I am currently writing this update from the Renfe train on the 5 hour trip to San Sebastian, meaning that, although I can hardly believe it myself, I have officially left Madrid after an incredible, unforgettable, and life-changing 3 month adventure. It was so hard to say goodbye, because even though looking back now, 12 weeks seems like hardly a blink of an eye, I fell in love in that time. No no no, I’m not bringing home a Juan, Antonio, or any other Spanish novio, but something so much more. I’m coming home having fallen in love with a country and a culture, with a language and a lifestyle, with traveling and with new experiences, with pushing myself and stepping out of my comfort zone, with challenging situations and with independence, but above all, with the people who I met. Each and every one of them truly had an important impact on not only my experience in Madrid but on my life, and inspired me in some way or another, whether I knew them for one weekend or for 3 months. It was these connections that I made with people from all different walks of life, from all different parts of the world, with all different stories who taught me so much of what I learned on this trip, and for that I will always be so grateful. You all know who you are, and if you’re reading this, I hope you know that this entire experience would not have meant as much to me as it has without you as a part of it!
On a lighter note, I am not utterly and completely in despair upon leaving Madrid, for a few reasons. First of all, I know I will be back here someday. And I know that the people who I became closest to will forevermore be a part of my life. Secondly, I am proud of myself for the fact that I can look back on my time here and be satisfied that I made the absolute most of it, that I saw everything I wanted to see, did everything that I wanted to do, and personally feel that I fully embraced the city, the culture, and the people to the greatest extent possible for the 3 month period. And finally, because I know I have so much more to look forward to now still! Not only am I so excited to come back and see the family and friends that I have missed so much, but a new adventure is beginning immediately: Mom and Dad met me in Madrid for the first leg of what’s sure to be an extremely eventful Burr Family (minus Kelley – we miss you!!) Eurotrip!!
But before I get ahead of myself…
This final week was one of crossing off last-minute bucket list items. On Monday, I finally ate at one of the cute little cafés that I pass by every day on my walk home from the train station from work. Tortilla bocadillo has to be one of the worst possible Spanish foods for you, but is undoubtedly one of my favorites. That same night, Ian, Elan, Sarah, Rachel and I took a walk out to the 4 tall towers of Madrid that I can see from my bedroom window, because there is a restaurant on the top of 2 of them and I had on my list a trip to the top for a cocktail and a beautiful view. However, sadly, you had to have a reservation and be dressed much more “elegantly” than we were, and you can’t go up for just a drink, but rather an astronomically expensive meal. So, a tad disappointing, but walking around the bottom of the towers was beautiful in itself! Lots of creative sculptures and lit up fountains, so it actually turned into a pleasant surprise of a different sort.
Tuesday I accomplished something on my bucket list that I had previously given up on. I wrote “Santiago Bernabéu,” the name of the famous Real Madrid football team’s gigantic stadium, on there, thinking that I would hopefully at least get to tour the stadium, accepting the fact that the tickets to the actual games were way too far out of my price range (for some games, the least expensive tickets were around 150 Euro!) but for Tuesday’s game against Ajax Amsterdam we managed to score some (relatively speaking) cheaper tickets – and went!! Ian, Elan and I started off the evening with a last big paella meal, and then walked down to the stadium. The hour leading up to the game is almost as fun as the game itself, with tons of excited fans crowding the streets, and vendors everywhere – I even was able to score myself a jersey! Our seats were the motherload of all nose-bleeds, but actually still had a really awesome view of the “pitch,” or the field. It was incredible how packed the stadium was, almost every seat full for every game, and it fits around 80,000 people! I am so happy I got to experience this extremely European tradition - between this, riding a vespa, and hopefully having a baguette sword-fight in front of the Eiffel tower, I think my Euro-experience will be complete.
Wednesday saw my last 1 Euro Wednesday Cien Montaditos weekly tradition with Olivia in Sol, and then the packing began. While Ian and I were packing, however, our amazing roommates surprised us with a little goodbye dinner and mini fiesta on the balcony, complete with posters, candles, wine (of course), our favorite rotisserie chicken from the place down the street, our favorite hummus dip from the market, hats for everyone (Ian and I got crowns!), and fake mustaches, for good measure. It was the so incredibly sweet of them, and I have no idea how I got so lucky as to have been placed with such incredible people as roommates who became some of my best friends. We all sat out on that fantastic balcony together for one last evening, a scene repeated over and over throughout the summer and times spent that I will never forget.
Thursday was my last day of internship, and I actually was very sad to leave that office in the end as well! Everyone in there was always so nice and welcoming to me, and above all, patient! They wrote me a fantastic rec letter (in Spanish), and upon leaving presented me with a blank photo album to document my time in Spain and to remember them all by, and when my boss found out that my parents were here, gave me a bottle of wine to take to them! (I’ve seen it sitting in his office for ages, but still an extremely nice gesture!) It was weird leaving that office and those people for the last time, knowing that there is a very good chance I would never see that place or most of those people ever again, but I plan on keeping in touch and was really pleased to leave on such a positive note.
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| Last morning commute from the Chamartin station... |
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| ...to Pinar de las Rozas, the view I have at sunrise! |
After taking my last cercanías ride home from Pinar de las Rozas, I went straight to Sol to meet my parents in their hostal!! It was so incredibly exciting seeing them again, but also so weird to see them in Madrid. They had only slept a few hours, but I was so impressed with the amount we got accomplished in that day! We walked down to Puerta del Sol and out to Mercado San Miguel, having lunch after that (jamón and paella) on a terrace at a restaurant nearby.
We then ventured through Plaza Mayor and up to Gran Vía, walking all the way down to Parque del Retiro.
We strolled through the park, of course going out on the rowboats on the little lake, and all the way to Crystal Palace before heading out. We walked back down Paseo del Prado, seeing the “Golden Triangle” of Madrid’s most famous museums from the outside, and down to a street where we saw the Palace Hotel, wandering in and wondering if our neighbors, who were in Madrid, would be staying there. As we were calling the desk to see if their names were listed, they actually came walking right down the stairs to the lobby! What are the odds, right? Only in Madrid! It was a lot of fun getting to run into them, and we joined them and their friends for a drink before heading out to dinner on our own. We went to Viva Madrid, the fantastic restaurant that Uncle Andy showed me (now clearly one of my favorites) that has an adorable patio out front and is beautifully decorated in authentic Spanish ceramic tile-work, hidden down an alley outside of Plaza Santa Ana. We dined tapas style, so they got to also try albondigas (Spanish meatballs and Mom’s new favorite Spanish word), tortilla, and croquettas – not too shabby for a taste of the Spanish cuisine on day number one!
After spending my last night in 51 Algodonales, I met them back at their hostel for a delicious, Spanish breakfast of churros con chocolate at the famous San Gines Chocolatería – the one that is open 24 hours a day!
We went back to good old Tetuán, and I was very glad that my mom was getting the experience of my lovely street and area at the end of the trip as I was moving out, and finished packing up all of my stuff. We realized that I had way too much, oops, and after taking the metro to collect my deposit from the landlord and then again to Nuevos Ministerios in search of a post office, we shipped a big box containing all of the souvineers I had bought. They said the system is incredibly delayed and could even take months, so everyone I PROMISE I have presents for you, they just may be a little delayed in getting there!! We went down to Salamanca area for lunch, and then back to the apartment to lug the rest of my luggage (still a lot) to the hostal in Sol. That night, we took a stroll down the other side of Gran Vía, stopped for dinner, and continued on to see Plaza de España all lit up at night. We then walked further to see Templo de Debod lit up as well, and a view of the Royal Palace. We walked all the way back past the Palace and Opera.
The next morning, we headed out for breakfast at La Mallorquía, a bakery in the middle of Sol that is one of the most famous in Madrid because it is the city’s oldest (and most delicious, I’m convinced) bakeries. We tried their famous chocolate napolitanas, sitting on the second story of the café by a window overlooking the street below, and the place absolutely lived up to its incredible reputation.
After that, we headed back to the Opera House and ended up taking a tour of the place! It was something I had never considered doing in Madrid, but I am so glad we did it! The place was absolutely stunning and enormous, and it is one of the most well-known opera houses in all of Spain. It had a very interesting and beautiful history to it, was extremely complex in technical abilities and architecture (with 3 rotating stages) and super exquisite and fancy interior decorating, not to mention the views of the city and El Escorial from the surrounding windows.
After the Opera House, we made the trek out to Plaza de Toros de las Ventas – the bullfighting stadium of Madrid, for guided tour #2 of the day. Even though I had done the tour once before, I learned a lot more the second time around, and it was exciting to see the stadium on the last tour before a bullfight to take place later that day! We headed back to the city center to take our final tour of Palacio Real, the Royal Palace, and I think my top favorite tourist attraction in Madrid. I can’t get enough of the elaborate (that even seems like an understatement) rooms, the displays and artifacts, and imagining what it must have been like when the royal family actually lived there, or even what it must be like attending a ceremonious event there today. We also got to tour the royal armory and pharmacy, which were closed the last time I visited!
After a quick peek in the royal Cathedral that’s situated right next to the palace, we went back to Sol, did a little shopping, and then headed down to La Latina for a tapas crawl for dinner! I took them first to the famous Cien Montaditos, so they got to experience that in all its glory.
Then we headed down to Cava Baja – the street in Madrid most famous for its long line of tapas bars and restaurants. We stopped in one bar where we could find a table, even as early as 9:45 it was getting super crowded everywhere on a Saturday night! After a confusing conversation regarding the “skewers” they advertised in their window, we ordered more albondigas, a “surprise” tapa, and a taco of balcalao – apparently some kind of fish? And definitely not taco-esque…welcome to Spain’s way of food!
After 3 tours and considering the fact that we had to get up early to catch our train, we headed back to the hostel and I spent my last night in Madrid!
We got up around 5:30 am, packed up our stuff and headed out to the train station. Turns out it was the wrong train station, so we continued the adventure and took the cercanías train up to the right one (easier said than done with the luggage we had in tow) but hey chalk it up to experience – yay Mom and Dad got to ride the cercanías train? We made it onto our train no problem, and here we are now on the way to San Sebastian for a few days, and then our trip continues on to Barcelona, Paris and finally London before heading back to the States on Tuesday October 11th. I’ll keep you updated on the adventures to follow, but it’s already been an amazing time and I can’t wait to see what else Europe has in store for the Burrs.
So, as I am very sad to leave Madrid and all of the incredible experiences I have had, all of the things I have learned, all of the people and places I have come to know and love, I am excited for what’s to come, and like to think that “every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end.” - Semisonic, Closing Time. So here’s to the end of something wonderful, and the beginning of something new and different, but just as exciting!
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