Madrid with Company!!

Monday in Madrid was bunches o fun!!! I met up with Liz at her hostel. It was so nice to see a familiar face! I left to go move over to a new and less expensive hostel. I had to share a room with 5 other people this time (the night before I had a room to myself) which was interesting because I got to meet a lot of new people! Liz and I met up again and had tapas (like appetizers) and salad at a little cafe and we got to sit outside. The salad was interesting because it had raw or cured? salmon in it. It was really good! After eating, we walked to the parque del buen retiro...this is a big beautiful park in Madrid. There were tall trees with beautiful orange leaves, guys playing soccer, couples having picnics. We swung on the swings in the playground area! It was nice to see all the active people....people riding bikes, working out on the playground equipment, rollerblading, skateboarding, and even rollerskating! After the park, we stopped by el corte ingles...a big grocery center/shopping mall. We bought a few little things like apples and tuna with crackers for snacks. We decided to go back to our hostels before meeting again for dinner. When I went back to the hostel, I met some more new people, including an English teacher from California who was traveling through Spain for vacation (he was with family but decided to stay longer). His name was Carlos and he was super outgoing. I ended up inviting him to dinner with Liz and I. We went to a place called Tapas y Vino. I never realized there are so many ways to top a piece of bread. I ordered tapas or inexpensive appetizers...one was a piece of bread with salmon and a really good cheese on top and the other was bread with ratatoiulle and a slice of boiled egg on it. It was nice to have Carlos with us because he was more comfortable speaking in Spanish than me and he helped me order. He also taught us a little about the Portugese language, like the difference between Brazilian Portugese and Portugal Portugese...one of them sounds prettier than the other. Carlos invited us to a pub crawl, but we were tired and it was a Monday....a pub crawl is where you pay a certain amount and you get to have so many drinks/shots and get into a certain amount of bars or clubs. Liz and I just decided to call it a night!
I had so much fun with Liz on Monday!!!!!

Madrid Cuidad Candidato!!!

After my flight to Amsterdam, I got on another plane to travel to Madrid! I got another window seat...yay! This flight was a lot shorter than the other at about 2 hours. I arrived in Madrid and took a taxi to my hostel (note to self: do not take a taxi unless absolutely necessary, it was expensive). Upon arriving at my hostel, I skyped with my family!!! I then freshened up to take a walk around this grand city! As I was walking around and looking at the beautiful architecture, I began to hear music and decided to follow the sound and the gajillion people heading in that direction. I came upon a huge festival for Madrid being chosen as a candidate city for the 2016 Olympics! I got handed a yellow poster and there was a big stage with a man playing music that made you want to move (ie: Shakira, Black Eyed Peas, techno and some good music in Spanish) and announcing things about Madrid being chosen and asking for the people's support--"con todo nuestro apoyo a Madrid 2016." He called out different colors (amarillo, verde, azul, etc.) and I discovered that he was referring to our posters. When he called out my color (yellow), everyone would hold up that color and cheer. I could not believe how many people were out in the streets for this event! I can't believe how many people are out at any given time in Madrid, let alone at this festival! Whenever I am walking there are always tons of people everywhere. There are also all kinds of shops everywhere too!! I made it back to my hostel just as it was getting dark and skyped with another friend...skyping is officially awesome...I've never skyped before!

Amsterdam!

I lied...I am not in Spain yet...I am at the Amsterdam airport. I was also wrong about me having flown when I was little. Someone in my family told me that I had flown to Colorado when I was really young, but my dad told me that they were mistaken...so that means that today was my first official flight and it was absolutely amazing! The view from the plane was grand...I got a window seat! Seeing the clouds up close was so cool...it looked like white cotton candy...I wish I could feel what it's like to jump into a cloud! I slept and watched How I Met Your Mother, I Love You, Man and a little of The Proposal on the plane. The food was nice too! I got to see the sunrise from the sky...it was a little after 7 am when I landed in Amsterdam. Ahhh...my internet time is about to run out at the airport.
I miss my family!!!!!

Flyin' High

I am a blog virgin, but here goes...

I could not sleep last night...I am feeling a million emotions, most of them culminating into nervousness, excitement, and nostalgia (I know-it's too soon for that because i am not even gone yet, but I am already missing people).
My flight to Madrid, Spain leaves around 3 pm from DFW Airport! I have not been on a plane since I was about 3 years old (too little to remember it), so this flight will be my first one to actually remember! My family is driving me to DFW. I have a layover in Amsterdam, but I probably will not leave the airport since the layover is only 2 hours long. I am scheduled to arrive midday in Madrid the next day!!
Short and sweet for now...my next post will be from Spain!!!!!