Barcelona vs. Madrid

PREPARE FOR THE LONGEST POST EVER!

One of the aims before I came on my year abroad was to not only improve my Spanish but to embrace the culture here and see a whole load of different things. So this weekend we decided to make the most of the time we have left and spend a 5 day period exploring Spain's two biggest cities (I think?).

BARCELONA

First up was Barcelona. I can't explain how excited I was to go here, after doing two pieces of A Level coursework on the city, and a 10 credit module about the city in 2nd year, I had high expectations. We were all absolutely buzzing to go and I spent all Thursday morning getting ready, in hindsight I should have maybe slept a bit more rather than setting my alarm so early, could definitely have done with the sleep! I also went to my class and completed golden week - which thanks to Van Campenhout I'm getting a certificate for :)

By the time we were at the airport we were all like children on xmas day. Charlotte got her bag stuck in the baggage size checker - whilst 'practising' her technique to put it in. Classic Charlotte. We undressed for security and stalked an Australian girl in the coffee shop (who later sat behind us on the plane and stayed in our hostel - weird). Had cocktails that tasted like cough medicine and then boarded the plane, really exciting by this point. Except I don't like airlines that don't give you assigned seats, that's just an unnecessary stress! Nevertheless we managed to sit together and quickly got on it, the air hostess Lucinda was a babe. Before we knew it our flight was over and we were a little tipsy and in Barca! Straight to the hostel and a quick change before heading out. The first night was a wee bit disappointing, as we were all knackered and ended up at this sketchy bar with bad cocktails, a clingy rep and high prices.

Friday was pretty sweet, we woke up determined to make the most of our only full day in this massive city. By the time we'd got out and grabbed food it was midday and we got ourselves big red bus tickets. There is SO much to see in Barcelona it's crazy. We did a loop on the bus, taking a ridiculous amount of photos. On the next loop we stopped at the Sagrada Familia, with the most beautiful architecture I've seen. Gaudi certainly was a clever man. It supposedly will be finished in our lifetime, and by the time it's completed I'm sure it will be absolutely incredible. We had a Starbucks there as being on the bus had made us all pretty damn chilly. It was so Christmassy, and it made me so happy! The next stop we made was Park Guell, which also has pretty amazing architecture and also views. Then got on the bus to change to the red route! It meant we were able to see all the things we should whilst there. Even if we didn't have enough time to get off the bus - we were able to see it! Although it got so dark, cold and windy that by the end me and Charlotte were the only men left standing on the top deck. We were so wrapped up but absolutely frozen. Sadly it was so dark so we couldn't fully see everything. Got quite thankful when it was over though and went for dinner! Met Charlee's friend from uni so went to a nice looking restaurant just off la Rambla. We'd planned the second night, we were spending money and going hard so we bought pre drinks and after beautifying ourselves we got nice and drunk with some Spanish Chicas and a south African guy. Then headed to Razzmatazz. It was huuuge. The main dance floor felt like a mix between custard factory and a massive Ibiza drug floor but the rest was like a maze and we found ourselves in the top room for nearly the duration of the night. One thing I don't understand is how people are allowed to smoke on dance floors, that really is not cool. Was pretty good except the cost of it. But oh well. Razz my tazz BCN.

Saturday started with a brutal hangover so after keeno Charlotte woke us up (love her for it though) we headed out again. To wander down la Rambla, check out the market and souvenir shops. Started with a KFC though which was absolutely smashing. After a few hours we headed to the airport in the afternoon for the next trip...

MADRID

By the flight we were all knackered, so I kindly offered to take one of the two loner seats and was asleep before take off and didn't wake until the crap vueling landing woke me up. Refreshing nap though. And so ready for Madrid.

We got to our hostel and got ready to go out. Dresses on ready to brace the cold of Madrid, and ready to be stared at, heckled and genuinely clapped at as we walked down the street. Thanks Spain - we don't always look that good after flying! Me and Lucy played a drinking game whilst the others chatted and we got all merry in the corner. We went to Kapital which was quite possibly the best club I've ever been to, 7 different floors and a free drink included. After time, it was inevitable the group split, which left me and Katie by ourselves to explore. We had an hour and a half before our meeting time and 7 floors. So decided to go to each floor of the club, and listen to two songs before heading to the next. Floor 3 and 5 were the best. 6 was a Bombay Saphire gin bar - which after stealing a bottle of last week I did not want any more! 7 was pretty chilled and we hung with some French people there until it was time to meet. I spoke SO much Spanish. The people we were talking with could speak English too, so it was so good that Spanish actually became the chosen language for the conversations. End of the night we got a shawarma and headed back! Spent a good half an hour conversing about Al Capone and various American gangsters before sleepy time.

Sunday morning we died, headaches and sickness everywhere and once again Van Campenhout was very keen to explore. We wandered around the markets and streets for a while before finding a place for brunch. I had 'English brunch #1', eggs bacon and toast - happy happy days! Laura came and met us (a friend from Brum, studying in Madrid) which was really nice and she accompanied us around the city for the day! We walked a lot, took a lot more photos and had a pretty good day! By 6ish we were sleepy and went back to nap. Group napping was a great idea, although I think I was the only one that properly slept. Miss sleepyhead over here will sleep through anything - until a stupid man woke us up, so I quickly dealt with him and returned back to my snore fest. We planned dinner at 9, yet didn't get to the restaurant until 10.45, so Spanish! We had Thai food and it was so good. We tried to get into a club called Joy but one of us forgot ID, oops silly me. But, at least it wasn't my Subway card instead! So we were found by a rep that took us to this bar, which was the emptiest place ever. But an empty dance floor can only be fun, so we made it fun. Drinks were cheap so made sense to stay! A bunch of mixed nationality men then sat next to us which was both annoying and comical. General Swag bought everyone drinks, gracias. General Swag was not my chosen name for him, moist sleazy fatty would have been more appropriate. Yes we want your free drinks if you want to brag, but no I do not want to Salsa with you. Gangnam came on and things got serious! We actually had a pretty good time considering the place was dead. Clearly does just depend on the company of the evening! Then it was
time for pizza and bed at a reasonable time. We watched art attack in bed, except Neil wasn't the artist. But either way, such fun.

Monday was the last day and was pretty sad waking up knowing that. But it was such a great morning. We went for Churros at a place renowned in Madrid for the best Churros - a place were numerous celebrities have been over the years, whose photos are displayed on the walls. In my opinion, they weren't as good as the ones in Granada! Anyway, then we wandered up to the huge park in Madrid, and the boating lake where we rented two boats to have a little row for 45 minutes. It was possibly the best way to spend the day. A crisp sunny day, on the lake with some great friends, took lots of photos and all had a turn to row. We could hear the buskers from the lake which made it so lovely and chilled out. So any man that wants to marry me will have to be informed that a boating lake is going to be an ideal place to propose to me. There were so many couples, it was pretty cute actually. We headed back to the centre, and had lunch before getting our bags and dropping Charlotte off to catch her bus. We chilled in another Starbucks, did some more souvenir shopping and then headed to the train station for our return trip. During our wait we obviously had a couple of immature rounds of consequences and MASH. Really really old school, yet so much fun.

I'm actually writing this blog post on the train, and it is pretty cool. It's the RENFE high speed Spanish train, which only takes just over 2 hours to get between Madrid and Malaga. It's amazingly fast and the speed is shown in the carriages, right now were are 296km/hr and you can really feel the speed. Going for a wee this fast is pretty fun, there's handlebars and everything! There's also a cute Spanish girl who Lucy is reading to - definitely worth a mention!

Anyway. This weekend has actually been the best. We may have all spent a ridiculous amount of money in both cities but you only live once and we've just had the most rammed and exciting long weekend. Taken so many pictures and just had so much fun. Who'd have known a year ago that I would be travelling around these cities with such good friends I hadn't even met. It's crazy how things work out, and I actually love the amazing opportunities that ERASMUS brings us!

Now 2.5 crazy weeks left in Malaga before home time for Xmas! It's coming round so fast!!

Just like last week, I'll upload the best photos from the weekend in a separate post when I get a chance to put them on my laptop!

Adios guapos x