...and it is called Noche Del Blanco. In Spain, if someone has a noche del blanco, it means they didn't sleep at all that night. Pase un noche del blanco anoche...i passed a night without sleep last night.
So. Everything stays open the entire night, or more correctly the entire morning. Museums, shops, clubs, bars, restaurants...there are thousands of people walking the streets, live music, there was a giant seesaw and tire swings in the middle of the plaza. Everyone in Madrid is there. Little children running around at 6am. The metro even stays open (usually closes from 1:30-6) and is a party of people that can't stand up and don't realize how to hold on to a pole. I had some terrific spanish conversations about how Americans in Spain so obviously stick out like...an American. I've met some fantastic Spanish people on the metro. There was a large group of students from my school that met up in the plaza at eleven but apparently waited for me for 30,45 min? I didn't know what to wear? We all went to this place called "el tigre" and had the MOST DELICIOUS mojitos I have ever tasted. My mother would be extremely jealous. My cup had a stab wound and was dripping all over me so it was necesarry to be very strategic in how I consumed the beverage. I went to el tigre the other night and brought out my iflip camera. I was practicing my Spanish and basically interviewing people and looking extremely like a tourist. "hola como estas que haces en espana...." obnoxiously fun. They have GREAT tapas that come with every drink complimentary. Papas braves is fried potatoes with this amazing sauce drizzled on top and also one of my favorite dishes consumed in spain..
...after el tigre we strolled for a bit and passed by a club called Joy. I decided it would be impossible to get into free like we did the other night because of our overly large American crowd, even though people wanted us to try to get 30 people inside. yeah right. wasn't feeling a discoteca when there's such a fiesta going on in the streets!
I went out with Mel, Bailey, and Stephanie the other night and I saw the line in front of Joy and decided I was not going to wait in it and was not going to pay to get in. I marched right up to the bouncer and told him this and he not only let us in but also gave me a complimentary drink coupon. I LOVE being an American. College students need to be resourceful with their spending tactics. SO when we all got inside I told everyone we met that it was Melanie's wedding tomorrow and this was her last night of celebration. Free drinks all night plus VIP and a special spot on the floor with seating and such. Who will "get married" this next weekend?? Joy is fun inside, but after Kapital, it's hard to not compare any discoteca to the infamous seven floor club Kapital. Joy has a few different floors, dancers in gogo outfits, crazy lights, overly large bars everywhere. At one point everyone in the club rushed onto the stage and danced up there for a bit. That particular night ended with me being very upset that Burger King closes at 1am (I love America) and attempting to make a grilled cheese via microwave. Unsuccessful.
So last night we passed on the idea of Joy with 30 Americans and decided to keep walking. Stephanie and I and a smaller group strayed off from the crowd and met up in plaza de sol with Jaime , a dude we met when we first arrived in Madrid who works for this bar that is not overflowing with Americans. We decided to go there for a bit, of course I requested Britney Spears like I did the other time I was there--DJ remembered me and will continue to call me Britney Spears.
The city was still saturated with people at 6am, which is when we decided to head onto the metro. Not before walking into a pizza shop and getting free pizza. Idk if it was meant to be free? We'll blame that on the language barrier?
My senora just walked into my room to grab laundry-wonderful life- and she thinks that me getting in at 630 was early for noche de blanco. What kind of country is this?
A few days ago I had a free afternoon and instead of napping played tourista. I grabbed my spanish tour book and my camera and just began walking. I discovered a small shopping district and movie theaters a block away from my house and will be visiting that area again very soon. Met up with a few people in retiro park-equivalent to NYC's central park for Spain (except ten times more gorgeous) and literally had one of the most enjoyable afternoon/evenings of my life. There is no room for an unhappy thought when your strolling in Retiro Park. There's people jogging, strolling, painting pictures, drinking vino and cervezas, kissing, taking naps, vendors, police men on horses...everywhere. There is a pond right in the middle and people can rent boats and just lounge, drink, boat around. It is a dream world. Large trees, fountains, famous monuments everywhere. And Spain has a sky that is always bright blue, there has maybe been one cloud in it since I arrived here. We strolled and had a glass of wine and people watched. After, the internationally famous Prado museum was having free admission and so we walked there and saw beautiful statues and paintings and tapestries while inside. We only had about an hour left until closing and so there is still so much to be seen. We wandered around for a place to eat dinner and found an amazing location that had a to die for view. The view was worth having a terrible waiter and vendors coming up to our table harassing us to buy overly large plastic sunglasses. Afterwards, we walked to plaza de sol and bought the very famous churros con chocolate. We took them to go, the chocolate was a little bitter, but still an experience. and sat by a fountain in the plaza, ate churros, and people watched. Met some very interesting people, including charismatic Transylvanians and pretty Italians that fell in love with my friend Melanie. I would describe European men as pretty. They're not muscular or "hot" per say like American men. They dress very fashionably and many are very lean and just have pretty features. People were walking around selling beer cans to everyone, my coined line of rejection, "I'm sorry I don't pay for drinks." Stayed for about an hour and a half and wanted to take an early night before our trip to Salamanca the next morning.
Apparently all museums are free on certain afternoons during the week.
This past Wednesday in between classes (I have a three hour break every day between my first and second class) some gals and I went to the Palacio Real becuase it was having free admission all day. The plaza where the Palace is located is beautiful. We asked a man, "puedes sacar un foto por favor?" He answered, "sure where are you from." Obviously are Spanish is excellent. There are The line for Palacio Real was unreal, so we wandered to the cathedral right next to it. Lucky for us, we caught the last few minutes of a service, complete with a strong aroma of incense and people praying and the priest talking. It was very moving and beautiful. The cathedral was built in the shape of a cross and unlike anything I have ever seen or could even imagine. Huge high ceilings covered in beautiful paintings and designs. hundreds of years old.
The trip to Salamanca was yesterday. 830 in the morning came early and i did not sleep the entire night before--so it was extra early and my eyes looked like those goldfish that have huge bubbly eyes. Salamanca is known for being a student city as there are two universities there. The University of Salamanca is the fourth oldest school in the entire world. We toured another cathedral, the old-built in the 12th and 13th centuries, and the "new" cathedral built in 16th,17th, and 18th centuries. If you saw the massive size and meticulate detailed architecture you would understand why it took 300 years to build. This weekend Salamanca was having an annual festival so there were vendors, dollar tapas and drink stations set up, the famous Spain soccer coach was talking in the plaza, and there were just hundreds of people everywhere. Elyse, Stephanie, and I had lunch and people watched and saw a band walk down the street, a bachelorette party of gals dressed in crazy outfits, and a man with innapropriate fake body parts protruding from his attire. awkward. Our tour guide was terrible and wanted to tell us details of unimportant things everywhere we went. I find it funny that foreign people in their English always say aks instead of ask, no matter what ethnicity.
This blog is draggin on, lo siento, there are so many things that happen in my life here. I literally feel as if i have lived in Spain for a month or two becuase of no sleep and so much going on, but it has been two weeks....Every day is exciting and new. I'm so thankful.
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