Canary Islands! Some party people are old, some party people are young

So some program friends and I decided to take a celebrating-cuz-we're-done-with-finals trip to the Canary Islands, which is a territory of Spain but much closer to Africa. We stayed at Las Palmas (at the "good beach") on Gran Canaria, which is about a 45 min drive from the airport... turns out our beach mostly caters to Spanish retirees (ie limited English and very little nightlife.) (but lots of Bingo!) So as nice (and cheap) as Hostel 7 Soles was, I would recommend going to the other side of the island to Playa del Ingles.

The weather was bipolar: some days overcast, some days sunny (and apparently it is sunnier on the south side of the island? even though it's a pretty small island...) But do not let the overcast clouds/wind fool you! The last day was super overcast and very windy and since my front was nice and tan (read: burned) I decided to lay on my stomach and tan my back. I ended up with a very red lower back/upper thighs and sitting 3 hrs on the plane ride back to Madrid was a very painful experience.

On Tuesday night, when we went to Playa del Ingles, a British club promoter convinced us to spend 15 euros each on a club hopping night. Realizing only after that we would have no time to go home (an hour bus ride each way), change and return, we went to a bathroom, cleaned up as nice as we could, then went to a Perfumeria to make ourselves smell less "beachy".

The "Pacha night" had mostly German/ Swedish/ British people in attendance (I didn't even meet any other Americans). But some of these people were too young to be at a club... which wouldn't have been a bother if it wasn't for the "game" that I was invited to play by a club dancer (and I dragged the other two girls into it with me). The "game" was more of a "Striptease" by five random (all German?) guys, one of whom I seriously doubt was over 18 (so illegal?). Thank God my "partner" was at least in his early twenties, though his English sucked. Overall a very embarrassingly hilarious experience... and a veryyyy interesting night.

(i'm second from left, my friends Lindy and Kelsey are to the right)

Another note: all the signs, menus, etc. are in English (for the British tourists), Spanish and German. There were a LOT of German tourists there (Germany has pretty crappy weather, and enough $ to travel right now). I even got to practice some German with the club promoters and with a person in our hostel who was seriously confused as to which room was his... but mostly, my "practicing German" was reduced to a reminder of how bad my German sucks, considering how long I studied it.

Ah well. Anyway. Tomorrow (actually, in less than 4 hrs, as its past 1am here) I will be going to the airport for my 16 day backpacking trip through Italy (Milan, Florence, Assisi and Rome) and Greece (Athens, Santorini, Ios and Naxos). I try not to get online when traveling in order to experience more of the trips, so I probably won't update this blog until I get back to Madrid or, more likely, till I touch down in the States the afternoon of June 6th. (Well, I might not update it till after that date, gotta give me time to chill with the fam! :))

To all those who read this blog, thanks! It's always a pleasant surprise to see that people are interested in what I'm up to in Europe :D

End of my Madrid Program :(

So yesterday (May 14th) was the last official day of my program (ie my finals are now over!!!!). Some people took the group flight back to the US bright and early this morning. I still have a couple weeks left in Europe so I'm not that sad just yet (though it was very sad to see them go!)

I will still be updating the blog on the adventures I have in the coming weeks, though for 16 days I am living out of my backpack with limited access to computers (or showers for that matter) so from May 21st to June 6th I probably will not be posting any new things (maybe a short blurb? but no photos).

Anyway! Wrapping up the studying part...

Madrid is the perfect city for what I wanted to do: improve my Spanish (sorry Barcelona, Catalan not high on my list!), live in a big city (great nightlife and easier/cheap travel), experience Europe and just mix it up from my Seattle/Spokane lifestyle. I would recommend Madrid to anybody, hands down.

And USAC (University Study Abroad Consortium) was a good choice too... I'm not going to lie, I chose it because it was the least expensive, but that way I had more $ to travel. The staff here are amazing and the group I was with was sooo great. The program is small (30 something? maybe?) so you are still encouraged to meet new people... SMALL classes (which I usually love but it gets hard when you have a Spanish Narrative class with two other people and one of them never shows up!)

And I lived in a homestay- easily one of the best parts about Madrid; I really lucked out with my host family. My host "mom" (they are 30) is so sweet and girls' nights with her have been awesome. And my host dad is really cool too; super into Atletico Madrid and constantly teaching me new stuff about Madrid and Spain.

Some stuff I will miss about Madrid:

-The people (esp. my host family and my friends in the program)

- The schedule. It didn't actually take that much effort to fall into the routine (I don't sleep that much in the States, either :)) I will definitely miss dinner at 10pm, getting to the bars at 1am, clubs at 3am, getting home at 6 or later... but I don't think Spokane would be able to handle that lifestyle.

-Traveling: in Spokane you can't catch an hour long flight to Barcelona, Granada, Valencia, or take a longer trip to London, Paris, Lisbon, Morocco... and flying is relatively cheap (like I said, 20euros total for Valencia flying).

-Cultural differences/awkward confusions. Like the fact that the Americans STILL insist on getting "minis" (which are the huge sizes of drinks) for each person, rather than sharing them like the Madrileños do. Also, yesterday when making brownies for my host mom's birthday and needed to borrow an egg, my host dad said they only had fresh eggs, no hard-boiled, sorry.

-The excuse "Well when else am I going to do it?". Sometimes when I am on the border about doing something (usually cuz it costs $) I think "when else am I going to be in Barcelona/ Paris/ Madrid/ London, etc., etc.?". This is awesome but not the most financially responsible.

-Late night walks. Admittedly, this is something I do in Spokane, but I always have to be super vigilant and carry my pepper spray. Here there are ALWAYS people at between midnight and 6am, so I feel more safe (safety in numbers and all!)

-Rotating languages. The fact that I speak English, French and Spanish fairly well makes for much more interesting times (and actually I can kind of understand Catalan and Portuguese, plus some German from years of relatively unsuccessful Saturday German school). But Morocco would've been hard without my French, and I can help out a lot of tourists because usually we can find a language in common. American people are infamous for not learning other languages. Also last night when my friend Jess and I were walking to a bar a French guy behind us was petting her hair and saying slightly weird/gross things in French and so, obviously, she was upset, and I got do to a super dramatic 180o and admonish him in French. But then the creeper was super excited that I spoke French so I had to give a fake name, fake place of origin, etc. But actually on that note...

-Fake names. They get hard to keep track of (when I'm "Kira" I'm from California, when I'm "Juliet" I'm from Canada, etc.) but they come in handy when I'm in a squeeze. Like everyone says, you don't meet the good guys in clubs and bars.

-Adventures of newness. I went to a gay club last night (if you are in Madrid, check it out: Ohm"), and you know what? Probably one of my favorite clubs of all time. Better music and oh yeah, there was a guy in a tank top playing a violin. (there were a LOT of guys in tank tops. But it didn't hurt that I have never seen that many completely ripped guys in one place- those guys have the most amazing muscles/builds.) And this might sound bad but having a gay guy tell you that you are beautiful while passing you in a club makes me feel 2314543632 times better than when a straight one does. Cuz the gay guy probably actually means it, and has no prerogative ;) And!!! It's the only club where there was no line for the girls' bathroom, but a huge one for the guys'.

Some stuff I am really excited to go home to:

-People. Obviously. I miss my family and friends so much!

-Food! Spanish food is good and all but my favorite foods are Thai, Indian and Vietnamese, all of which are sorely lacking in Madrid (and a majority of Europe? good Indian food in London but...) And BUBBLE TEA. I know I have already freaked out about this on other posts but seriously, lack of bubble tea has affected my diet negatively- I've been eating gummi bears to compensate.

-Movie nights. I got to have a couple of them (Twilight in Barcelona with some Gonzaga friends, Pretty Woman in London with a friend from HS, and Enchanted with girls from my program here) but I will be stoked when we can watch movies on a TV instead of a laptop and have junk food ;)

-Gonzaga. I know this is cheesy but Gonzaga has really started to feel like home. The campus, even. I have spent my best days, longest nights and sunny afternoons with some amazing people over there... and I get to see some of them this summer! (for like a day but w/e)

-Ovens. I may not be a huge fan of cooking, but I do enjoy baking (usually from mix, yes mom I know, but sometimes from scratch!) and my host family doesn't have an oven (or a dryer for that matter). I miss that.

- My dog. She's pretty, and smells like home. (Actually I have missed the smells of home immensely.)

-Driving. I'm not one of those people who gets stressed out and likes to go for drives, but I still enjoy driving with friends, music, car-dancing, or just boring errand runs from time to time. Haven't been behind the wheel of a car since January...

-Classes in English. I missed both the classes part (yeah I'm a nerd) and the English part.

-Customer service. It kind of sucks that American waiters rely so much on tips to earn $, but I have gotten some HORRIBLE customer service here.

-My bed. There's a duvet waiting for me. And a pink stuffed elephant.

-Guilt-free texting. Every time I send a text here it's like, "oops! there goes another 12cents." I have free texting back home.

-The water (in Seattle). Both Madrid and Spokane are land-locked, so I get a little antsy to see the water sometimes.

-Good dancing music. I have started to legitimately hate house music. WHY do they not play Taio Cruz's "Break Your Heart" in clubs here? It was like that song was written with my dancing in mind.

To wrap up, I want to share something that Dr. (Eric) Schmidt, my Ethics professor at Gonzaga, shared with us (some teacher's lessons really do stick with you!)

He asked us what we would be doing with our summers (this was last year, right before I started my internship with the Department of Commerce), then asked why none of us were going to Europe to travel/ backpack. For most of it is was financial reasons (why spend tons of money when you could make a substantially less amount of money?) But then when we figured the overall cost (incl. opportunity cost), he essentially asked, "When you are my age, with a wife, (a kid? I don't remember if he has kids), a mortgage, a job, responsibilities, don't you think you would PAY that $ just to have the opportunity to backpack pack across Europe?" (I'm paraphrasing)

And I can honestly say that that class changed my life, because I'm not sure if I would have been as dead set on backpacking across Italy and Greece without him. I'm putting myself behind credits-wise (will be taking 23 credits next semester) because I can't take some classes over the summer. When my business advisor (yes, I have two advisors) seemed upset that I was putting myself behind and would be taking an advanced Management class while taking the Finance prerequisite, I essentially emailed him, "Thanks for your concerns, but I need to do this. I've decided that my backpacking trip is worth all the extra suffering I will endure next semester." (And he understood, God bless him.)

Backpacking in Europe is a life goal of mine, and something I feel can only be properly done in a certain time in your life (sorry if I am upsetting/offending anyone): before kids, before mortgages and "grown up responsibilities", preferably before age 26 so you can actually stay in the cool places in Germany (age limit at some hostels there... plus it is CREEPY when older people are bunking next to you for the night!) Already I've planned most of Italy and some of Greece and I am so excited to be having these adventures!!!! And I definitely plan on doing more backpacking type stuff later in the next coming years (though it will be no longer be subsidized by my parents... SOB!). My parents went to Eastern Europe on their honeymoon and that just sounds so much more fun and memorable then Hawaii ... (no offense to the people who went to Hawaii on their honeymoons!)

Moral of the story: Europe rocks, Madrid rocks, USAC rocks, and living out of my backpacking for 24 days (though again, 16 days I am not coming back to my "homebase" of Madrid, the first trip is to the Canaries) is definitely, with 100% certainty, going to kick serious butt ;)

Madrid: Better late than never I guess?!

I am dumb in that there are no posts really about Madrid, just about stuff I do in Madrid which makes very little sense to someone who is just visiting.

My mom came out and visited me this past week so we did a LOT of tourist-y stuff I had been saving for her. These include (but are not limited too): Palacio Real, Bull fight, Flamenco, the restaurante El Botin, the Cathedral in Toledo (yes I went back to Toledo), etc. etc.

and yes, some shopping and Starbucks were there too ;) It doesnt help that we ate out every meal except one, i must've gained 5 lbs in one week... (but the restautante "Cocinado con dos fogones" near Plaza de Espana is one of my favorite places EVER! if you have time / are hungry for some amazing fusion food, definitely try to go there...)

Palacio Real: It's only 3.50 euros for students (with a guide) so it's a pretty sweet deal, and an amazingly beautiful building (also has 2,500 rooms!) definitely worth a visit, even if it's only for 2 hrs.

Bull fights: It's a slightly controversial tradition in Madrid (some animal rights groups oppose it, and I'll admit it was upsetting for me to see people get such pleasure from killing a confused and harassed animal). At the Plaza de Toros de las Ventas (beautiful stadium) there are shows practically every day with cheap nosebleed tickets from 4.80 euros. Six bulls ("toros") are killed by famous bull fighters ("toreros", though "matadors" is used in other countries as well), but there are lots of stages to the death: three novices go and exhaust the bull by making him run and attack flags, two men on horses spear the shoulder blades so he starts to lose blood, then more run and throw decorative spike things into the wound, and finally the torero stabs him. It's sad!!! We left at half time.

Flamenco: There are some traditional shows that run 30 euros + but we went to a "tablau" with modern flamenco for 10 euros (copa included). Beautiful! Not as sensual as tango but a lot "Sexier" than I thought. And the ending poses are so dramatic! The foot work and the use of the castanets is really impressive :)

El Botin: According to the Guiness Book of World Records, El Botin (near the Plaza Mayor) is the oldest restaurante in the world (1725). While I don't know how sure that is, I did like the restaurant itself, and we got an amazing bottle of wine (Tobia? I hope I can get it in the states!). Unfortunately the "specialties" of the house are mostly baby animals (suckling pigs, lamb, baby eels, etc.) and for a former vegetarian it was especially hard... I didn't really think about what it would mean when I ordered the suckling pig (which everyone recommends!), but I couldn't really eat it... it was so tender! TOO tender. And all I could think of was Wilbert II, the fetal pig I had to dissect in bio in high school...

Toledo: I already did a blog about this but I WILL say if you go there you NEED to go to the cathedral. it's expensive but gorgeous, with some FABULOUS paintings inside. Even better when the organ is playing (warning: if you bring your mother she may get emotional about how pretty the music is).

Another highlight (though not a tourist activity) was having my mom over for dinner with my host family. My host parents (they are around 30 so NOT "parental") were so amazing and prepared a great meal. My mom, when practicing her introductions to them in Spanish, kept referring to herself as my "wife" and not "mother", and when she did introduce herself she said "cansada" ("tired") rather than "encantada" ("enchanted"). So essentially she shook their hands saying "tired, tired". And then they brought out the homemade liquors (most of which I cannot drink, they are too strong or weird!) and my mother took 'em like a pro.

It was absolutely amazing having my mom here for a week (and not just cuz she took me shopping, bought me tapas and carried back a lot of stuff from Madrid for me :)) (love you mommy!)

London: Brits be crazy. Also, British prices be crazy.

So this past weekend I took a flight to London Gatwick and spent 3 nights with my long time bestie Raina, who is studying at the London School of Economics. And while most of my favorite parts involved people and not places, I can happily write about what I consider to be one of my best weekends studying abroad (also, by far the most expensive).

Raina had class so I adventured solo for a bit: I even went to King's Cross station to take a picture at Platform 9 3/4! (for you Harry Potter fans :)) Yeah it was dorky ... but it's okay if you are super jealous.

If I can recommend only one attraction for someone in London to see it would be the Tower of London. A bit expensive (14.50 pounds for a student, so $23?) but I was there for 3 hours and it was like Disneyland of British history. Which is completely insane- so many details and stories about tortures and famous deaths, conspiracy theories, insane royal problems, and the guide and hired actors do a fabulous job of making it all "come to life". Also the crown jewels are on display: the diamonds in those things are HUGE.

Plus it was the location of the infamous Annne Boleyn beheading. Apparently none of the men in my tour group knew anything about Anne Boleyn, except an adorable 9 year old boy from Cheshire. (ps I absolutely love British accents.)

Other things I saw, but only from the outside (everything is soooooo expensive): Westminster Abbey, the Eye of London, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, etc. etc. And explored Chinatown quite a bit, as well as Soho and Piccadilly Circus. So much fun! (even flying solo)

But like I said before, I was visiting Raina, and despite her classes and studying we had an amazing time. Friday night was definitely the more insane of the two nights: we went to a "End of the Year" Party for her program where I got to meet a lot of her friends, then taxi'ed it over to "Strawberry Moon". I won't go into too much detail but I will say that I at one point attempted to salsa dance to a Justin Bieber song. Also, 8 pounds covers the entry, with no free drink (that's unheard of in Spain...). The music was pretty good- absolutely no house music. But also... there is a stripper pole. And really, you only live once.

BFFF

Should note: I spent more money in 3 days in London than I spent in 5 days in Morocco (and that includes lodging in Morocco, which I didn't need to pay in England). So my credit card was gasping for air by the end.

The schedule in London is super different than that in Madrid. Brits drink right after they get off work, have dinner around 7pm or 8pm then go to a pub till 11pm, then clubs until 2 am or 3am. (This is my understanding, at least) So when the bouncer kicked us out of the club at 3:30am, I was shocked! That's usually the time we get in line to enter the clubs...

Also, British food, for the most part, kind of stinks. Exceptions include Fish and Chips and Scones. But they have amazinggggggg Chinese/ Thai / Indian restaurants, and since those are my favorite kind of foods anyway...

ALSO I FINALLY GOT BUBBLE TEA! twice.