Madrid!

Hola mis amigos!

So Madrid was absolutely amazing. Erin and I arrived at the Madrid airport around 10:30/11:00 pm and realized...Hey, we did not establish a solid plan to find Joanna or Caitlin and airports are kind of large. So basically we ran around the airport for 45 minutes trying to find each other but when we did it was your classic: yell each others name across the airport and run into each others arms reunion style. We got back to Joanna's apartment where a beautiful pasta dinner and birthday cake awaited us. We ate, drank, and I got some Bday presents from Cait and Jo which were PERFECT! Jo got me this amazing bracelet from a boutique in Spain and Cait wrote my name on the Lennon wall (very famous in Prague), took a picture of it, blew it up, and framed it for me.

By 3am we were ready to rage, we went to a club called Orange which Erin and I got in for free by offering the bouncer a piece of my gum. He then supplied us with two free drinks passes...man I love starting my nights off right! We didn't pay for drinks all night because we were with two of Joanna's friends...who are blonde...which in Spain means you are the hottest thing around! At one point Spice Girls-Wannabe came on so we clearly had to yell the entire song lyrics in one large group. We got home around 6:30/7 am...people in Madrid know how to party.

We woke up to blue skies, sunshine, and 65 degree weather! Erin, Caitlin, and I spent most of the day commenting on how much we miss the sun and how fabulous the weather felt. That day we went to a beautiful park and explored around Madrid. It was a perfect day. That night we put our raging shoes on and went to this super posh club called Joy. We were "on the list" so we got in for free (normally its a 20 euro cover charge) and danced our brains out. An hour into our clubbing sesh, i look on stage (where the VIP section is) and there is Cait and Jo! Cait and Jo started talking to this old dude who turned out to be an owner of another huge club in Madrid so he got us all into VIP (7 girls in total). Check out the facebook pictures to get the true effect of the club. Although I never got into that large wine glass I would constitute night two as a success.

Day three we walked around and did some shopping because in Spain every store has government regulated sales twice a year during February and August. aka Jill Marsh's optimal months of travel. Riley, I got you a Barcelona jersey...I didn't get you a Real Madrid because they were 100 Euro and thats a little serious for a jersey in my opinion...the Barcelona jersey is tight though! After shop shop time we went to Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (a spectacular modern art museum) and I saw one of Picasso's most famous art works: Guernica. We walked in the room and it was so massive and powerful I felt like I couldn't breathe. We probably spent 1 week discussing this painting alone in one of my classes at IU and the fact that I saw it in real life was definitely one of my highlights as of yet.

Night 3 contained a slightly more controlled version of raging seeing as we left the club at 3:45, went back to Joanna's apartment to change, and then jumped in a taxi to the airport. Our plane left at 7:30 am and the airport was a good 45 minutes away so sleeping clearly wasn't on the agenda. Erin, being perhaps a little too shwastey for a 5:30 am security check lost her wallet at the airport. Thank god her wallet didn't have her passport in it, otherwise we would have been in quite the pickle. So to wrap up the weekend we got back to our apartment around 10 am. I showered, went to a really cool street market, and played soccer with some of the guys from my flat. And now I am laying in bed, ready to catch up on some much needed sleep!

I Love you all very much! Hasta Luego!