London, Paris, not Milan

I took over four hundred photos on this trip, so if you want to see them all, please click here. If not, I made a silly little scrapbook-y video in iPhoto for silly enjoyment. So, enjoy! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqXAFyWJ5Wg]

Last week was one of my favorite weeks of the year: Semana Santa!! Meaning "holy week" in Spanish, this is always the week leading up to Easter in which those of us involved in schools get to take a nice 10-day vacation. Last year I went with Leigh to visit her family in Scotland and this year I returned to the UK to see London with mom and our friend Sharon.

Due to a general strike taking place on, wouldn't you know it, the day I was set to fly to London, I changed my ticket and got to London with two full days to spend on my own before they arrived. In this time I got to meet a friend of a friend and stay at her house in North London (thanks again, Michelle!!) and get acquainted with the city. Late Thursday night we were all reunited in the hotel and had to get a bit aggressive with the guy at the front desk until he gave us the room we booked. I don't know if I'll ever believe the phrase "fully booked" again...liar!!

Rather than attempt to write out every day of the trip (nine days for me), here's a quick run-down of the sights we saw/things we did:

London

• Big Ben/Parliament/London Eye, etc (we didn't go in any)
• National Gallery
• Shakespeare's Globe theatre experience
• The Rose theatre
• Tate Modern
• Tower of London/Yeoman tour/Crown jewels
• Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
• Stroll through St James park
• Abbey road - the crossing was closed!!
• Primrose hill & Regent's park
• "Haunted pub crawl" - see below
• British Museum
• Maundy Thursday mass at Westminster Abbey
• British Library
• King's Cross station/platform 9 3/4
• Harrod's
• Hyde Park

Re: The "haunted pub crawl" - Sharon's London guide book had some daily itinerary suggestions and one of those was a haunted pub crawl, suggesting some pubs with a lot of history. On this crawl, we started on Fleet Street at the Punch Tavern which to me seemed to only be haunted by young bartenders with stupid tattoos and strange taste in music. We were so distracted by the blaring electronica-meets-trip-hop that we had to finish our drinks quickly so we could move on to the next stop, The Old Bell Tavern. This pub had a bit more of the cozy pub feel we'd enjoyed at The Blackfriar a few days prior, so imagine our non-surprise when we picked up an Old Bell menu and noticed it was exactly the same -- from starters to puddings -- as the Blackfriar. Turns out they're both owned by a chain called Nicholson's Pubs. This is in no way a hindrance, as we liked both pubs very much, from decor to staff and drinks. Clearly Nicholson's are doing something right. But alas, two stops do not a pub crawl make. On to the next--Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. This was by far my favorite of all the bars we tried last week. Rebuilt in 1666 after London's Great Fire, this locale has been a pub since 1538, it boasts a long list of authors who were once regulars, among those Mark Twain and Charles Dickens (allegedly). We walked into a dark, wooden bar with no clear windows and only one door. The floor was dirty, the lights were set to a low orange-y glow, and the only sounds to be heard were the patrons' muffled conversations and the occasional burst of hearty laughter.

I loved it.

We ordered a round of drinks and I was hooked (the Cheshire Cheese is a Samuel Smith's pub). I finally got my hands on a pint of Sam Smith's Extra Stout, my favorite of the trip, tied with the Belhaven Black Scottish Stout I had at the Blackfriar, and the three of us thought about ordering some dinner there if we could find a table. The place was packed upstairs and we were unaware of the network of caves that sprawl through the basement, so when I saw what appeared to be an open table, I asked an old gentleman if he'd mind us sitting with him and he said it would be no problem. There we sat, the three of us sharing a delicious chunk of fried goat cheese, and our table mate, Stephen, telling us stories of his trip down the east coast of the US with some friends. He did not like Orlando at all. He gave us some suggestions of other Samuel Smith's bars to visit (The Princess Louise and the Cittie of Yorke, which we did eventually find) and even bought us a round of drinks. We later decided that he was a ghost and the rest of the bar patrons thought we were crazy talking to nobody to make our haunted bar crawl seem more legitimate.

Paris

• Notre Dame
• Eiffel Tower
• Liberty flame(?)
• Arc de Triomphe
• Champs-Élysées
• Musée du Louvre
• Moulin Rouge/Montmartre (quickly!)

My advice for one day in Paris: don't do it, unless you've seen everything a billion times and you're just going there to be there. It feels like someone took my camera and went to Paris and gave it back to me. Yes, I've seen all of those things listed above, but I don't have any story to go with it. I wish I did. I guess this means I just have to go back to Paris! Life's hard.

The Ides of March

The Ides of March, or the 15th of March, is the day that Julius Caesar was killed in 44BC, and due to Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar, the Ides of March carry a sense of imminent danger and foreboding. However, for me, the Ides of March hold a much more pleasant sentiment-- today marks six months of Spanish living!

Six months ago, I left Raleigh and boarded a plane in DC to come to Madrid. The months have absolutely flown! I have done and seen some amazing things and met a lot of great people, and most importantly, I've learned a lot. I've learned how important it is to be open to anyone or anything in a situation like this--I'm away from home, my family, my friends, my habits, my native language (more or less)...in the past that's been difficult for me, because I've always had the same group of friends for a number of years at a time before having to start from nothing (okay, maybe starting from a few friends). Something I've found to be especially wonderful about Spanish culture is how friendly everyone is. I'm not the only person to notice this, either--search nearly any travel blog for thoughts on Spanish people and most will say the same thing. In my first week of work, another teacher got off the bus at the same stop and noticed me also walking to the school. She asked if I'd arrived on the same bus, if I was going to the school, and since then she's been one of my close friends and now we enjoy a chat on the way to and from school many times each week.

I've also learned the importance of comfort. However, I'm not talking about immediately changing into pajamas after the workday. It's easy to feel disconnected and uncomfortable in a place that is so far from what I'm used to. Now I know exactly how I like to do things and I know my daily routine as if it were a science. I've always been able to recognize when I need to be alone, and though it happens a lot less frequently than it used to, it is still extremely necessary sometimes. My general introvert habits have faded a bit since coming here and I tend to spend more time around lots of people than I used to, but I think it was necessary. While my Spanish has of course improved immensely, I had to overcome the fear of even trying to speak in order to improve. I'm no longer nervous about going shopping or calling my bank, and I have friendly, casual conversations entirely in Spanish every day.

An observation I'm not sure I can make at this point is regarding my old friends. I haven't been the best at staying in touch with everyone, but at the same time I know exactly who I'll email as soon as I book a ticket home and who I'll call as soon as I shake off the jet lag. I miss my friends, and of course I miss my family so much. I actually just got a package today from Uncle Dave and Aunt Michelle (thanks!!) and the package I got for Christmas really made me appreciate my family more than I'd ever imagined. I also don't think I can miss Christmas again. Even though I do a lot of the same things here as I would do at home--sit on the couch, cook delicious food, watch TV--I know it won't ever be quite the same. But even with missing my friends and family, feeling out of place from time to time, and sometimes not even understanding English, I'm happy. The past six months have gone by entirely too quickly and I hate to think that less than four months remain, but words cannot express how grateful I am to be here and to have really been able to settle in and feel like I am part of this magnificent city.

Mom's visit - Christmas 2010

I know this post is long overdue, so I will try to do a summary. Mom came to visit over Christmas  and we had a great time! Rather than trying to travel and see lots of Spain, we stayed in Madrid, shopping, eating, cooking, and seeing the sights for most of the time she was here. We spent one day in a mountain town nearby called Cercedilla, where everything was closed because apparently small towns don't function in the last week of December, and another day in Torrejón de Ardoz, where I work, to see Parque Europa and spend the day with Inma, one of the English teachers. She showed us around Torrejón all day and took us out for a delicious lunch before we came back to Madrid, exhausted.

For New Year's Eve, we went to Puerta del Sol to take part in one of the New Year's traditions--eating twelve grapes at midnight. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any seedless grapes so I only got through half of them! We were among the huge crowds and later went to a bar nearby for some drinks to ring in the new year.

So, please to enjoy some photos from her visit!

[slideshow]

Carolina, some day I'll come home

Today, I was sitting at home trying to figure out why my computer hates to stay connected to the internet when someone aggressively buzzed our apartment. I answered to find out that it was someone from Correos, coming to deliver some packages for me. Woohoo! I opened them to find the contents of the above photo--tons of great stuff from my family including some scrapbooks, travel items, and a really nice notebook filled with pictures and well-wishes from everyone at home. Needless to say, it was a teary afternoon, but I'm so lucky to have such a great family who constantly reminds me why I love them so much.