(Post #3) Madrid!

Hello friends and welcome to post 3! This post is covering a shorter span of time but I wanted to wrap up some pictures and such from traveling to Madrid this weekend before I move in with my host family for the semester!

(January 14th, 2022) On Friday, it was a nice relaxing day with Alicia’s family (at least it was for me, poor Alicia had to study all morning for a law exam and then we dropped her off later in the day to take it). After doing some packing and organizing my life, I met with Luzma and Marta and we waited at the Metro Station for Alicia to arrive. We headed to an adorable and delicious restaurant called La Traza where we chatted and I ate the best cheese of my entire life. It was fried and served with a raspberry jam, and I am already planning my next visit back as I dream about how delicious that cheese was. The croquetas, lagrimitas de pollo (the equivalent of gourmet chicken nuggets but it translates to “chicken’s tears”) and other dishes were amazing as well. At restaurants here in Sevilla, they serve a lot of aioli with dishes and it is so good, but I am especially thankful for it as it is my replacement for ranch during my time here as I already miss Hidden Valley's most beloved product. After eating, we then headed back and I thought about how lucky I am to have all these amazing women (and this food!) in my life.

(January 15th, 2022) Good morning and happy travel day. Today I woke up at 6am so Alicia’s father could kindly take me to the airport. What I found amusing is that since Spain is 7 hours ahead, I normally cannot text friends and family back home while it is nighttime for them because I am usually sleeping. But on this morning while it was like 11pm in the USA, everyone was asking me why I was awake haha. I took an easy flight to Madrid where my friend Lucas and his father picked me up. Lucas is a senior in college from Madrid spending

his last year of schooling at UW-Stout, the school back in the states that I attend full time. We met in the fall as he came to talk to students that would be studying abroad in the spring (such as myself) and ever since then we have kept in touch! Lucas and I spent the first day getting lunch (his mom insisted that we go to a VIPS restaurant which has pancakes and could be a little taste of home for me), touring El Prado, and walking around the city. It has always been a dream of mine to visit the El Prado art museum! There is no photography allowed, but I had to sneak some pictures of paintings that I have seen before because it is so bizarre for me to think that pictures I have seen in history books were right in front of me, painted centuries and milleniums before. One of those paintings for example is “Las Meninas” by Diego Velázquez and other works included are El Greco and Francisco Goya.

After, we walked around Retiro park and I saw the beautiful monuments and the Crystal Palace. We then watched some shows in the streets by performers that got stopped by Spanish police (it was quite amusing to see the crowd disperse faster than it takes me to chow down on some fried cheese- which is quite fast) and then we met with Lucas’ close friend Ramon. Ramon is from Barcelona but has lived in Madrid for 7 years so as a tourist once himself, he had a lot of interesting facts to share. We walked around La Puerta de Sol

and took pictures of the classic bear with a strawberry tree (which I can only envision as broccoli) depicted on the Madrid Coat of Arms, and then we headed to get some food. We first stopped to get a beer from Madrid's beer brand Mahou with some bacalou (cod). I have attended quite a few fish fries during previous lent seasons in my day, but this fish stole the show. It was delicious! We then walked to our restaurant for dinner but on the way, we strolled by the oldest restaurant in Spain dating back to 1725 titled Sobrino de Botín.

For dinner, Ramon made sure we had the perfect spot at the restaurant Los Huevos de Lucio, and I must say that he truly did make the experience perfect- I had a blast. After, I treated the boys to some gelato and it really hit the spot.

(January 16th, 2022) Good morning! Lucas and I started the day with mass and then ate

some breakfast before we headed downtown. I must say, the level of hospitality in Spain has been something that I strive for myself as a Hospitality major. I told Lucas’s father that I do not normally eat breakfast and if I do, it is something small, but the following picture is the result of me politely asking for a “light breakfast.” I must say, I am curious to see what a heavy breakfast would look like if this is light haha. I also must add though that the homemade orange juice was the best that I have EVER tasted as Spain has amazing oranges.

Lucas and I then headed to the Plaza de Espana and followed by the Royal Palace.

Let’s just say that the Royal Palace is quite... large. No, more like gigantic with its 3,400+ rooms. What amuses me though is that the King and Queen of Spain do not even live there- so if they need someone to occupy the space, I would be happen to take on that responsibilty 😊 The bad news was that we could not tour the inside that day because they were preparing for an event the following day, but we did get to tour the armory with enough knight and horse weapons/armor from the 1500s to seriously supply a small army (but the soldiers enlisted to wear the armor would all have to be 5 feet tall or less because apparently that was the average height I am gathering by looking at the sizes).

After, we headed to El Rastro market that takes place on Sundays,

and the best part was not the vendors, but that I found my friends Logan and Katie from the United States! Along with meeting Lucas’ friends Ramon and Teresa, it is fun to see some familiar faces also. We ate at a small restaurant known for having delicious Kalamari sandwiches, and let me tell you- they were quite good! We then finished off the meal by getting more gelato (even better than yesterday) and adding Lucas’ friend Param to our small entourage.

Later, we visited the church across from the Palace called La Catedral de Almudena, saw some beautiful views of the city, and then watched the sunset behind the Temple of Debod. The sunset was fantastic.

We next paid 10 euros to go to the rooftop bar of the Riu Hotel and enjoyed the night views with all the lights in the city.

After, we ate at a slightly more affordable restaurant called Oven and I ate the best Margherita Pizza ever! (accompanied by a VERY generous amount of balsamic vinegar as always). After that, we headed home after another very successful day.

(January 17th, 2022) Along with it being the 100th Birthday Celebration of Betty White (RIP Betty) back in the United States, it was a celebration of a good weekend trip. Lucas and I walked around Oeste Park, got some yummy lunch, and then I took a high-speed train back to Sevilla. What would normally be a 5-hour car ride was only a 2.5 hour train ride and it went by quite fast. I then spent the night getting more family time with Alicia and everyone.

This weekend hosted my first weekend trip and it was too much fun. I am so grateful for all of the experiences I am having and for all the people that I am meeting that I will keep in touch with! And as always, make sure to check out my gallery tab at the top of the blog to find more pictures corresponding to this specific blog post.

The world is wonderful and full of adventures outside of your comfort zone, and I would encourage you all to push yourself a little to do something new when you read this :)