Fall Break: Madrid, Spain// Madrid, España

As my plane landed into Madrid, I realized two things: how centrally located the capital was and how I was dieing to see my friends. I had been in Spain once with a trip from high school but we had gone to Barcelona which was closer to France. Luckily my flights went well and having no luggage allowed me to leave the airport quickly. Once I got into the metro I was surrounded my Spanish and immediately felt comfortable. Getting to Shqipnije’s apartment was pretty easy so I was thankful for that. Also, I noticed a few more things: I swear it was like I was taking in so many things at once. There were Goya ads which made my mouth water, seeing people of color was something to get used to again (living in Russia makes you forget that looking pasty is not regular), that the sun exists and how WONDERFUL it feels on your skin and lastly while I was making my way out of the station how my heartbeats increased. As I quickly walked to get out of the station, my heart was thumping louder and louder, I was excited to see Shqipnije, Alana and Darryl and knowing that I would spend time with them for the break made me catch a semi-heart attack. 

Parque de Retiros

My time in Spain was GREAT to say the least. I got to see some things around the city such as: a bullfight, a flea market, Reina Sofia museum, Guernica painting, parque de retiros and just random things around Madrid. Being in Spain was…I can’t find the words. Having the sun shining, heat and warmth, surrounded by friends, being able to fluently express myself in the language, meals that made me feel like I was at home and laughing uncontrollably with my friends for those days was just AMAZING. Made me think of Russia and how the clouds fill the sky, the rain comes down everyday, and the winter would definitely makes it way soon enough and the way I fumble to explain things when something isn’t understand. For example, once I was talking to my host mom about classes and I mentioned the word ‘кафедрь’ (department) and she didn’t understand so she kept saying “Что? Кофе, кофе? Я не понимаю” (What? Coffee, coffee? I don’t understand) which ended the conversation really cause I couldn’t find to explain or pronounce the word another way. 

Plaza de Toros

 Being abroad has made me see how easy it is to point out Americans, which doesn’t make it a bad thing necessarily. It’s weird to see how you stick out by your motions, gestures and of course volume of your conversation. While I was in the airport in Moscow I was walking around trying to find a seat near my gate and while walking I heard a LOUD conversation (loud compared to how Russians converse, aka whispers) and of course it was in English. So I decided to sit next to them since those were the only available seats, and absorb the English since most of my interactions in Russia happen of course, in Russian. 

Bull being dragged away after being killed by the Matador

I definitely didn’t want to leave Spain! Being close to my friends was like talking a hit of a drug that you can’t seem to find in Russia (I really can’t explain how I felt in Spain except like a addict lol). I was glad I made my way to Western Europe for fall break cause God knows I needed this break. 

Plaza Mayor

 Speaking of breaks, while in Spain I jumped over to Rome to visit Eleanor so I’ll blog about that next!

10 Days of Freedom = Fall Break

As days, weeks, and months pass by I realize that I need to get up on this before everything just turns later and later. Plus we’re entering December which means the wrap-up of Fall semester, final projects, papers and exams. So here goes my entries about Fall Break and onward!

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10 days off to head out somewhere in the world and enjoy my time! So I decided to hit up Spain and Italy where Alana, Shqipnije (Madrid) and Eleanor (Rome) are. No one knows the pain and agony I went through waiting to receive my multiple entry visa. So this is how it went down: when we first entered the country, we were given a single entry visa. This allowed us to register ourselves to our host family and of course enter the country. Now, once that visa is stamped it’s no longer active so if you leave the country, whoops… you can’t come back in. So we had to apply for a multiple entry in order to exit and enter whenever we wanted. But being that Russia is Russia, anything and everything could have gone wrong. It usually takes somewhere between 2 weeks to get the visa but who knows what could have happened in between that time (and trust me I thought of everything when I was waiting). It took us if I’m correct 3-4 weeks to get ours. So me being me, I booked my flights to Spain from Moscow with a 19hr layover in Prague, Czech Republic and then from Madrid a flight to Rome. But I didn’t have my visa yet!! So everyday I prayed and prayed that I would receive my visa, and luckily I did- ONE day before I left. I don’t know what I would have done had the lady told me they were coming in on Friday rather than Wednesday and I was leaving on Thursday. I’m pretty sure I would have cried in a corner of my room for those 10 days instead of traveling and enjoying my time.

But luckily everything went well. So the next few posts will be about what I saw and did in Prague, Madrid and Rome. Pretty much all the pictures are on Facebook so it’ll be worth it to go on there than wait here. I’ll try and post some here if my internet allows me to of course.