Gypsies

This past weekend had its ups and downs, but I saw a lot of cool sites in Madrid so it was great!

Classes for the semester started last Wednesday, so all the new people in ISA are in town and there are so many more students roaming the halls of Nebrija than the intensive month! Wednesday I tried out a new bar with a couple friends called Gabana. The cool thing there is that Wednesdays are free and throughout the night they have Flamenco performances! I haven't seen any Flamenco up close and personal yet in Spain so I was very excited for this, and the crowd was really into it to.

Thursday afternoon I wandered around Madrid with some fellow ISA-ers and went to a temporary market in Plaza de España. The market had tons of knick knacks and a couple snack stands, so it was easy to spend a good chunk of time there. Later we went to one of my favorite spots, Cien Montaditos, and had some 1€ beers and snacks. I was having a great day and night, even with my post Italian depression, and was ready to go out with friends for the night. Bad idea.

Carnaval is Europe's Mardi Gras, and this past weekend it was happening in Madrid, too. There were tons of people out all weekend, and, therefore, tons of gypsies out, too. Within minutes of dancing at Joy, a discoteca, I reached to slide my purse back in front of me and noticed it was open. And that my iPhone was gone. The next few hours were spent talking to the bouncers at the club, searching for the phone, and filing a report with the police.

While Casey and I were talking to the bouncers, they asked for descriptions of people around us. Apparently, about 10 people had things stolen from them in the same 5 minute time frame that my phone was stolen, and each person described the same 3 eastern european girls that were near them. GYPSIES. I am now fully aware of my surroundings at all times and will never bring valuables out to crowded places again!

Despite the chaos on Thursday, we were still able to make Friday a great day. We went and checked out this really cool site in Madrid, the Templo de Debod. It's a site with Egyptian ruins, and we went at sunset. It was gorgeous! Afterward we went to Mercado de San Anton, a food market were vendors have really nice stands. I got cod on bread, sushi, and chocolate cake for just around 5€ - deal!

Templo de Debod

Mercado de San Anton

Saturday we got up early and started the day at a museum, Matadero Madrid. This museum is a converted slaughterhouse, and totally still looks and smells like one to an extent (ew). The first exhibit we saw was full of weirdly cool inventions. It was free and off-the-wall so it was really interesting! Next we went into a room that looked as if it was one of the main slaughterhouse rooms in the past. Everything had been cleared out and the exhibit inside was just flames all over the walls, super creepy. Casey, Becca, and I all got major chills.

Matadero Madrid

The next couple exhibits we saw were really random, and we realized that the museum was also some sort of art community. I definitely want to go back here when the exhibits have been changed up!

Matadero Madrid empties out right by a park. Since it was Saturday morning, tons of families and little kids were out and about. We listened as a group of toddlers practiced their numbers...and practiced with them...ha. It was a really pretty day at the park!

Super cool slides!

Later in the day Casey, Maya, and I were walking to Sol to watch Madrid's parade for Carnaval, when we looked down to find 50€ on the street! After looking around to make sure no one was searching for their money...we snatched it up and called it our dinner fund! I like to think this was how the world was apologizing for my stolen phone.

The parade was HUGE and very elaborate. There were tons of "floats" and all of the costumes were amazing. My favorite part was when men on stilts walked down the street breathing fire. And when one of the performers saw me in the crowd and came straight up to me to shake my hand! True love at first sight. Then when he walked away he smacked his rear...classy.

Carnaval

My love

Fire breather!

Finally we put our lucky money to good use and went to a nice tapas restaurant. It was our first dinner in Madrid on our own and it was delicious! Fries with a huevo frito on top, fried shrimp andalucia style, and pork chops with an apple onion sauce. Oh, and of course a bottle of house wine too :) We managed to only have to pay about 2,50€ each for the delicious meal! Score!

Casey, me, and Maya

After some more wine at home with our host dad, we topped the night off at a local club, Star Studio. It was the first club in Madrid I've been to that I really got to see the local scene instead of just spending more time with international students, so it was lots of fun!

The weekend was very eventful, and it reminded me that I need to make sure not to travel outside of Madrid every weekend this semester...!