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¡Hola a todos!
Mi cumpleaños era muy divertido (translation: My birthday was very enjoyable.) My friends and I went out to an Irish Pub at midnight the day of my birthday, where they sang Feliz Cumpleaños. We wandered around near Calle Huertas, a popular street for young people, where we stumbled upon "Laser Karoke." We spent a few hours there and then decided to call it a night around 3.
The next morning, I woke up at 8:30 and could not for the life of me sleep in. Hey, it was my birthday, so who needs sleep? I went for an hour run in Retiro park. Since it was Wednesday, we did not have class, so my mentor, Jackie, took me and Krystle to a mall on the edge of Madrid, where we checked out IKEA for apartment odds and ends.
We had lunch at this really great sandwich shop, called 100 Montaditos. Restaurant #2 on the list of Becky's favorites in Madrid. It is a chain and there is one about 6 blocks from my new apartment and another one 2 metro stops from mine. Basically, their menu consists of 100 kinds of mini sandwiches, each costing 1 Euro. Sweet, Salty, Savory... you name it, they have it. (Bets, they have one with brie, almonds and berries...)
After the mall excursion, I went home and got ready to go out to eat at an all vegetarian restaurant called Isla de Tesoro (Treasure Island). And let me tell you... it WAS a treasure. (Marking Restaurant #1 on the list of faves) We met up with a bunch of other friends from the program at the Cave bar where I was given a free bottle of Cava because it was my birhtday. From there, we went dancing at Orange Cafe and took a cab home because lack of sleep the night before prevented me from making it all the way to Metro opening.
Don't worry family, I swear, I don't go out that late every night, but it was my birthday. Now that classes started, people will be less inclined to do so also.
Yesterday, some friends and I went to El Escorial. (see photo. It's not mine, just a generic one.) This is where Felipe II lived and spent much of his time directing the Spanish Inquisition. He died and is buried here along with countless members of the Spanish Royalty, including Carlos V, Carlos IV, Isabel II and Alfonso XIII (who was overthrown by the Republic shortly before Franco's reign.) There is still a boys school and a convent here.
The weather was SO cold and there was snow everywhere. We managed to have a snowball fight in the gardens. The trip up was pretty quick. We used one of the Cercanías trains, which basically run out of Madrid at least an hour or so every direction. We were under the impression that we could use our monthe Abono passes (Metro and Bus tickets) to get there from Madrid and we would have to buy a ticket back, since our passes only work in Madrid.
We were wrong.
The ticket Nazi's came around and started telling us that we were supposed to buy a ticket where we picked up the Cercanías. Instead of paying 2 Euros in Madrid we were fined 10 Euro on the spot. The strange thing about it, was that we were able to get through the Cercanía entrance with just our monthly Abono. I guess you live and learn.
I'm reading my first novel for class. El árbol de la ciencia by Pio Baroja. He was a huge part of the Generación del 1898, an important literary group in Spain during poor economic times. Spain lost Cuba and Puerto Rico in 1898, marking the end of their once enormous empire.
I'm going to get back to reading, until next time...
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