MADRID

Due to the fact that there have been countless moments throughout this year where I have questioned the reality of my life here in Madrid and the traveling experiences I have had along the way… I am at a loss for words for how to even begin to describe the last three weeks—exploring Madrid and Segovia and going on a 10-day Italian adventure that one could only equate to what is (and WAS) a trip of a lifetime!

Of course, this dream of a vacation would not be possible without the person I was with so I’ll start from the beginning:)…

He's here!!!:)

Scottie arrived in the morning on Thursday the 22^nd. We ventured back to my tiny apartment to drop off his luggage and after an allotted two-hour nap I dragged him out of the apartment and into the sunny streets of Madrid to begin exploring and showing him what my daily life consists of here in the city. We followed the main street near my place down to the center of the city (and the very center of Spain, for that matter), Plaza del Sol. From there we headed to Plaza Mayor and wandered down past the oldest restaurant in the world, the Royal Palace and the Cathedral, with a pit stop for some authentic Spanish tapas and beer along the way. We eventually headed back to the apartment for some down time before taking him to my favorite tapas place here in Madrid, Lateral, for our first ‘dinner’, accompanied with wine to kick off our serious dedication to appreciating the delectable wine that both Spain and Italy have to offer…and we took this job VERY seriously over the course of the next three weeks;)

The following evening I had surprise dinner/flamenco show reservations at a famous restaurant called Café de Chinitas, which provided us with a wonderful and authentic dining and flamenco show experience as well as delicious food and wine (this will not be the first time on this trip that a waiter feels the need to clarify if we ordered a full or a half bottle of wine…ahem…do we look like we only want a half bottle, sir?!:)).

In front of the post office!

We woke up to a beautiful day on Saturday with plans for a relaxing yet productive day in the city. We bought some picnic necessities at the store and headed down Gran Vía towards Parque de Retiro to enjoy a lovely afternoon picnic in the park. We walked past the infamous post office (which resembles a palace much more than any post office I’ve ever seen), Plaza de Cibeles, Puerta de Acalá, and the glass palace in Retiro. After dedicating another hour to walking and exploring we found ourselves a perfect spot near the lake to roll out our blanket and consume our lunch accompanied with tinto de veranos (i.e. more wine). Hours of relaxing in the sun later we headed back to change and get ready for another dream of a night spent at the infamous Santiago Bernabeu stadium for a Real Madrid game—wow. Talk about a dream!! As with many memories (if not all memories) from this trip, it actually feels like it WAS a dream. Thank goodness for pictures!;) I couldn’t have asked for better company to witness my first game! We were both speechless, sitting in the midst of thousands of crazy Real Madrid fans and watching Crisitiano Ronaldo along with an entire line-up of players of his caliber play in the FLESH. We got back to my apartment still in a daze and looked at each other in disbelief as if to try to silently confirm that ‘yes, that just happened’ before crashing after a long and entirely too exciting day in the city.:)

Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

Sunday provided us with plenty more exploring as well as relaxing time and we did both without a care or worry in the world. We wandered around aimlessly for hours in search of the ‘perfect’ place to eat, which only led us back to where we had started (go figure;)) where we ordered and fully enjoyed two large pizzas outside in a plaza up the street from my place. One food coma later and you will find us doing absolutely nothing in preparation for an exciting trip the following day to Segovia!!:)

-->SEGOVIA: See next post!!

After an amazing (!!) and eventful day spent in Segovia, I took Scottie to another well-known and favorite little tapas place of mine called Cien Montaditos (or One-Hundred ‘Little Sanwiches’—what could be better?!). Two pints of beer and plates full of tapas and french fries later we headed back to my apartment to relax before going out to dinner with my friend Maria, her parents who were visiting, and a few others. We headed to a very Portland-esque restaurant (I’m not sure how to elaborate on that other than to say that it had an ‘up-scale pub’ atmosphere to it that reminded us of home) where we ordered pitchers of champagne-sangria and I had what I can assure you was certainly not my last pizza consumed over the course of these three weeks!

On Tuesday Scottie came to one of my private lessons with me to meet the 12-year-old Justin-Beiber-look-a-like boy that I tutor named Joaquín. The ‘lesson’ that day consisted in Joaquín practicing his English by trash-talking to Scottie about who is better at soccer, video games, and anything else he could come up with. At least he was speaking English, I guess..? We concluded the night by rounding up some grocery items to make delicious tacos complemented with both Portuguese and Spanish wine (we have to keep our options open, you know!;)). Needless to say, life sure is good:).

Scottie, Maria and I with some third grade kiddos!

On Wednesday Scottie made the long commute to school with Maria and I and was able to experience what my weekdays here at school consist of. We had a blast and he was a huge hit with all of the kids—this week they were still asking where he was! He helped second graders practice for an upcoming test by asking them questions, answered each class’s questions that they had for him (who is your favorite football (soccer) player, who is your best friend, etc…the first graders clearly did not understand that Scottie was my boyfriend…they first asked how to say ‘do you have a girlfriend’ and then asked ‘who is your girlfriend’ and found it HILARIOUS that it was, in fact, me!), put up with Pepito and his gang, and overall had a wonderful time getting to know the students and teachers that I have talked about on a daily basis throughout the year. Later that evening we participated in an Easter-egg-coloring extravaganza at Maria’s (where I made a beautiful ‘OSU’ Easter egg, if I do say so myself;)) and ended the night at the classy Doner Kebab, a Turkish chain of fast-food restaurants throughout Europe known for their scrumptious gyros and I have never left feeling disappointed…I will shamelessly confess that this will not be our last Doner Kebab outing over the course of this trip, either.;)

Retiro:)

Thanks to the strikes that occurred everywhere in Spain on Thursday, there was minimal transportation throughout the city and I wasn’t able to commute to school, which left a whole extra day for us to spend together in Madrid! We concluded our time here in the city by walking around a bit but mostly by getting everything packed and prepared for our flight to Italy early the next morning (wahoo)! Next stop: Milan!

Adios Madrid, Ciao Italia!!!!