a light bit of entertainment.

look he's a real person too!

 Things that I absolutely loved about Madrid, aside from the absolutely amazing architecture and being able to see some of my best friends, would be the amount of entertainment that the Spaniards put on for tourists and I'm sure, some of their own wandering folk. Honestly, if I permanently lived in Madrid (which would be fantastic), I'd probably spend considerable amounts of times in Puerta Del Sol watching tourists taking pictures of all of the "statues", characters from movies and/or cartoon characters (Mickey, Minnie and Bart Simpson, just to name a few). 

The whole reason I went to Madrid, as opposed to any other city this spring break was to visit my best friend, Claire, who happens to be studying in one of my now favorite cities of Europe. I hadn't seen her since December and while I had promised to visit her in Buffalo, NY over the winter break, that didn't quite pan out due to time constraints. Needless to say, this trip to Madrid is something I did not want to miss. I planned it perfectly, in my opinion, to be during spring break so that I could spend more than a little weekend with Claire in this wonderful city I've only heard good things about. 

Our first picture together after being reunited!

After hugging for about 5 minutes with constant smiles, we meandered back to Lola's to drop my things off. Afterwards, we found a little bakery and while everything looked amazing, we ultimately decided on the cream puff custard bake good deliciousness showed down on the right. It was absolutely delectable and eating it by the beautiful lake in Retiro Park was an experience I am sure to not forget. 

this is where we were. Beautiful by the lake in Retiro Park. 

this is what we ate. DELICIOUS. 

this is the ceiling. 

Back to the updates about my first night: Staying in a hostel by yourself may seem intimidating at first, but after the initial worries, it only gets better. Granted, it depends on where you are staying and if it's the cheapest of the cheap that might shut down any day. My hostel in Madrid was perfect safe. It was called the Cat's hostel and thank god that there were lockers in which I could store my things. Also, there were not a million cats just lying around contrary to popular belief. But the ceiling was amazing!





The following nights I got to spend in Claire's homestay. Coincidentally, last summer, Marley, another one of our Mu Beta Psi Brothers, stayed with Lola so I already felt like I knew Lola without every having met her. I'm so happy I got to stay in a real life house (as opposed to dorm, hostel or apartment) in Madrid because I really felt as if I were at home. The stories describing Lola I found to be completely true - she was just like a mom but still realized that we're young students and exploring a new city from what we already know.

little dolls in traditional Spanish folk costumes! - Flamenco dancers! Ay ay ayyy!

Aside from Lola's fabulous cooking, my favorite part about staying at this homestay was that she would hardly speak English to me. She found out that I understood a lot more Spanish that I had originally led on. I honestly believe that if I had studied abroad in Spain and would have had an amazing homestay mother similar to Lola, I would be coming back to the states fluent in Spanish (and not drunkenly fluent. legit fluent).

taken in Retiro Park next to some musicians. 

Claire and I spent the first few days exploring all that Madrid has to offer when she wasn't otherwise occupied - i.e. internship or class. I also had the chance to go through El Prado (the art museum) with Claire's art history class. Not only did I get to see some familiar faces from AU, but I also got a small (and free!) guided tour through the El Greco section of El Prado in both Spanish and English. BAM. how cool is that!?

the three muskateers outside el palacio royal (royal palace)

And! One of the other amazing things about being in Spanish at this time was that... drum roll ... Zareef visited! HE changed his flight to a few days earlier so taht our trips to Madrid would overlap. How awesome. I got to play around Madrid with both Claire AND Zareef! Now that's amazing if I do say so myself. We walked around, ate a lot, drank a bit at bars.. Overall, it was great craic (oh wait... wrong country).

a beautiful reflection of us in Plaza Del Sol 

Zareef and I meandered around central Madrid near his hostel, which was conveniently located on Calle de Montera, aka the prostitue street. To be honest, I had never seen a real life prostitute walking so openly out and about with hooker heels on. I even openly pointed them out by saying the word, "prostitue" and physically pointed. Are you surprised by this? You shouldn't. Am I upset I didn't get a picture of a prostitute walking on the street with the fancy boots and short skirts on? You bet. What a lovely story that would be for the kids.

next post.. all about the food and drinks and entertainment!! LOOK! I even found Guinness in MADRID!!!