::Mad-town::

Gahhh!!! Forgive me, peeps - this week past week has been such a whirlwind I have had absolutely NO time to tell you all about my FANTASTIC weekender to Madrid.  One word can sum it up: wow.  The culture/the people/the places are just incredible.
So...I'll start from the beginning:
We (8 other chicks and I) flew out on Friday night and quickly had to learn how to navigate the metro system (let us just say that good thing i was not by myself otherwise I probably would have been a) stuck at the airport or b) riding around the metro forever). Note: it is NOT fun lugging around a wheely-suitcase in a metro car that is chuck-full of people. We kind of got lost trying to find our hostel, but it was NOT our fault because the building with the street sign on it (yes, they don't have regular street signs, the names of the streets are on plaques on the side of buildings - NOT  a fun game) was under construction, so the sign was not visible.  All there was left was a piece of cardboard with the street name penciled on. Cool...NOT! But, we did find our hostel, but the guy on duty ended up walking us to the sister hostel, which was only 2 blocks away, and we got all settled.  Our room was pretty sweet, but we didn't have much time before we had to leave to go to a bar-crawl!  This bar-crawl was kind of a bust.  We really didn't know where the meeting spot was because in the directions it was super oober vague - should've been our first clue to NOT go.  When we saw this old, wanna-be cool dude, we knew that was our guy.  After giving us bracelets, we were off to the bars.  The first stop: the 3rd dimension.  This tiny bar was jam-packed with some crazy characters and played music from Shania Twain to 50's jams.  We were all VERY confused as to what the heck we got ourselves into.  Our guide disappeared for a bit and of course we were ready to leave....so we waited and attempted to make the most of it - harder than expected.  When trekked to the next bar which was DEFS more fun :)  Then, after we took our 2 free tequila shots [LALALA - parents!], we walked to another bar that was wacky crazy.  At that point, some of the girls were FEEL-IN' IT ("present" company not included), as well as our tour guide.  GREAT!  We ended up at a discoteca (bumpin' dance club) and by this time, our guide was shot - I had to stop him from walking away and somewhat scolded him for leaving us.  But, we got in without a problem and sin (without) our guide.  We were groovin' and jammin' and I was in need of a beverage, so I mosied on over to the bar and order a drink...which to my surprise was TEN EURO!!!  Good lord have mercy on my bank account.  As I'm waiting for my change, I feel a tug on my purse.  I look over and see some dude's hand in my (what was zipped) purse!!! OH HELL NAW!  So I look at him while slapping his hand and yell "NO!" in his face, and he just casually disappears.  Thank goodness I just had my lip gloss and gum in there. PHEWF.  So after that, it was just time to go.  But wait....we had NO idea where we were.  Right.  Oi vey.  So, I just followed whoever "knew" where they were going and we finally made it back to the hostel around 7am (after a bit of a cat fight....not fun at all).
Needless to say, Celina, Tessa, Aimee, Alice (my roomies) and I slept til about 3pm - it was glorious.  After getting ready and attempting to look like human beings, we set off for Gran Via - a major shopping street.  WE.FOUND.STARBUCKS.  It was like a god-send.  I had a venti Soy Chai Tea Latte and I about died.  We walked around for a while, shopped a bit, and then headed back to the hostel to get our tickets for....a REAL MADRID SOCCER GAME!!!  It was absolutely incredible.  The energy from the crowd was so crazy - we were all pretty jazzed that we were watching CRISTIANO RONALDO play soccer (**please see picture below).  Pure epic-ness.  It was truly a once in a life-time opportunity.  AND Real Madrid won 2-0 against Levante.  Boooooyah baby!
After going out to dinner and attempting to find our way back to the hostel, we all slept like babies.  On Sunday, we got going around 10 and set off to see the sights of Madrid.  We took a tour of the Palacio Real (the palace) which was INCREDIBLE!  Even though we only saw 50 out of the 2,800 rooms, I was awestruck.  As we were leaving, there is this grand marble staircase, and I, being a princess in another life, just HAD to have my shining moment - this moment was caught by Celina who asked "Liv...are you pretending you're a princess?"  GAH! She knows me too well.  We left the palace and headed towards some food - I'm not going to say where we ate because some may judge, but we got bang for our buck.  ANYWAY, we then walked to La Plaza Mayor, which had a huge horse statue and so many different kind of artists (painters, magicians, weird people, and the bubble man).  It was the perfect spot to just chill and people-watch....Spain has some winners, let me tell you. After the Plaza Mayor, we hiked over to Puerta del Sol which had some crazies...like legit crazies (**please see pictures below) but it also has the statue "Oso y el Madroño" (the bear and the "strawberry" tree), which my friend Aimee (aka Twinner, aka Kip/Kipper) was in LOVE with.  And finally, as all of our feet were ready to fall off and our bodies ready to crumble, we made it to the Prado (famous museum).  I even have a contraband picture of Adam and Eve that was being renovated! SHHHH!  Don't tell.  The Prado is truly amazing - and a bit hard to maneuver through - but, honestly, crazy cool.  I even saw an altarpiece that was done by a Fra Angelico in the 1430s - whom I wrote a fantastic religion paper on, if I do say so myself.  I would have never thought that I would have the opportunity to actually see one of his pieces, up close and personal.  I cannot tell you how wonderful it was.  But, we all had turned into slugs and were ready to peace out and hit the hay.  After going out for tapas (like appetizers), we walked back to the hostel...in the rain (I thought we could get away from rain for ONE weekend....I thought wrong!).  Again, we slept like babies and then next morning we headed to the train station to go to Toledo!  What an incredible city.  Breathtaking.  The only drawback (besides the pebble roads which did NOT like my feet) was that most of the tourist attractions were closed on Mondays!!! POO.  Aside from that, our day - which had flip-flop weather - was pretty nifty!  We saw El Greco's house (an artist, who's house was converted into a museum...that wasn't open), a fun little park where we frolicked, Alcazar (the palace...which was closed), the cathedral, and we even went to a torture exhibit (weird/strange, I know) (**please see pictures below).  We left Toledo in the nick of time (clouds were rolling in) and headed back to Madrid were we grabbed our bags, checked out of the hostel and trekked it back to the airport.  At this point, we were all exhausted and loopy - always a great look.
All in all, Madrid was absolutely amazing and if I am lucky enough to make it back here (Spain, in general), I would LOVE to go back to Madrid!  There's just too many things to see in one weekend.  


Pictures (in no particular orderrr):

The fountain in front of the Palacio Real

Me in front of my new residence (lucky #14)

The girls! (Celina, Tessa, Me, Alice, Aimee)

BOB ESPONGE y PATRICK in Puerta del Sol

Chewbacca....in Spain??

In front of "Oso y el Madroño"

-Plaza Mayor-

"Love Locks" - people write their initials on padlocks and lock them to something (in this case, on a gate encompassing a statue).  How precious!

BUBBLES!!!

El Prado (museum)

Adam & Eve

Toledo!!! How COOL!?

My knight in shining armor. 

Lovely ladies in ze park (Alice, Aimee, Me, Tessa, Celina)

The new and improved Kipper!

Alcazar (I think...)

The Cathedral - which was free for Spaniards but 8euro for anyone else...NOT cool

Torture Exhibit! We were all quite nauseous afterwards...

Leaving Toledo...

The wall of a bar - wacky banans!

A gift from God himself.

Me at the Real Madrid game!!! (Our seats were 2 rows from the back = outside space)

Cristiano Ronaldo - "OLIVIA! I LOVE YOU!"

But my loves, I must get to studying for my test tomorrow...it's not going to be pretty. Wish me luck!!!  I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow - and how my new volunteering place (Os Tilos - an after school/work program for kids from babies - teens) goes.  

xox Sending my love home, over five thousand miles! xox

PS - got a package from Adi and Derrick (with some things from Jimmy Jambo and Aunt Kim) today :) VERY HAPPY! Now, just waiting on my mommy's package to get here!!!!