feet were disgusting! I had to be careful not to step in any water anywhere because it would have made mud. Icky.

Finally, apparently in Spain you can't just walk in and use the bathrooms in fast food restaurants and such. Which is stupid. What do you expect a tourist to do? I should have peed on the floor. In Munich, you can walk into whatever establishment you want and use their bathroom. Also, I've heard that not letting someone use the bathroom is inhumane (and possibly illegal) as defined by the UN. I didn't need to go very bad, but I felt very indignant about the lack of human rights in this backward country. F***ing Spain.

Pros:

The architecture is beautiful. Also, the buildings are taller and the streets narrower than those in Munich. Gives one the romantic feeling of always walking through alleys.

The Museums are mostly free to students.

The food. The "hot chocolate" was amazing, as were the tapas we ordered. Yummy yummy.

The weather was fantastic! 60 degrees at the end of November. Awesome.

Well, that's all. Sorry the post is so long, but I had a lot to say, I guess. Sort of funny that even though there's 4 pros and 3 cons, it appears from the size of the lists that I really didn't like Spain. But I did! 

Also, re-reading that hot chocolate conversation, I realize that it could not possibly have taken place because it would have been interrupted by about a billion of those "that's what she said" jokes. But you get the drift.

Until next time,

Ingrid