Unfortunately I have abandoned my blog for waay too long, more than 2 months! I'm actually currently living in Barcelona for the month of July, teaching English at a summer school for children here. So it's impossible to catch up on everything that happened in the last part of my time in Madrid, but I've decided to just write a long list of memorable events during the second half of my time there..eventually I'll catch up to the present!

Visit by Hayley and Lisa!!: Two of my best friends from San Diego decided to visit me in Madrid on the same weekend! I don't even remember the last time the three of us were together in the States! We did a ton of touristy things, got a taste of the night life, and had a great time catching up. Hayley studied abroad in Israel this semester while Lisa was studying in Nantes.

Valencia: Weekend in Valencia with 7 friends from the program, we rented a cheap apartment on the beach and enjoyed the getaway from the rain and bustle of Madrid. Wandering around the city, and trying the original and yummy Horchata and Paella!! Paella comes from Valencia, and the local version has rabbit and chicken. The beach was quiet and nice, but a bit windy. We saw the really neat Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias in the city which is a museum complex that looks like its from outer space. (See above picture)

Toledo: As part of my class on medieval cities, I took a visit to Toledo. It was a bit of an adventure because I missed my ride with my professor..(I had to take a bus after there were no more trains and had to find the class after my phone ran out of battery) In the end I got there and it was all good, but I definitely learned my lesson of leaving earlier! The city was amazing, a medieval mix of Christian, Jewish and Muslim cultures. The streets are narrow and windy with history at every turn..has some of the few remaining medieval synagogues in Spain. I definitely want to go back! Saw some of the famous El Greco paintings like Count of Ornaz. El Greco lived in Toledo. It was cool to see the city with my class, the only one I have with Spanish students. Though most of the time they weren't too friendly and outgoing, I think they finally warmed up to the exchange students (and got a kick out of my adventures arriving).

Real Madrid Game!!: After waiting in line for way too long and spending more money than I could afford I went to a Real Madrid game with my two soccer aficionado friends Kim and Amy. They were troopers and got us amazing seats close to the field, and where we could also see the tv screen from the press box! The game was against Athletic Bilbao, and was one of the determining games for the Liga..(would have be the game to make them win the Liga but Villareal won there game) The energy was amazing and the stadium is impressive..something like 70,000 people packed in a sold out game! Sergio Ramos and Iker Casillas are amazing and proved to be huge stars in the EuroCup to help Spain win in the finals!

Paris, Relatives, Nantes,: Went to Paris and Nantes for a long weekend in the beginning of May. I stayed with my friend Katlyn who is working there for this semester. She has a nice apartment at Plaza de Italy and picked me up at the metro. We walked from her place by the Latin quarter and Sorbone, St Michel, picnicked at the Luxembourg park, Shakespeare bookstore, Notre Dame. I somehow remembered where my relative Benou's husband Yves works at a travel agency and found him there..(I couldn't reach them when calling earlier) and they invited me over for a really nice family dinner. I even managed to go the Musee D' Orsay before. Next day went to visit my elderly relative Pisti in a small village outside of Paris and they took me to a nice lunch at a cute town in the countryside called something like Ile d'Adam. That night I took a train toward Nantes to meet Lisa..and had another adventure when I missed the stop (got off the train and back on it when I thought it was the wrong place for some reason). I ended up at Sant Nazare for the night because there were no trains or buses back to Nantes that evening..the people at the motel by the train station took pity on me and gave me a cheaper rate for the night and I took the first train out to Nantes. I spent a great day in Nantes with Lisa on Sunday! We did a lot of walking, hiked along the river at beautiful nature reserve and ate delicious crepes and pastries. We visited the local farmers' market in the morning which had all the French delicacies one could hope for! I said a sad goodbye in the morning and trained back to Paris to see Corinna (who had visited me in Madrid!). She was awesome and showed me around the Mare, Montmart, and her neighborhood in the fancy part of town. Picnic in Place de Voges, hike up to Sacre Cour and dinner with my relatives Mari Rachel and Hadrien. I stayed there the night and got back to Madrid the following morning!

Marrakech, Morocco: For the second long weekend in May I went to Morocco! I flew on my own because my friends had earlier flights so was a little nervous about getting there, but all was well. I made friends with some Spaniards on the plane and split the cab to the main square by our hostel..The square (though touristy) had everything from snake charming, monkeys, belly dancing, henna, fortune telling, fresh orange juice, dried fruit, and huge food stands. We stayed in a hostel in the depths of the souks (markets), accessible only through a sketchy series of narrow covered passages. But the hostel was amazing, clean and with friendly staff! With my friends Brianna and Tamara I went on an excursion to waterfalls in the mountains and valleys an hour from Marrakech. On the way we stopped at a Berber house for tea and breakfast (bread and butter cooked and churned in the same house) and a short camel ride. The following day we walked around the Kasbah (castle district) and even saw the old Jewish quarter where 200 families still live. We saw one of the several gardens and palaces of the city and did some more haggling in the souks. On our last night we ventured to the square for dinner from one of the stands and had a great meal of couscous and this sweet/cinnamon/chicken pie. Saw the cool Marrakesh museum on our last day before leaving the exotic city...my first trip to Africa!

San Isidro: San Isidro is the patron saint of Madrid so there were fiestas all weekend, including an awesome light and water show over the pond in the Parque Retiro..with images played over a screen of water and fireworks in the background. Of course a massive botellon in La Latina, and continued exhibits for the 2 of May weekend too.

Week of Madrid catch-up: After finishing finals and getting over the stress of job searching and interviewing I stayed an extra week with my fiend Kelly. My host family bid me a not particularly warm goodbye and dropped me off at her place in Getafe. I spent the week doing all the "Madrid things" I hadn't gotten a chance to do before, like go on the teleferico gondola over Casa de Campo park, see more exhibits for the 2nd of May, do a last visit of the Prado, walk around Moncloa and go to the Cave Bar (where we met a whole regiment of Royal Guards!), learn how to make paella and tortilla española from Kim's amazing host mom, visit the TeleMadrid studio of my old host mom, go to a feria de tapas, etc. It was nice to not be in a rush and get to appreciate everything that had been around me for the last 5 months. Over the weekend, my friend took me to Aranjuez, a small town outside of Madrid that has the royal family's summer palace. We had a nice dinner in the pueblo of Chinchon, which has a really cool plaza mayor that has a plaza de toros in the middle of it. (A popular Nike comercial was filmed there with some kids playing soccer). A sad goodbye at the end of the week, and off to Budapest to visit my family for 3 weeks before heading back to Barcelona to start work!