Home sweet home..ish.

Hola! I'm back! It'll be hard to tell everything that's happened in Spain... but I will try.

But first.. random facts of the day today.. I arrived from Barcelona to my dorm around 3:30 in the morning. I skipped my 9 am lecture to sleep in more.. While I was on the bus to go to the grocery store, a smelly old man had his armpits in my face as he was holding onto the bus railing and I was sitting underneath his aroma.. lastly, I miss Kevin very much!

ok So for the Madrid trip.. I think I'm going to write everything I wrote on my journal on this blog on a day by day basis. So here it goes.

Day 1 ---> July 22, 2010 Thursday/ July 23, 2010 Friday

Finished final! Yay! Not so bad. 20 questions and I skipped 4 and guessed on 1. So worse case is that I get 15/20, which is still a 75%. It's still an A.. so not worried. It's over!

Got on the train and went to the air port around 6. Got there around 7 pm.. but found out that our 9:15 departure time was delayed to 11:40 pm. I roamed around a book store for like 3 hours trying to find the perfect book to read. Bought Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. yay!

Got to Madrid around 3 am and slept in the air port.. actually didn't sleep at all, but read and waited for the time to be 8 am. Took a taxi over to our hostel.When we got to our hostel, we found out that we can only check in at noon. So dead tired, we walked around the city because our hostel was in the center of the popular sites. The city was quiet 8 in the morning.

Dead tired. Check in to Casa de la Plaza hostel at 12 pm. Hostel is nicer than I expected. Separate rooms for the guys and my sister and I. Better bathrooms here than in my dorm in Sussex. It's private, but shared with any gender.

Took a nap since I didn't sleep at all in the morning. Woke up and walked to see palace Reial and the cathedral. So beautiful! The walls were covered with the same fabric as the furniture and everything was grand. The palace was owned by various kings and queens. Too bad I couldn't take pictures of the inside. We went to Parque de Madrid and so Alfonso XII mounument. SO hot in Spain. Sweated like none other and walked everywhere.

Came back to the hostel to shower and took part in the siesta (naps during the day) before starting the night life. Most shops close during the day and everything is usually quiet during the day. But night life starts around 9 or later.

For dinner we ate Paella and Fidugal (rice stew-ish) and drank Sangria (very good mix of wine and juice). Sat outdoors in the warm air and truly experienced the Spanish culture.

Walked around Plaza de Mayor and Puerto del Sol, saw creative performers. We went club/bar hopping after walking around. Got free drinks from promotions of the clubs. Went to at least 3-4 clubs. Ended the night at 2 am, which is when night life actually starts in Madrid.

Day 2 ----> July 24, 2010 Saturday
Toledo

Woke up at 10 am. Left our hostel around 10:30-11. Took the metro all the way to the bus station. From Madrid to Toledo was a 75 min ride.

Toledo. It was hard finding the entrance to go inside the city. High brick walls surrounded the city. Finally found an entrance. The city inside the fortress is very hilly. The weather was super hot. The city was quiet. Possibly because it's either Saturday or because it's during the day.

Walked everywhere! Went to sinagogas, iglesias, moasterios, and museos. That's basically all there is to see. Ate chorizo and queso for lunch. yum!

Tired and super dark, we headed back to our hostel to shower and take a nap. Night life started at 10 pm. For dinner we ate at a buffet. We figured we owe it to ourselves since we walked extra miles and extra hills around Toledo. Dinner here usually begin around 9ish 10. Everything is postponed by a few hours. Like breakfast is usually 10 am.. or none at all. Lunch starts around 2? and Dinner later around 9-10. Partying starts around 2.

Don't get me wrong, but I'm not much a partier or a drinker or anything. I know where my grounds stand though and I have a lot of self control. Being here in Spain let me experience the side of going to clubs and drinking because it's a part of the culture. It's something I'm bound to experience either sooner or later. So I decided why not in Spain when it's the norm and why not when I have friends I can trust. The night life. I got a free shot. We went to a karaoke bar this time. It's amusing how Spanish people are not afraid to sing aloud and especially in English. Seeing Asian guys singing to a Spanish song would have been funnier.. but didn't get the chance to. We ended up heading home after absorbing the atmosphere and people watching around. Here are some pictures of creative performers/acts.

That sums up pretty much the time in Madrid. Barcelona.. I will resume tomorrow.