A stroll through Madrid

The past couple of days our study abroad group has spent some quality time in Madrid!  I’ve absolutely loved this city.  Still a fun and vibrant city, but a lot more chill.  It’s been so relaxing, and we had the greatest luck with just beautiful weather.  Like, zero humidity. Ever.

We got in late Wednesday night after a 8 hour bus ride filled with naps, watching cd after cd of Season 1 of Friends, and writing a paper about the European Council for one of my classes.  Our hotel is right in the middle of all the action, which was really fun.

The next day we had free, so a group of us went to the Madrid Palace, where the kings and queens of Spain lived back in the day.  Ridiculously fancy and some cool stuff- such as Stradivarius’ violin!  We also went to the Reinada Sofia Modern art museum, where we saw some crazy abstract art that I wish I was cultured enough to really appreciate, but feel like I was probably making a really confused face the whole time.  The Picasso paintings were actually the least strange it seemed like, which I started to take pics of and then got violently scolded in Spanish. Um, oops!  Following this we went to the Botanical Gardens, and then beautiful park where we all slept (don’t worry Mom- we had a designated person to stay up and watch our stuff J) Went to a really fun little Marketplace that night for a cheap dinner, and walked over to a bar where met a PRECIOUS older couple that owned the bar, and gave us yummy Spanish appetizers with our drink orders (I wish I liked wine/beer but I still don’t… guess its an aquired taste?).  The woman’s name was Maria, and we came to this bar just to talk to them and hang out about 6 times throughout the couple days we were there.  We loved them!

We went to the El Prado Museum as an organized group visit the next morning, seeing a lot of Impressionist paintings (I sound so cultured, right?)  Then a few of us spent over 5 hours at Retiro Park on an absolutely beautiful day.  I got to read a lot of an incredible book I’m reading by C.S. Lewis called Screwtape Letters.  This really chill, beautiful day was one of my favorite days in Spain so far.  Had really cool and fun conversations with some people on this trip I would have otherwise never known at school.  SUCH a fun day!  Later that night we decided to go to a “Lazer Karaoke” bar we had constantly passed and kind of laughed at the name.  Unfortunately lazer tag was not part of the deal, but we had a blast belting out “Baby” by Justin Beiber and “Our Song” by Taylor Swift (in English.)  The Spaniards at the bar loved us (I mean, who wouldn’t.) But it was definitely hilarious and we stood out to say the least.

The next day, our group took a trip to Toledo (city an hour outside of Madrid), probably the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen, and is over 2000 years old.  Toured monasteries and got to shop around and eat local food. That night we came back and went to a Flamenco show with a fancy dinner included.  It was definitely a very local Madrid thing to do, and was so interesting. 

]On a deeper level, I feel like God revealed Himself the most to me through my time at Madrid.  Being a completely different culture in Europe, it’s been hard to adjust and realize that God is constant here, and that these people are His children just as much as I am, no matter how different they are from me.  I got to spend some time in a plaza one day reading and journaling.  I remember stopping and people watching (borderline stalker-ish, I know) for a few minutes and seeing an old man play his accordion up and down a row of people eating.  He was smiling, and stopping at each table for the people to acknowledge him and hopefully give him some money.  He acted jolly and carefree, yet was persistent at each table.  By the end of walking up and down, he took about a two minute break in an alley, and came back out to do the same thing all over again at the next restaurant.  This sort of thing you see every single day in Europe all over the place.  Every street and every plaza filled with people dressed in costumes, performing music, anything to receive some money.  But for some reason watching this man and realizing that he has a soul, he has a family, he had a childhood, he has a story, made it completely different.  God created this person and loves him deeply.  My heart broke that the short few minutes I watched of his life was a reality for him every day.  This is what he wakes up every day to do, this is what he lives for so that he can just survive probably.  And then you realize how many people you see passing you everyday.  So many people you simply glance at and have no idea what their story is, but God knows every detail of their life and every hair on their head, insecurities, joys, everything.  Amazed by how big our God is.  Amazed that he knows every corner of Madrid, Spain and has been present for generation and generation that has passed through it.  Maybe I’m just rambling and I’m sorry, but the reality of this was seriously was blowing my mind and I am thankful God gave me just the slightest glimpse of how big and great He is.

Thanks for reading!  Tomorrow (Monday) is a Spanish holiday so we get the day off!  Next weekend I’m heading to Rome, Italy.  Whoop!

Things I’ve learned:

1. PDA (public display of affection for you old folks), and excessive PDA at that, covers every corner of Spain (prob Europe in general.) Privacy doesn’t seems to be much of a concern. I hardly notice it any more because its so common. #cultureshock #kindofgross
2. “Tortillas” in Spain are not tortillas in America. They are a sort of omelet with egg, potatoes, and onions. They are absolutely delicious and probably one of my favorite meals here! (Tortillas de patatas specifically)
3. When there’s a giant roll on your plate when you walk into a restaurant, don’t assume it’s free.  After our meal and reading over the bill, we were pleasantly surprised to see our table charged for 9 dinner rolls at 4 EUROS A PIECE ($6).  Ouch… #notnice
4. It’s super awkward to rattle off broken Spanish when asking for directions for 10 seconds only for the person to interrupt you with “Uhh I speak English.
5. Some places charge you to go to the bathroom! Whaaaat?
6. I miss guacamole. And burgers.