Chapter Eight: Madrid, Some Irish Luck, and Spring Break is (Almost) Upon Us

Oh hey from the worst blogger ever,

The last few weeks have been crazy with traveling, work(i know study abroad shouldn't ACTUALLY involve studying right?) and all the other fun stuff included with being in Europe.

During the first week of April, I went to Madrid with my family, Elyssa, and got a chance to see Natalie and Emily which was amazing. Madrid is a cool city, but I do like Barca better. Still, it was awesome to see Madrid. The first day I landed and Elyssa unfortunately was delayed like 57 hours, so I met Natalie, checked into the beautiful hotel(transitioning back to hostels was a little sad) and then met up with Mom and Brian. Natalie, being the amazing tour guide she is, showed us around and took us for Falafel and later Churros. Afterward, we went to Retiro which is a huge and beautiful park and rented a row boat. Brian struggled a bit to row, but after my extreme athleticism(jokes but really I was SUCH a help) kicked in, we were able to move away from the dock. We rowed around for about 45 minutes and then Natalie and I headed to the airport to get Elyssa. This involved us running full speed in the heat after a bus(and making it because again, we're just natural athletes) and wandering around Madrid airport. Finally, we were reunited(and it did feel so good after being lost in the airport for G-d knows how long). We headed back to the hotel, freshened up, and went to try to watch Cub's opening day. Of course, this failed because it was on WGN which they clearly don't have in Europe so my family and I were a disappointed. Nevertheless, we went to dinner and then Elyssa and I went out with Natalie, Emily, and all the GW Madrid kids. It was really fun, but we were tired and went back a little early to get some rest.

The next day was jam packed. My family left and Elyssa and I spent the whole day on our feet managing to fit in the following:

•  a free walking tour-3.5 hours with our crazy, hippy, Israeli tour guide named OD was a little much. There is only so much we could take of his austin powers comparisons, the word groovy, and his acting out of the Spanish kings and their succession
•  the royal palace-so beautiful
• amazing food at the market consisting of bread tapas, croquettes, and the best froyo with turron EVER
• El Prado: amazing art, more paintings than I think i have ever seen

After this, we were obviously hungry so we went to an amazing dinner with Natalie and went out with everyone again. This is really just a summary, but it was a fantastic trip!

Last weekend, I went to Dublin. Dublin is great because the people are nice, the food is great, the drinks are awesome, the city is beautiful, and most importantly they have diet coke and forever 21(just kidding about the importance of forever 21...diet coke-I stand by what I said). Brittany, Becca, and I had an amazing time. Here are some of the highlights

• Guinness Storehouse: awesome tour!
• Free walking tour: saw many amazing sights
• fish and chips: delicious
• strawberry beer and amazing cider: great alternatives to the usual beer that i don't always love
• the people: so nice, so friendly
• the hostel: amazing irish breakfast
• diet coke: much needed

This is only really short because I am so tired and excited for ITALY tomorrow that I can't think(also why my writing sucks and is messy). Anyway, I can't believe abroad is going by so fast. It makes me so sad. However, on a happy note....

I CANNOT WAIT FOR SPRING BREAK TOMORROW!!!!


Overtired much? Well I will write after break. PEACE, LOVE, ITALY.

adios,

Lauren