Thanksgiving Part 2: Madrid
This Thanksgiving, because I couldn't go home and spend it with family, I flew to Madrid to see an old friend of mine. Barrie is an adorable, tiny, surprisingly loud American from New Jersey. Right now she's working as an auxiliar like me, only in Madrid.
I arrived around 7:00pm or so, and went to find Barrie. She took me to her apartment, which was small, but really nice and pretty central. I met her roommates: Shannon, another girl from Jersey who stuck out with her long blonde hair, and Melissa, a girl from Boston who is somehow a good three or four inches shorter than I am.
I had a quick skype with the family, and wished my 'rents a happy Thanksgiving. We freshened up and went to their favorite bar for dinner. The great thing about Spain, as many of you have probably already heard, is that you get food free when you buy drinks. The quality and quantity of this food varies greatly depending on the bar. It can range from a bowl of potato chips or olives to homemade empanadas or croquetas fresh off the stove. This bar they took me to is a real gem, because we each ordered one beer, and with them came three heaping plates of food. When we finished the first one, they brought another full of croquetas that were homemade (you can tell by the shape. If they're perfect and not lumpy, they're probably store bought). Then when we were running low, he refilled it with more. In the end, we paid for our (ONE) round of drinks at 3.50€ each, leaving fully fed.
After, we went to a British themed bar called Freeway. Going from Meixueiro to Vigo made it all feel very loud and big and metropolitan, but going from Vigo to Madrid doesn't compare. Madrid felt cool. Every time I go there I enjoy it more. The first time was on the tail end of my semester abroad in Santander, and I was alredy down about having to go home, and on top of that I compared it to a city I had just spent three months falling in love with. The next time was in summer '12 when the Spanish soccer team won the Eurocup. Originally, I wasn't even interested in going. It was simply a pit stop between Holland and travelling through the south of Spain, but after they won, the high was inescapable; everyone was ecstatic and the energy was palpable. This time around, I got to visit Barrie and see the city from a different angle. It was really nice and made the city look different, even. Madrid's got a great vibe. It feels a lot like Spanish New York City: everything was very big with bright lights, lots of well dressed teenagers smoking cigarettes, and the people-it was like every third person was the new most beautiful person I'd ever seen. And I don't say that in a way that might worry a boyfriend-I mean actually every man, woman, and child were just generally beautiful and looked like they'd been plucked out of a catalog. Do good looking people flock to the cities, or do cities make people good looking?
Anyway, one thing that is inevitable with big cities: higher prices. I don't know if I've ever ordered a pint in Vigo, but I ordered two for me and my new friend at Freeway and it came to 10€. So yeah.
After that, we made our way back to their apartment and called it a night. The next morning, as much as we would have liked to get up early and get a head start on the shopping and Thanksgiving day, we slept till about 10 and lazed about eating cereal and drinking tea until Barrie's family friend arrived. Jamie is a tall (okay not really just taller than me), dark, and beautiful Philly girl doing a similar teaching English gig in Italy. She, like me, was unable to make the trip home for the holiday, so she joined our festivities. The more the merrier, right?
I was happy to have her, anyway, as she was the only one who shared in my unironic excitement over seeing a Dunkin Donuts kiosk in the Corte Inglés shopping center when we went to get the fixin's for dinner. It's been a loooong time since I've had good old American coffee.
Before all that, Shannon and I were put in charge of booze. I thought it would be a nice gesture to get some Albariño, which is wine from Galicia, my neck of the woods. If you buy it in Vigo from the corner shop, the damage will be about 2.50-3.50€. The going rate at El Corte in Madrid was about 14€! I did find one at the back (with a picture of a cartoon dog on the label, no less!) for about 4€, my treat, I said.
Then we also bought a mini keg. Because why wouldn't you buy a mini keg for Thanksgiving dinner.
We went home and began on the preparations. I, who else, quickly realized we'd bought wine for dinner but we didn't buy enough wine to drink while we cooked. If you know me at all, that is my absolute favorite pass time: Cooking and drinking wine. So I went off to find a little shop to buy some more. Also what I'm saying is that Shannon and I shouldn't have been put in charge of the booze.
With latkas as a nod to the first day of Hannukah* (Barrie and Jamie are both Jewish), stuffing, and mini keg in tow, we went to Barrie's friends' apartment. It was a room full of American ex-pats and one Australian and one Spaniard. Then we had a white elephant gift exchange, which turned out really nice. I gave away a FC Barca travel mug (thinking it would be hilarious to give to a Madrid resident...Is my humor lost on people?) and received a photo frame and a set of giant novelty cards, what else. It was a thoroughly American night of Thanksgiving stuffing, gifts, and after dinner talk of work stress and whether or not socks should be worn during sex (they should not, was the final conclusion).
The ones of us who were in good enough shape to go out went to a bar called Independance. I'm going to write that again so that you know it wasn't a typo: A club...called Independance. I don't think I've ever been so impressed with the cleverness of a club's name, ever...I don't know if this is something well-known about myself, but I love, nay, absolutely adore clever names for stuff. Independance! I wish I'd thought of that!
We went home relatively early (by Spain standards) and after a cuddly night's sleep (we couldn't get the futon to open, so Jamie and I slept on it close together couch-style), got up to start our very American day.
We began with seasonal lattes at Starbucks and did a walk around the city. We went to el Parque Retiro and saw the sights. We sat and chatted and later made our way to Puerta del Sol, where we stopped for dinner at Tommy Mel's, an American 50s style diner. I know. I know. It was actually really good. You don't realize what a profound connection you have to your food until you go elsewhere. I was at a point where I was kinda sick of all the Spanish food and its lack of variety, and it was just had a wonderful nostalgic aspect to go to the American diner. There are so many things I rarely to never eat at home, like cheeseburgers or doughnuts, that I crave or get excited about here. Travelling does things to you.
The next morning, Jamie and I both had early flights. So instead of going to bed early and getting a good night's sleep, we went out to the bars, had our last shot at about 5 am, made our way to Barrie's to quickly get our things, and hopped on the train to the airport.
The journey wasn't, in actuality, all that long. It only took a metro to get to the airport, and then it was only a short flight to Porto, where I made it in time to get the early bus home (on Sundays there are only two buses-one in the morning and one at night). The bus takes about 2 hours or so to get to Vigo, where I lazily got a cab back to my apartment. It was only about a 6 hour journey total, but I was exhausted, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out for the night.
Despite being in Madrid, it was a thoroughly American weekend. It was kind of nice, actually. I got to speak English and eat American food and even got American style coffee. I was feeling a bit homesick, and a little down about not being home for the holiday, but being in Madrid and having a little taste of America and being with friends made it feel like I hadn't missed anything at all. Okay, that sounds corny but it's the truth. I do love Madrid, and it only gets better every time I go back.
That's enough for now, more to come (because I'm so behind)!
El mundo es un libro y ellos que no viajan leen sólo una página.
*Pardon my spelling. I tried my best to spell Hanakkuh correctly, but as it turns out there are, like, eight different ways to spell it.
I arrived around 7:00pm or so, and went to find Barrie. She took me to her apartment, which was small, but really nice and pretty central. I met her roommates: Shannon, another girl from Jersey who stuck out with her long blonde hair, and Melissa, a girl from Boston who is somehow a good three or four inches shorter than I am.
I had a quick skype with the family, and wished my 'rents a happy Thanksgiving. We freshened up and went to their favorite bar for dinner. The great thing about Spain, as many of you have probably already heard, is that you get food free when you buy drinks. The quality and quantity of this food varies greatly depending on the bar. It can range from a bowl of potato chips or olives to homemade empanadas or croquetas fresh off the stove. This bar they took me to is a real gem, because we each ordered one beer, and with them came three heaping plates of food. When we finished the first one, they brought another full of croquetas that were homemade (you can tell by the shape. If they're perfect and not lumpy, they're probably store bought). Then when we were running low, he refilled it with more. In the end, we paid for our (ONE) round of drinks at 3.50€ each, leaving fully fed.
 | ||
| Yes, all this food came free with my beer. Yes, more food came out when we finished. |
After, we went to a British themed bar called Freeway. Going from Meixueiro to Vigo made it all feel very loud and big and metropolitan, but going from Vigo to Madrid doesn't compare. Madrid felt cool. Every time I go there I enjoy it more. The first time was on the tail end of my semester abroad in Santander, and I was alredy down about having to go home, and on top of that I compared it to a city I had just spent three months falling in love with. The next time was in summer '12 when the Spanish soccer team won the Eurocup. Originally, I wasn't even interested in going. It was simply a pit stop between Holland and travelling through the south of Spain, but after they won, the high was inescapable; everyone was ecstatic and the energy was palpable. This time around, I got to visit Barrie and see the city from a different angle. It was really nice and made the city look different, even. Madrid's got a great vibe. It feels a lot like Spanish New York City: everything was very big with bright lights, lots of well dressed teenagers smoking cigarettes, and the people-it was like every third person was the new most beautiful person I'd ever seen. And I don't say that in a way that might worry a boyfriend-I mean actually every man, woman, and child were just generally beautiful and looked like they'd been plucked out of a catalog. Do good looking people flock to the cities, or do cities make people good looking?
Anyway, one thing that is inevitable with big cities: higher prices. I don't know if I've ever ordered a pint in Vigo, but I ordered two for me and my new friend at Freeway and it came to 10€. So yeah.
After that, we made our way back to their apartment and called it a night. The next morning, as much as we would have liked to get up early and get a head start on the shopping and Thanksgiving day, we slept till about 10 and lazed about eating cereal and drinking tea until Barrie's family friend arrived. Jamie is a tall (okay not really just taller than me), dark, and beautiful Philly girl doing a similar teaching English gig in Italy. She, like me, was unable to make the trip home for the holiday, so she joined our festivities. The more the merrier, right?
I was happy to have her, anyway, as she was the only one who shared in my unironic excitement over seeing a Dunkin Donuts kiosk in the Corte Inglés shopping center when we went to get the fixin's for dinner. It's been a loooong time since I've had good old American coffee.
Before all that, Shannon and I were put in charge of booze. I thought it would be a nice gesture to get some Albariño, which is wine from Galicia, my neck of the woods. If you buy it in Vigo from the corner shop, the damage will be about 2.50-3.50€. The going rate at El Corte in Madrid was about 14€! I did find one at the back (with a picture of a cartoon dog on the label, no less!) for about 4€, my treat, I said.
Then we also bought a mini keg. Because why wouldn't you buy a mini keg for Thanksgiving dinner.
 |
| Shannon giving the mini keg some TLC. |
We went home and began on the preparations. I, who else, quickly realized we'd bought wine for dinner but we didn't buy enough wine to drink while we cooked. If you know me at all, that is my absolute favorite pass time: Cooking and drinking wine. So I went off to find a little shop to buy some more. Also what I'm saying is that Shannon and I shouldn't have been put in charge of the booze.
 |
| The food prep |
With latkas as a nod to the first day of Hannukah* (Barrie and Jamie are both Jewish), stuffing, and mini keg in tow, we went to Barrie's friends' apartment. It was a room full of American ex-pats and one Australian and one Spaniard. Then we had a white elephant gift exchange, which turned out really nice. I gave away a FC Barca travel mug (thinking it would be hilarious to give to a Madrid resident...Is my humor lost on people?) and received a photo frame and a set of giant novelty cards, what else. It was a thoroughly American night of Thanksgiving stuffing, gifts, and after dinner talk of work stress and whether or not socks should be worn during sex (they should not, was the final conclusion).
The ones of us who were in good enough shape to go out went to a bar called Independance. I'm going to write that again so that you know it wasn't a typo: A club...called Independance. I don't think I've ever been so impressed with the cleverness of a club's name, ever...I don't know if this is something well-known about myself, but I love, nay, absolutely adore clever names for stuff. Independance! I wish I'd thought of that!
We went home relatively early (by Spain standards) and after a cuddly night's sleep (we couldn't get the futon to open, so Jamie and I slept on it close together couch-style), got up to start our very American day.
We began with seasonal lattes at Starbucks and did a walk around the city. We went to el Parque Retiro and saw the sights. We sat and chatted and later made our way to Puerta del Sol, where we stopped for dinner at Tommy Mel's, an American 50s style diner. I know. I know. It was actually really good. You don't realize what a profound connection you have to your food until you go elsewhere. I was at a point where I was kinda sick of all the Spanish food and its lack of variety, and it was just had a wonderful nostalgic aspect to go to the American diner. There are so many things I rarely to never eat at home, like cheeseburgers or doughnuts, that I crave or get excited about here. Travelling does things to you.
 |
| From left to right: Jamie, Shannon, Barrie, myself |
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| Pro tip: This place delivers |
The next morning, Jamie and I both had early flights. So instead of going to bed early and getting a good night's sleep, we went out to the bars, had our last shot at about 5 am, made our way to Barrie's to quickly get our things, and hopped on the train to the airport.
The journey wasn't, in actuality, all that long. It only took a metro to get to the airport, and then it was only a short flight to Porto, where I made it in time to get the early bus home (on Sundays there are only two buses-one in the morning and one at night). The bus takes about 2 hours or so to get to Vigo, where I lazily got a cab back to my apartment. It was only about a 6 hour journey total, but I was exhausted, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out for the night.
Despite being in Madrid, it was a thoroughly American weekend. It was kind of nice, actually. I got to speak English and eat American food and even got American style coffee. I was feeling a bit homesick, and a little down about not being home for the holiday, but being in Madrid and having a little taste of America and being with friends made it feel like I hadn't missed anything at all. Okay, that sounds corny but it's the truth. I do love Madrid, and it only gets better every time I go back.
 |
| Puerta del Sol at sunset |
That's enough for now, more to come (because I'm so behind)!
El mundo es un libro y ellos que no viajan leen sólo una página.
*Pardon my spelling. I tried my best to spell Hanakkuh correctly, but as it turns out there are, like, eight different ways to spell it.
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