Mom visits!!!!!!

So the weekend after Sam and I went to Paris, my mom and her friend Jackie came to visit! The got here early Saturday morning (the 27th of October) and I went to pick them up from the airport and we came back in the metro to my apartment where Argentina was waiting with some treats for us! They got to meet each other and chat a little, Jackie and mom got freshened up, and then we headed out and I took them around to see the center of the city. We did the typical walk through Sol, to Plaza Mayor, and the Mercado de San Miguel (to try some croquetas of course) and even stopped for some Sangria in Tirso de Molina. Then we headed for the train station to leave for Toledo!

So we get to Toledo and stepped off the train only for me to realize that I'd already been there! Don't ask me how I didn't know... but when I was in Spain the first time with my high school we went and spent a day there. Anyway, it was fun to go and see it again. Toledo is a beautiful old medieval city with tons to see. We got there in the afternoon and had some time to stop for a nice lunch and then walk around and to get some nice views of the city and see some of the sights from the streets. Since mom and Jackie were pretty exhausted from traveling, we came back to the hotel early (like 7:30) and mom and Jackie crashed right away while I stayed up reading for a while.

Then we got up pretty early the next morning so we could set out and see as much as possible! We stopped for some churros and coffee for breakfast in a cute little hostel restaurant and mom got hit on by the Spanish guy working there :) Then we headed down the the El Greco museum and saw a couple monasteries and the big famous church that's there. Then we sat down to have some wine and snack on some fresh baked mazapanes while we waited for our train to head back to the city.

I had class all day Monday and wasn't able to hang out with them at all, but they went on a long walk to see the Retiro Park, Puerta de Alcalá, Gran Vía, stopped for lunch at an Italian place (ha!), Plaza de España, Templo de Debod, Palacio Real, y la catedral de Almudena.

Then on Tuesday since I only had one class at night we went with Irene to Aranjuez to see the royal palace there. Unfortunately, it was POURING rain so it ended up being kind of a disaster. The palace was pretty cool and we had a nice lunch in Aranjuez but we got soaked waiting to get a taxi to take to the train station. Then I went to class and mom, Jackie and Irene waited in one of the cafeterias to use the wifi while I was in class.

On Wednesday I had class all day again it it was HALLOWEEN! So at night me and the girls got all dressed up like zombies and were planning on going to the Steve Aoki concert. Well it ended up being a disaster. I got separated from the rest of the group and one of them had my ticket, wallet, and keys so I had to take a cab home with no money and ask the guy to wait outside while I went up and woke up Argentina and she spared me some money. It was like 2:30 am so I felt absolutely terrible. Although it was probably for the best because four girls ended up getting literally trampled to death at the concert and there was a huge outrage. Thankfully everyone in our program ended up getting home safe and sound.

Also on that day mom and Jackie got to hang out with Irene. They went and did some serious shopping at Corte Inglés and Tous and got some really authentic lunch at a nice Spanish restaurant. I was glad Irene was there to entertain while I had class :) Although I'm pretty sure she was supposed to be in class too... haha

On Thursday I had one class in the morning and then in the afternoon we took the Ave to BARCELONAAAA! We got there in the evening and headed to Las Ramblas and got some tapas and had Sangria (sitting outside cuz the weather was so great!!) and relaxed a bit and then headed back to the hotel. The next morning we got up early and got breakfast and then got on the tourism bus and did a tour of the city. We stopped in Park Guell and walked around there a bit, and then got back on until the Gothic neighborhood. We walked around there for a while and found a really great restaurant where we had some more delicious tapas for lunch, including (of course) croquetas and some really delicious mushrooms. From there we headed back towards Las Ramblas and I did a little shopping while Jackie and mom had a glass of wine (or seven) and then we stopped for another drink together and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up early to go see the Sagrada Familia and had some breakfast. The Sagrada Familia is definitely a must see but let me just say it is SO WEIRD. I couldn't get over it haha. Anyway then we went to go to the Teleferic which took us up to the top of the city where an old military fortress is and there are some gorgeous views of the city. I absolutely loved Barcelona and would really like to go back and spend more time there (especially by the beach!) but was glad I decided to study in Madrid the whole year because it really does feel like you're in another country since everyone speaks Catalán instead of Castellano.


Unfortunately then we had to head back to the train station to go back to the city. I stayed with mom in the Tryp hotel since it was her last night and was very sad to see her go in the morning :(

It was a great week and was really fabulous to have my mom here but it got me used to being with family again so from then on for the rest of the semester it was a little downhill for me. I ended up getting super homesick! But regardless it was amazing to have her here and show her what my life here is like :)

Oops!!

So it's been a very long time since I've put anything on here... oops! It's been so easy for me to just get caught up in life and not end up writing any of it down. But I do want to have it all here so that I can have the memories written down and so that everyone knows what I've been up to. I've done quite a bit since then, and over the next week I'm going to try to update with a couple big entries about the trips I've taken.

For now, here's a little update about what I'm up to right now. I took my last exam last thursday (phew! I hated linguistics!) and now I've just got some downtime until we start second semester classes next Monday. The new CIEE students have arrived already and this semester me and Argentina have taken in another student! Our tiny apartment is a bit cramped now but it's nice to have another person here too! Her name is Jane and she's from Stanford, Connecticut. We haven't had much time to get acquainted yet, not to mention the poor girl has to talk all in Spanish to me and she's only been here two days.

To fill the time since I finished my exam until we start school I've started doing hot yoga at Hot Yoga Infrared in Madrid and I love it! I have such issues with over-stressing about everything that it's been really good to do something really relaxing and I always feel great afterward. I've also been hanging out with Ian since we're the only two old timers here. We went to see Django Unchained last night and it was SO good! The movie theatre experience here was pretty crazy... it's a teeny little theatre in the city but there were SOOOOOOO many people there that you could hardly move around. Somehow we managed our way to the snack bar counter for some popcorn and soda and made our way to our seats (third row, so my neck is a tad sore haha) and got to enjoy a nice English movie on a slightly-smaller-than-US-theaters screen.

This week I'm going to get registered for classes and (fingers crossed!) get an interview for an internship in a hospital. That whole thing has turned out to be quite the ordeal... Even though I notified the program back in September that I'd like to do an internship in a hospital second semester they managed to not find me anything until January 7th and then told me that all of the materials (including a Hep B, Hep C, and HIV test) were due January 10th. Well I was in Germany visiting Sam at the time and very sick with the stomach flu--another story--and didn't end up getting everything turned in until a few days after the deadline but we'll see if they still consider me...

Well that's really all for now! Nothing too exciting. But I'll try to get all those old posts put up :)