Murphy's Madrid

Have you ever heard of Murphy's Law? What can go wrong will go wrong? Well that is exactly what happened on my trip to Madrid. My friend Julie and I left early on Thursday for our class, caught a train to the airport and were there with about an hour and half to spare. This should have been a good thing, but when we looked at the Departure board, and next to the departing flight for Madrid was a giant red CANCELED! Of course that would happen to us, but we tried to remain calm because we saw another flight that left 5 minutes after. We got in line to talk to the company about getting on another flight. When we finally reached the front, the lady told us nicely that all flights were booked through her company and all flights going out tonight were too. Unlike America, where they would automatically book you a flight or help you find a flight with another airline, EasyJet makes you find your own flight. She told us to go upstairs and go on the internet (which you had to pay for) and book our own flight which we would be reimbursed for at a later time. This seems awesome because we could have booked a $2,000 first class flight and get our money back, but none of use had that kind of money to front or to even charge. So we gave up trying to find a flight out that night and took EasyJet's offer of a hotel for the night (which was actually very nice) and free dinner. We got to the hotel and ran to the computers to try to find a flight out in the morning. I paid the 5 euro on my debit card to use the internet for a half hour and then found a flight. However, when I tried to book it my card was denied. What can go wrong, will go wrong. Luckily a friend has enough money to put me on his card too but i was getting very frustrated!!We had dinner which was pretty gross but we were so hungry and it was free so it didn't matter. At this point we began to read the fine print on the sheet EasyJet gave us about our rights as passengers and one clause says that if your flight is cancelled then you get compensation of 250 euro!! yay!! one thing went right! this made my trip essentially free so I was very excited about that. We kept looking at the positive since we got free dinner, free breakfast, a great night sleep and free money!
The next morning we got on the plane and finally made it to Madrid. I went to go visit my roommate Allison and friend Lena, and it was so amazing to see them! We walked around for a while and got food at a place that serves American hamburgers ( I guess some people crave them, I will never be one of them). I was surprised at how much Madrid reminded me of New York, with Starbucks every 100 yards and lighted billboards and very american stores. The architecture was definitely prettier and older but much more of a city than Rome is. We then saw Plaza Mayor which was beautifully painted with murals and reminded me of San Marco's Square in Venice with the columns that surrounded it. We saw Plaza de Sol which was pretty as well with a statue of a bear and tree which is the sign of Madrid. At this point I realized I forgot my camera in the room, so no pictures from day 1. We went back and got changed for dinner which we decided to try the Mexican place by their dorm/hostel thing they live in. I guess i sort of thought Spanish food would be Mexican food but apparently very wrong. I brought my camera to dinner and turned it on...or more like didn't turn it on because the battery was completely dead. Murphy's Law strikes again. I knew that I had charged it but it must not have been plugged in the whole time so when the light was out I thought it meant it was done, but really it just wasn't plugged in, oh well. At dinner we had a Fresalada drink which was a strawberry pina coloda in essence and nachos, quesadilla and some other crepe dish. The crepe dish was good in theory but awful in taste. That night we met up with the boys at a few bars/clubs and enjoyed the Spanish nightlife.
Day two we slept very late because we had traveled all the day before and went to bed late. Lena told us we had to shop that day because everything closes on Sundays. So we went shopping and surprisingly I didn't buy anything. After a full day of shopping we went back, napped and then had dinner at their house/hostel. Because it is technically a dorm but also a house, there is a women who cooks dinner every night so they can go get any meal they want for free. So we saved money and had a spanish twist on breaded chicken cutlet, rice and green beans. We then went out for the night and were hoping to go to this 7 story club which has a karaoke floor and a mohito floor! When we arrived, they asked us for IDs...which in a all of Europe has yet to happen to me so far. Even though you only had to be 18 to get in, they still needed proof so we were out of luck (murphy's law). We found a fun Irish bar and then another club but I still wish we could have gone to the 7 story one!!
On to day three, we woke up late again and went to go on the telefornico which is like a gondola ride that goes over the city Madrid. On the way, I gave into my American habits and got a skim iced white mocha from Starbucks and I have to admit it was everything I wanted. The gondola was amazing and the views were great, I just wish I had my camera!! Because it was Sunday and we were leaving early the next day (7:30 so we had to get up at 4:30 to be there early and make sure it wasn't cancelled again), we decided to go to El Tigre for Tapas and giant mohitos. The bar has no tables, just stools and some shelves to put your tapas on. We walked in and it was totally packed so we pushed our way to the front to start the fun. We order mohitos which were literally the size of my head for 6 euro, I couldn't hold it with one hand! This 6 euros also got us all the tapas we could eat so dinner was served. There were roasted potatoes with a special spicy sauce, ham and cheese on bread (apparently ham the only thing they eat in Madrid, they are famous for it), tortilla patate which was a potato like cake thing on bread, churiso on bread, prosciutto, deep fried creamy potato like croquettes with bacon..the list goes on and on. We stuffed our faces and really couldn't stop but finally realized we needed to get some sleep before our flight and went to bed. Overall, Madrid was an amazing time and I was so glad that I experienced Spain and its differences from Italy. I must say I still like Rome the best but that may change! Gracias (with a lisp) for reading!

Venice part two...in a nutshell

So day two in venice was just a beautiful and somehow we managed to wake up bright and early and start sight seeing again. Luckily we had done most of the main sights yesterday because everywhere was packed with people. We forgot that Friday is not a weekend for everyone so Venice was crawling with people. We decided to go to Murano which is a part of Venice which is famous for the glass. So we hopped on a water bus which was expensive for 6.50 euro but it was the only way there so they must have figured that out and jacked up the price. Once in murano we found a place to see them blow glass. Literally every shop was just glass and glass products so it was easy to find. The man who blew the glass made a famous murano glass horse in maybe 45 seconds tops. It was unbelievable how he just pulled the legs and shaped the head to make a horse right in front of us. Then he made a fish or maybe dolphin which was really beautiful too. I didn't think I waged to buy anything like a trinket or anything becuase glass can look very cheesy especially some of the lamps and vases they had. So I looked for earrings in every store and just couldn't find the pair that I imagined so I just didn't buy anything. After walking around murano we headed back to San Marco to find a gondola. After a little bit of haggling we got one man to let us have 7 ppl when most only allow six and let us shorten the ride to make it 15 euro a person. This was a pretty good price considering it was carnevale and Saturday and at sunset. We piled in and took amazing pictures and passed Marco polo's house! We also saw a place where the Italian Casanova stayed and obviously took beautiful pictures of the sunset. We went out again that night to enjoy our last night of carnevale. The next day we took a train home which was a another 7 hours but luckily not that bad. We survived Venice yay! Next time illnpost about Madrid!

Carnevale!!

So sorry for the late blogging but I have been very busy!! This weekend my roomates and I teamed up with some of the boys and traveled to Venice for Carnevale! Everyone told me before I left, if I go to Venice you have to go during Carnevale, so I did! We figured it would be best to try to take the train because flying could be a hassle trying to get cabs to our hotels etc so we decided on a night train. Now this was also when we had a hostel reservation. After we made the reservation, the company changed management and dropped ours, so it was a fiasco trying to find a new one, but we did luckily with some help! Anyways, we left at 10 at night and took the night train to Venezia, arriving at 5:00am. At first I was excited because it was like the cars in Harry Potter with seats facing each other in little cabins. That excitement wore off very quickly when we realized we were going to be in the cabin with a random Italian and our seats sat straight up with legs running into each other. Our fantasy train ride was pretty awful but we made it there in one piece, with very little sleep for fear of having anything stolen and not to mention the minimal comfort factor. We arrived at 5 am and walked around the terminal with nothing open. Chrissy and I went to check in our hotel which they allowed, but they said our room wasn't ready yet and since nothing would be open til 9 we headed back to the train station to camp out. Luckily by 5:30 McDonalds had gotten its act together so we sat there and just chatted and fell asleep like homeless people in the fast food joint. Finally at 7:30 we tried again and were allowed in. We went up and freshened up and rather than wasting the day we headed into Venice. We were staying in Mestre which is a 5-8 minute train ride. Walking out of the train station is a wild view because there is a large bridge and a river in front of you with boat, beautiful colored buildings and no cars. That was definitely one of the best parts of my trip was no cars. We walked everywhere and no motor vehicles added character to the already interesting sinking city. Our main goal was to buy masks to wear for the day for Carnevale!! But one our way we did some sightseeing and stopped at the Rialto Bridge which had a beautiful view.

After that we kept looking for masks and I of course was indecisive and was the last to decide, but when I finally did it was totally worth it and I love my mask. I wanted to make sure that I knew it was made in Venice and was handmade so I had the lady who made it sign it! She thought I was crazy and protested because she wasn't famous but I don't care. After finding masks we looked at the Friars church which is the resting place of Titian and painter and also the home of the Ascension by him. Being in the presence of such works is always very humbling. Then we made it to Piazza San Marco. It is beautiful and so many people were walking around along with pigeons and people dressed fully in costume. We walked all through Saint Marc's church which was covered in gold mosaics and then we went to the museum and saw the original horses that are on top that apparently have traveled the world over centuries. From the top of Saint Marc's there is a beautiful view of the sea so we stopped for some photos.

Then we did the Doje's Palace which is right next to San Marc's and its huge! It holds the largest oil painting in the world which was pretty impressive, especially since its so old its hard to believe no one has outdone it. After this we were cold and exhausted since we decided we didn't need a nap but we trucked through. We went out to dinner with the boys near the canal which was nice but nothing too exciting. Carnevale was the best part of the day because everyone weird comes out then. People were in full costume with no skin showing and no one talks in costume. They also move very slowly and elegantly which actually really creeped me out especially since I was afraid of things like that when I was younger ( and still a little now). Some people were in all black cloaks and these large white masks with white beaks, and there were a lot of them almost in a parade which to be honest was very very scary. I preferred the more colorful people in hoopskirts but I guess whatever floats your boat! Day two will be posted soon!

Life As A Roman

Sorry about the epic fail with trying to blog consistently. I have a mild case of ADD which leads me to why it takes me forever to remember to post as well as finish what I started. This week, my roommates and I had our first discoteca experience. It was pretty much like what it sounds like, disco mixed with techno. There was low lighting, colroful lights and dancing. The dancing was a lot of fun especially early in the night when we were clearly discotech rookies and arrived earlier than 1, so naturally it was empty. So one's first move when they enter a bar or discoteca is usually to buy a drink. Well, apparently things were not expensive enough in Europe because one beer in this discoteca was 10 Euro (about 15 US dollars)!!! So needless to say we didn't buy any. We had a lot of fun meeting some of the neighboring schools students and ran into some friends from BC which was nice too! The rest of the weekend was a lot more sightseeing and such. We went back to Piazza Venezia and walked around the Monumento di Vittorio Emmanuele (which seems that every Italian is named after). Around the back is a beautiful view of the roman forum and the Colosseum. It is always so surreal when I see it because it amazes me how real it is but how old it is!
We also went exploring to the Spanish Steps which are beautiful, but a little anticlimactic. I don't really know what I was expecting, but there aren't as many steps as I thought there would be. However, the way they are laid out is pretty and the church at the top had some of the most beautiful niches on the sides. Every church inside seems to look the same, but so different because of how intricate all the designs are. From the Spanish Steps we walked to Piazza Del Popolo which is at the far end of Via Del Corso (the main shopping street) and it was very large and pretty. There are a lot of obelisks around the city which is fascinating because they are from Egypt. I haven't quite figured out the history behind them yet but I think the first emperor Augustus brought them, but those facts are to be checked later. We went shopping some more for the rest of the weekend and I only bought one shirt! I was very proud at my restraint, but it is very hard since all the sales are only here for a few weeks. Every store has a sale during the end of January and beginning of February so they should be leaving us shortly. I guess it is good that I didn't buy anything because when I tried to use my credit card today to buy books (an actual necessary expense) I was mortified when the booksale lady told me it was denied. I knew no one had stolen it because I was trying to use it! I guess between the hour and half of my last class and the book buying attempt, my mom had emailed me to warn me that my bank had called saying there was a purchase on the credit card. It was actually my flight to Madrid that I booked and they probably thought I stole it and was trying to flee and leave the country. But if they had paid attention to the hour I spent on the phone with them before I left, they would know I was abroad and would be spending a lot of money traveling! Well it really isn't a big deal because I have another card! and another day to buy books, so hopefully all will be well by the time I wake up in the morning. I will try to post again soon and get better with my posting habits!

First Week Of Classes

So I don't really know what I was expecting when it came to classes here at AUR, but I was pretty surprised at what it is really like. My first class was Italian Media and Pop Culture which seems really interesting and my professor seems like a lot of fun. I think the material will keep me entertained but we do have some homework and stuff that is almost like busy work...anyways then I had my Italian reading and composition. According to BC, after completing Intermediate you are supossed to take CCR. Well I was clearly out of my league when everyone stood up and was speaking fluently. I literally wanted to run and hide because it was so over my head, not to mention the placement test that I BOMBED. At least I knew I was completely wrong in trying to take it so I ran down to the computer lab and looked up a new class as soon as possible. Sadly, but maybe luckily, the only class that fit into my schedule was Intermediate I. It may seem like I'm backtracking but essentially it is better than not taking any Italian class which I think will be essential for me to become the Italian linguistic I am striving to be, but to be honest the class isn't really over my head because needless to say I'm very rusty. So finally my schedule worked out but let me tell you, drop/add is not a piece of cake like it is at BC. Instead of anything computerized you go to an office, take a deli number, and wait two hours to get in and talk to them...just to be rejected. I don't know if the school didn't account for the volume of students, but they did not offer as many classes as they probably should have. Whatever though, because I got what I wanted, not to be selfish. The school itself is very small, contained only on one small city block. All classes are in one of two buildings that remind me of changing classes in high school, but I still love it. Yea it seems like I'm complaining but I actually love it a lot. I'm not totally looking forward to classes but it must be done. So I'll leave to go do some homework, because I actually have some!

marathon dinner

Saturday night was our marathon dinner night. Peter, our resident tour guide, took us to a restaurant near the Vatican called Dino and Toni's Hosteria-pizzeria. We first arrived but because its such a small place they couldn't take all 10 of as at 8. So we walked to a random bar to just chill and have a quick drink before the festivities. The boys order Guinesses which looked like thick coffee and pretty gross to me, the girls got Hoegarten because its much lighter. It was a lot of fun just sitting around a table and getting to know everyone. Finally after two hours of hunger pains we finally made it back to the restaurant and sat down at this long table. We sat down and this aggressive italian man started throwing side plates down and wine glasses. Then he asked white or red referring to the wine, we went with white, and then sparkling or flat about the water. Apparently italians don't really serve tap water because the calcium in the water is said to distort the taste so restaurants think it changes the taste of their food if you drink it with it. So we dove into the wine and water, and then the first course, antipasti, which was prosciutto and salami,


and then came more antipasti which fried/stuffed green olives which were really authentic and good. There was a folded over spinach thing and some fried potatoes. Also there was another fried item which was kind of sweet inside and we couldn't figure out what it was but it was pretty good too.



This wasn't even close to the end and these plates whipped on our table as fast as they were whipped off. Most of the plates went away empty, but when we didn't finish one, we got one mean look from the waiter who made us feel pretty guilty about not finishing. More antipasti was the pizza with three divisions, the gorgonzola part (chrissy and I devoured that) broccoli, and margherita.






After the antipasti we were a little nervous about how much food was really going to come, so of us slowing down after three appetizers. Then came the pasta dishes which we all clearly looked forward to. The first was a small penne in almost like a vodka sauce with pancetta and then there was a folded over type large boodle with ricotta and spinach inside and some unknown spice none of us could figure out. There was also a one in a maranara that was a little spicy which most of us really liked and then finally the carbonara served with extra pepper on top and more pancetta.







Then there was the pesce or fish course which none of us really really sure what to expect but I think we all were thinking along the line os a white flaky fish like scrod. Well we were seriously mistaken. First came the fried antchovies which we started out excited about because we thought they were calamari but cleary very wrong. But once again the motto came out and everyone said "when in rome!" so we all tried it. Surprisingly they were really good and not very salty at all which I thought they would be. Then they brought out a very large plate of snails, in their shells.... Let is be said we all had a very good attitude about them. Shockingly enough almost everyone tried them, and I had about 5! Those who did try them had a few too. They really reminded me of muscles without their bellies, very chewy but tasty.




After that we were all pretty curious as to what the carne or meat course had to offer. We got three plates, two with beef or pork, both of which we are still not sure and then meatballs which words cannot describe. One, which I think was pork came with roasted potatoes with rosemary and were so good I kept picking at them until the waiter took them away. Finally we had completed the meal aspect, which I think we were all grateful for because we could barely fit another bite in, that is until dessert came. This is where I started getting sloppy at taking pictures because the food was devoured so quickly I barely had a chance. There was homemade tiramisu which was different from any I had seen before because of the yellowish cream but I loved it. There was a plate of pastries with almond thing and hazelnut thing and coconut thing and I don't even remember what else. There was a white pudding with raspberry which I didn't like too much because it reminded me of flan which was also on the table. And if you know me at all you know that I have to try every dessert, and honestly don't not like any dessert so when I say I didn't like it too much, it was still amazing. My favorite dessert was the granita which is like frozen/icy espresso with whipped cream on top and bottom.


The picture I took was and empty cup because I finished it so quickly in excitement. With all this dessert they served three types of dessert drinks. The limoncello was very good and very nice to sip and very traditonal italian. The Grappa I didn't try because those that did compared it to gasoline...so I passed. We also tried a dessert wine that was almost like someone mixed vodka, white wine and apple juice to give it a very sweet but strong flavor. I really liked everything and could not have felt like I had more of an italian dining experience. It was also nice that I didn't have to speak italian to the waiter ever because they just kept bringing food, no one ordered. If you ever come italy, you have to come here and eat in true italian style!