Mi Vida en España...

Late on Tuesday night, Natalia arrived in Madrid. She was planning on staying for a few days to explore the city with her German friend that was visiting.

On Wednesday morning, she went to the airport to pick up her friend and I had class. When I got out of class, I met them both at my apartment then we decided to go to Parque de retiro to enjoy the warm sun. We took a long walk to get to the park so I could show them Parque de Oeste, Plaza de España, Gran Vía, el metrópolis, Palacio de Comunicación and Museo del Prado.

Once we were at the park, we pretty much collapsed on the ground to relax. After sitting for some time, I showed them the water area but they decided they wanted food and I needed to head back to my apartment. That night, we went out for Cien Montaditos and while at dinner I mentioned wanting to see the Hunger Games. After we wait, we went to the theater right next to the restaurant and there happened to be a showing in 20 minutes so we decided to see the movie. The movie was fine but it didn’t live up to our standards, but it was cool to show Niels that the film was made in North Carolina.

Thursday morning, Kaitlyn and I had class early, but I met up with Natalia for breakfast afterwards. We chatted outside in the nice sun and drank our café con leche and ate tostada con tomate. After breakfast, we went to a Colombian fast food place that Linda had been giving great reviews. Kaitlyn and I shared a huge hotdog and I also splurged for a smoothie. After lunch we headed to the Reina Sofia.

At the museum, Natalia really wanted to see Guernica. Kaitlyn and I had already seen it with our literature class but we went with to take some (contraband) photos of the painting. After showing them some more Picasso and Dali and the rooftop of the museum, we headed back to Retiro.

We sat outside and relaxed for a bit again, clearly we are already loving this Madrid heat. After a bit, I headed back home to my apartment to do a few errands and prepare for my trip to Copenhagen. When they got back, we went to the grocery store to get the ingredients to make fajitas. Since Kaitlyn was skyping with her friends, I was in charge of the food which was a scary occurrence. Luckily I had Natalia to make sure I wasn’t poisoning everyone. Fortunately for me, the food was perfectly fine.

After dinner, Natalia and Niels rested for a little bit and I packed for Copenhagen. Then, we went out to a bar that Alyssa had recommended called “Bar Imperfecto” which was really neat. It had a lot of old music and movie posters hanging up. We shared a jar of “Memphis mojitos” or something like that. It tasted like a very strong juice essentially. But at 1am I decided to head home because I had an 8am flight in the morning.

5.9.12 - 5.10.12

Tags: madrid natalia niels germany copenhagen kaitlyn
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Tonight, I saw Keane perform at 40 Café in Madrid. I got to the venue only a few minutes before the band was supposed to start performing so I didn’t have the best “seats”. I basically spent the majority of the time trying to scope out a better location. But I found one and I was able to get some decent photos from the event. It was really good and quite funny. These four brits don’t speak any spanish so it was funny to see the fan interaction. It was great to see them perform because they have been one of my favorite bands for quite some time. Their CD, “Hopes & Fears” is always one that I turn to when I need to think or be studious.

Click here to see more photos from the concert!

The songs that they performed were:

This Is the Last Time

(Only Tom and Tim)
Disconnected
Everybody’s Changing

(With audience singing the … more)
Sovereign Light Café
Is It Any Wonder?
The Starting Line
Bend and Break
Silenced by the Night
Somewhere Only We Know

(With audience singing the … more)
Sea Fog
Bedshaped

(Source: laureno7164)

Tags: keane photo live concert 40 cafe madrid strangeland
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Warm, sunny weather and no school makes for a great day of reading in the park. That is, until a kid kicks a soccer ball at you and you decide it’s time to be leaving.

5.15.12

Tags: random photo madrid templo de debod kaitlyn
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On April 8th, my family was all still in town but Meagan and I took a break from our relaxing in our hotel to go to the Atocha station to pick up Cooper. He was going to stay with me for a few days before we went to Paris. He had been out on break from school since we went to Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day so he needed a place for a few days to crash before we ventured off to France.

For the next few days, before we left, we basically just relaxed in my room. I was exhausted from traveling with my family over spring break and he was pretty tired from traveling around Europe too. Luckily, I have an extra mattress and sheets at my apartment so I gave him that to sleep on. I am sure my flatmates thought some interesting things, seeing this random boy walking around in his boxers and staying in my room, but I suppose they can think what they want. Luckily, Cooper and Kaitlyn got along really well, mostly because they have the same sense of humor so there weren’t any problems there. Cooper enjoyed calling Kaitlyn racist every time that she would complain about our Greek roommates, which is an on-going joke still.

The first full day I was with Cooper, I took him around to see a lot of sights, then the next few days he was fairly sedentary. Part of me feels badly for not insisting that we go out and do more, but I also know that both of us needed a little break to rest up.

4.8.12.-4.11.12

Tags: random madrid spain paris cooper
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Finally hot hot hot in Madrid!

(Source: laureno7164)

Tags: madrid photo weather
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“Hero” - Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Iglesias singing Hero with some shameless ass-grabbing and groping by some lucky fangirl.

Tags: Enrique Iglesias hero music audio video live concert madrid spain palacio de deportes
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Friday night, Kate, Colleen, Sarah and myself all had the treat of going to see Enrique Iglesias in concert. This was an extremely special occasion because this was the first time that he has performed in his hometown of Madrid in 12 years!

Before the concert, we all met up with Kaitlyn and Alex to get a bite to eat at Cien Montaditos. We got to the restaurant right next to the venue and it was really crowded so we tried to find another place nearby but to no avail. Since we all only ever go to Cien Montaditos, we decided to just wait at the crowded restaurant because at least that way we’d be getting food that we knew we liked for a cheap price. Since there was no room inside the restaurant, we stood around the wet tables outside since it had just been raining. After we finished eating, we decided we should probably go pick up our tickets from the box office.

After asking someone where to pick up our tickets, I got in line to get them. Then we were off to find the entrance to the venue. We got inside and to our seats without any major problems. Our seats weren’t the best but they also weren’t bad considering the fact that they only cost us 40€ each. It was a perfect price to pay for my man, Enrique.

The opener was a DJ named Juan Magan, who was someone that I had never heard before. I am never really too impressed when I see DJs live because they are just mixing songs that aren’t even their own so we all just sat and chatted.

After the DJ finished, it took what seemed like a while until Enrique came on but it was well worth the wait. The entire performance was one big dance party. He sang in both English and Spanish and only talked in Spanish. He mentioned that his mom and abuelita were at the concert, which might be the people causing quite the stir at the concert but I’m not entirely sure.

There were two exciting moments of the show. The first one came when he invited a guy on stage with him. When Enrique was talking to him, he found out that the boy brought his mom to the concert, so Enrique invited the mom on stage too. Once on stage, they all took shots and they took turns singing. The boy got really into it, the mom was much more shy.

The second exciting moment came when Enrique was on the small stage about to perform Hero(e) and he invited a young girl wearing a tshirt with a British flag on stage. Girlfriend was really excited for this invitation that she ran to him and I was afraid she was going to knock him over and never let go. She didn’t end up letting go for quite some time. At least not until after she got to slow dance with him, touch his butt (which I believe he placed her hands there) and receive a kiss from the sexy spaniard. Oh how jealous we all were of the entire thing.

Sadly, Enrique didn’t sing a few of my favorite but all and all it was a wonderful concert and I’m glad that I was lucky enough to witness it. It was cool to see him in his hometown especially since it had been so long since he had performed here.

5.4.12

Click here to see the rest of my photos from the concert!

Tags: enrique iglesias live concert madrid spain palacio de deportes kate colleen sarah kaitlyn alex
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Thursday afternoon, after I woke up from my brief nap after ethics, Kaitlyn and I headed up to Cafe 40 to get out tickets to see Keane. There was a little line by the time we got there at around 1:15pm. The tickets started going “on sale” (but for free) at 1pm. I wasn’t very worried about getting tickets though.

When I got to the front of the line, I was given some sad news. The last tickets were given to the man in front of me in line. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I WAS SO CLOSE. Devastated and crushed, I was not going to give up. After all, how many of the people who got tickets actually like the band? So I took my chances and approached a guy who was standing nearby holding a ticket. I asked if he had a ticket and he said yes, so I asked if I could buy it off him. Not wanting to rip him off, I offered him 10€ for his ticket. I figured that was a price I wouldn’t miss too much and for him that was a decent price for something he got for free. He was perfectly fine with the price so I got my ticket and went on my way.

5.3.12

Tags: keane photo live concertc madrid cafe 40
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So the grocery store has been closed for FOUR DAYS NOW due to Sunday and the recent festivals, but had I known that they would be closing for the apocalypse, I would’ve stocked up on food days ago. So that leaves me and Kaitlyn with a few slices of bread, nutella and soup. Well I guess we used to have soup…

Earlier this evening, Kaitlyn made a whole new pot of soup for us to have over the next few days. When I went to the kitchen to have some then clean up, the pot was gone. We discovered that some of our roommates took it upon themselves to throw away our entire pot of soup. They also left notes saying to clean. Well Kaitlyn did not take it very well, so she decided to write them a note. Here’s the note translated into english:

EVERYONE: I agree that everyone needs to clean after they use the kitchen. I don’t know who threw away our soup in the trash BUT THAT IS RIDICULOUS. When I cook, I ALWAYS clean up after including my plates in the kitchen. Yes, sometimes it takes me a while to put away my food but I ALWAYS clean it up. I understand that sometimes you are mad or frustrated but if my food is in your space, MOVE IT! OR ASK ME TO MOVE IT! DO NOT TOUCH MY FOOD!!! Please don’t throw away our stuff another time. We assure you that we always clean up after we use the kitchen. I think that everyone needs to clean after themselves a little better including their plates AND the counter tops. Pardon me if I offended anyone. - Kaitlyn and Lauren

It’s safe to say that I am scared for my life since Kaitlyn has transformed into the Incredible Hulk.

5.2.12

Tags: kaitlyn roommates madrid spain the incredible hulk
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This is how I get Kaitlyn pumped to go out.

4.30.12

Tags: kaitlyn photo facebook madrid lose yourself eminem
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