1 week at work left....whaaat? Thought I would do a few more blogs over the next week to "finish up" the experience.
1. Mabel - Mabel Mabel, how many times have I mentioned Mabel in this blog? Too many! Why? Because I love her. Went out for lunch on Wednesday with her and all we talked about was boys and getting drunk - a very intellectual conversation of course. I didn´t realise Mabel was such a wee "party animal". She was telling me all these stories about how she was chundering at the weekend, and how she got pissed on Monday night by herself and was really hungover on Tuesday. I had no idea. Like her even more now. So fun. She was also telling me the whole big story about how she met her boyfriend of 8 years. 15 years older, divorced with two kids, and from the photos, I´m sorry Mabel but he is not a looker. He is punching! She then advised me to stay away from Spanish men, which of course I already knew, and then quizzed me on my love life, saying that the men in the office "drool over me"..I was like hahaha Mabel, you´re so funny...the only boy who drools over me is my dog, Djibril.
2. María Ángeles - The girl who sits opposite me. Love her a wee bit too. She always talks about her obsesssion for Ryan Gosling, which of course is one of my obsessions too, so we get on pretty well. She thinks I am a "party animal" and always says she´s jealous that I´m 21. She´s 35 and married to a handsome French man and they have the cutest daughter who I am always being showed pictures of.
3. Cristina, Lucía and Gabi - Another 3 of the girls working in my department and again all so lovely. Lucía is really quiet and doesn´t look Spanish at all what with her ginger hair and freckles. Cristina is just really laid back and "hippy", and Gabi is one of these people who is always in a good mood and always calling me "Saritaaaa".
4. Almudena. "Almu" as she gets called. Oh Almu. What a name. She´s kind of dull but I guess nice. I just like the fact she gets called "Almu".
5. Nacho. "Nacho" is the nickname for any guy called Ignacio in Spain. It´s a bit like Michael to Mike. He´s sweet. The only man in our department. Very touchy feely, as all the Spanish are, and is proud new dad to his daughter "Blanca"...aka "White". I´ll miss Spanish names!
6. Pedro, beautiful Pedro. Have to go and see him on Monday to say goodbye and to give him his Hendrick´s gin which my father told me to buy for him. "It´s made in Scotland Sarah, it´s made in Scotland!" I never see Pedro because he works in a different department but I know him because he´s friends with my dad and organised the internship for me. It´s so funny when he comes up to our floor because every woman just sits there, mouth open and staring. He´s a very nice man - his nephew not so much, and ugh, his nephew is starting work here on Monday and says we have to "go for a coffee together" - all the girls in the office are teasing me.
7. Working in events. Got called down to one of the event rooms today, and expecting to be helping out, the event had finished and they were all just sitting there chatting with the left over food, which of course I pounced at. When your money situation is low, you take all the free food you can! This a fairly normal occurance.
8. The tower. So I work in a tower in the north of Madrid which has 50 floors and I am on floor 47. Takes so long every morning to get up there as the lift stops at practically every floor. It´s like the bloody metro. The view over Madrid is absolutely amazing though.
All in all, I´m really going to miss work. At times it has been super dull and there have been times when I´ve had shit all to do, but no, generally it has been a great experience and everyone on the team is so lovely. They are throwing me a farewell party next Thursday, starting off with dinner and then apparently going "loco" (As Mabel put it) with a night out afterwards. The last day of work is going to be emosh, especially on a hang.
Friday 30 May 2014
Monday 26 May 2014
DAY 220: ¡Como no te voy a querer..! ¡Hala Madrid!
For those of you who have the delight of having me on snapchat, you will know that I was very much "going hard" this weekend. Yes, it was the Champions League final of Real Madrid v. Atletico Madrid, and Madrid....was wild.
I´ll start off with Friday night though as I went off to one of my favourite clubs, Kapital, which is one of the biggest in Europe with 7 floors. Hosting the pre-drinks yet again, because I am lets face it an oh so a fabulous host, I decided to use up any left over alcohol from previous pre-drinks by making a sangria. This consisted of a big red bucket filled with 3 bottles of wine, a bottle of gin, a third of a bottle of vodka, fanta lemon, lemon concentrate and chopped up fruit. Very, very lethal...but very very yummy. The Spanish certainly know what makes up a good drink. Anyway, fair to say it went down a storm. Miss Neighbour Next Door was once again not happy, as she banged on the walls on several occasions, but as per usual, we ignored her, only ever silencing ourselves for like 30 seconds after she had banged. That woman will be glad to see me go next week! So after pre-drinks, of everyone being fascinated by a very lively Lorena who had been drinking since the early hours, and of course a little bit of dancing to the Spice Girls, we headed out to "Kapi" to bust some moves. The night was mainly spent on floor número 4, the reggaeton floor, grinding it up on Spanish men and trying to bag ourselves free drinks. There, we came across a man who claimed he was the footballer Marcelo´s bro, and after not believing him at first, he pretty much proved us wrong with lots of photos with Marcelo on his phone and the fact that they really did look very very alike. It was at that point I then decided to head up to the smoking area on the 7th floor where I was continuously hit on by one very persistant Spanish man who would just not leave me alone. He told me that going home with him would be "the night of my life" and that I have "never experienced good sex until I had been with him". I beg to differ, love. After then telling him that I was not going to go home with him, he then, proper gentleman and all, invited me to the bathroom so he could "show me his huge penis". I declined the offer. That wasn´t the only compliment that night I got though, as as I complemented Emily´s friend, Vanessa, on her outfit, she goes to me "What? Are you serious? I just wish I could dance like you!"....I think she was joking....me stumbling around taking selfies is not what I would qualify as being a good dancer. But hey, thanks anyway.
Now I must talk about the football. Have I ever been excited about football? No. But how can you not be when THIS match is going on in the very city you are living in. As I said earlier, Madrid, was crazy. I met up with Sanderson, a huge huge football and Real Madrid fanatic to go and find a bar to watch the match in. Now, thinking we were being clever, we thought we would go nearly 3 hours before the match in order to get seats, and just start drinking early. We weren´t clever though as everyone else had exactly the same idea and trust me, every single bar was filled to the brim. It was then at this point we decided to walk back to mine, go to the corner shop to get LOTS of booze and watch it mine. Emma then came round to join us and then Andrew and his friend Beth after telling him he could only come round if brought us food. Which he did, the sweetie. I´ll put it out there, I didn´t think the first half of the match was very good, and I was pretty sure that Atletico were going to win after that first goal. ¡Vamos Real! You could hear the guy in the flat opposite me lighting some sort of fireworks from his balcony and we knew that as soon as we headed outside, everyone was going to be getting "mad wit it" - I do live right next to San Bernebeu after all...! My mother, meanwhile, was texting me from a bar with my Dad, cheering about the fact that she could stay in the bar for another half an hour, and therefore she would buy herself "yet another strawberry daquiri"...oh Mum. We decided to stay in the flat for a while before heading out to the madness and when we eventually left, we stopped back at the corner shop and I have never seen that place so full or crazy. Normally it´s just me in there buying my diet coke and cigarettes, but this time, oh my god, there were like 50 people all screaming and so much stuff was being stolen. All the alochol was gone and so was basically all the food. It was then time to head down to Cibeles. Now the saying goes that when Real Madrid win everyone goes to this area, Cibeles, and if Atletico win, to a place called Neptuno. Police were absolutely everywhere, and as we got to centre, there was the biggest crowd (thousands and thousands of people) - I don´t think I´ve ever been so squished. It was madness. There were fire crackers, flames, beer everywhere and of course so much chanting. "COMO NO TE VOY A QUERER...." "ASÍN REAL MADRID! ASÍN! ASÍN"....."HALA MADRID".....I was so into it....as my snapchat lovers should know. The plan was to wait there whilst the team flew back from Lisbon to Madrid. They would arrive back and come to Cibeles, at about 2am...what was planned. But no, they didn´t end up arriving until 6am and we had long gone before then, apart from Sanderson, who stayed by herself, in that shambles of a crowd, until the very end. I have never seen her so passionate about something. I don´t think ever seen any fan that passionate about football.....and I have two older brothers.....Hearts season ticket holders and all.....GO THE JAMBOS!. Somehow, I didn´t end up getting home til after 5am though.
I met up with Emma on Sunday for lunch and we sat in a cool "urban playground/plaza", eating tostadas and watching live Spanish music. It was great and so "hipster". Again, the atmosphere was buzzing. After then a little siesta at Emma´s pad, we met up with Sarah again for some more Real Madrid madness in the Puerta del Sol, where at 8.30pm the team would arrive and show off the cup. Was pretty cool, was pretty cool. Another huge crowd and another lot of chanting. As Sarah then stayed on afterwards for some beers with some other friends, I decided, sensibly, to go home. I had lasted on about 6 hours sleep the entire weekend and my bed was very much needed. Avoiding the metro, as my line goes to Bernebeu, where the team where then heading, I walked back, and my bed was so comfortable. I did not want to leave it this morning.
So here I am, second last Monday of work....not really doing any work. Coffee in my hand, pencil skirt on, tired as fuck and smiling about my fantastic weekend. Madrid I love you. ¡Hala Madrid!
I´ll start off with Friday night though as I went off to one of my favourite clubs, Kapital, which is one of the biggest in Europe with 7 floors. Hosting the pre-drinks yet again, because I am lets face it an oh so a fabulous host, I decided to use up any left over alcohol from previous pre-drinks by making a sangria. This consisted of a big red bucket filled with 3 bottles of wine, a bottle of gin, a third of a bottle of vodka, fanta lemon, lemon concentrate and chopped up fruit. Very, very lethal...but very very yummy. The Spanish certainly know what makes up a good drink. Anyway, fair to say it went down a storm. Miss Neighbour Next Door was once again not happy, as she banged on the walls on several occasions, but as per usual, we ignored her, only ever silencing ourselves for like 30 seconds after she had banged. That woman will be glad to see me go next week! So after pre-drinks, of everyone being fascinated by a very lively Lorena who had been drinking since the early hours, and of course a little bit of dancing to the Spice Girls, we headed out to "Kapi" to bust some moves. The night was mainly spent on floor número 4, the reggaeton floor, grinding it up on Spanish men and trying to bag ourselves free drinks. There, we came across a man who claimed he was the footballer Marcelo´s bro, and after not believing him at first, he pretty much proved us wrong with lots of photos with Marcelo on his phone and the fact that they really did look very very alike. It was at that point I then decided to head up to the smoking area on the 7th floor where I was continuously hit on by one very persistant Spanish man who would just not leave me alone. He told me that going home with him would be "the night of my life" and that I have "never experienced good sex until I had been with him". I beg to differ, love. After then telling him that I was not going to go home with him, he then, proper gentleman and all, invited me to the bathroom so he could "show me his huge penis". I declined the offer. That wasn´t the only compliment that night I got though, as as I complemented Emily´s friend, Vanessa, on her outfit, she goes to me "What? Are you serious? I just wish I could dance like you!"....I think she was joking....me stumbling around taking selfies is not what I would qualify as being a good dancer. But hey, thanks anyway.
Now I must talk about the football. Have I ever been excited about football? No. But how can you not be when THIS match is going on in the very city you are living in. As I said earlier, Madrid, was crazy. I met up with Sanderson, a huge huge football and Real Madrid fanatic to go and find a bar to watch the match in. Now, thinking we were being clever, we thought we would go nearly 3 hours before the match in order to get seats, and just start drinking early. We weren´t clever though as everyone else had exactly the same idea and trust me, every single bar was filled to the brim. It was then at this point we decided to walk back to mine, go to the corner shop to get LOTS of booze and watch it mine. Emma then came round to join us and then Andrew and his friend Beth after telling him he could only come round if brought us food. Which he did, the sweetie. I´ll put it out there, I didn´t think the first half of the match was very good, and I was pretty sure that Atletico were going to win after that first goal. ¡Vamos Real! You could hear the guy in the flat opposite me lighting some sort of fireworks from his balcony and we knew that as soon as we headed outside, everyone was going to be getting "mad wit it" - I do live right next to San Bernebeu after all...! My mother, meanwhile, was texting me from a bar with my Dad, cheering about the fact that she could stay in the bar for another half an hour, and therefore she would buy herself "yet another strawberry daquiri"...oh Mum. We decided to stay in the flat for a while before heading out to the madness and when we eventually left, we stopped back at the corner shop and I have never seen that place so full or crazy. Normally it´s just me in there buying my diet coke and cigarettes, but this time, oh my god, there were like 50 people all screaming and so much stuff was being stolen. All the alochol was gone and so was basically all the food. It was then time to head down to Cibeles. Now the saying goes that when Real Madrid win everyone goes to this area, Cibeles, and if Atletico win, to a place called Neptuno. Police were absolutely everywhere, and as we got to centre, there was the biggest crowd (thousands and thousands of people) - I don´t think I´ve ever been so squished. It was madness. There were fire crackers, flames, beer everywhere and of course so much chanting. "COMO NO TE VOY A QUERER...." "ASÍN REAL MADRID! ASÍN! ASÍN"....."HALA MADRID".....I was so into it....as my snapchat lovers should know. The plan was to wait there whilst the team flew back from Lisbon to Madrid. They would arrive back and come to Cibeles, at about 2am...what was planned. But no, they didn´t end up arriving until 6am and we had long gone before then, apart from Sanderson, who stayed by herself, in that shambles of a crowd, until the very end. I have never seen her so passionate about something. I don´t think ever seen any fan that passionate about football.....and I have two older brothers.....Hearts season ticket holders and all.....GO THE JAMBOS!. Somehow, I didn´t end up getting home til after 5am though.
I met up with Emma on Sunday for lunch and we sat in a cool "urban playground/plaza", eating tostadas and watching live Spanish music. It was great and so "hipster". Again, the atmosphere was buzzing. After then a little siesta at Emma´s pad, we met up with Sarah again for some more Real Madrid madness in the Puerta del Sol, where at 8.30pm the team would arrive and show off the cup. Was pretty cool, was pretty cool. Another huge crowd and another lot of chanting. As Sarah then stayed on afterwards for some beers with some other friends, I decided, sensibly, to go home. I had lasted on about 6 hours sleep the entire weekend and my bed was very much needed. Avoiding the metro, as my line goes to Bernebeu, where the team where then heading, I walked back, and my bed was so comfortable. I did not want to leave it this morning.
So here I am, second last Monday of work....not really doing any work. Coffee in my hand, pencil skirt on, tired as fuck and smiling about my fantastic weekend. Madrid I love you. ¡Hala Madrid!
Monday 19 May 2014
DAY 213: Me meaban los perros
The past couple of weeks have been fairly "normal" ones in Madrid. We had a bank holiday, yet again, on Thursday, so I was out for drinks on Wednesday night with a few friends....aiming to get the last metro home at 1.30am but instead arriving home 4.30am....my bank holiday was spent in bed watching Harry Potter. Last Friday it was Emma´s birthday, a big flat party eventually shut down after a neighbour called the police followed by a night out at Ocho y Medio Club...which if I´m honest is all a bit of blur, but apparently I was being very "loving" which I guess is better than my classic angry Sarah drunkeness. This most recent friday we went to Shoko but bailed quite early due to the lack of good music. When I say early, I mean 4.30am....this is Spain after all. On Saturday I went to Alcala and watched "Tangled" with Liz and Leo for I think the third time this month....such a loser....but such a great film...and then yesterday I met up with my friend, Emily, from Germany, who has just arrived in Madrid for univeristy after doing her Erasmus year in Paris. We drank A LOT of sangria...the jug seemed to be bottomless...and then chilled in the Retiro park with Liz and Lorena, where I happily indulged in an afternoon tipsy siesta on the grass in the sunshine. That was soon followed by yet more booze with a couple of beers with some good old chat about babies, Spanish tendencies, food, men and my now favourite Spanish phrase "me meaban los perros"......"I was so drunk, dogs were pissing on me"....aka "I passed out".
Work has been fairly busy and I think I will be really sad when I leave it....depite some things driving me crazy, Mabel, as always, is such a sweetie, firstly organising a going away dinner for me, and secondly, after just spending the weekend in Ireland this weekend, where she met up with Niall Horan´s parents (family friends yanno...), asking them to get Niall to send me some One Direction stuff....hahaha, such a babe. I must also note that now into her summer wardrobe she is looking even more stunning. She walked in last week in this outfit that someone like Nicole Scherzinger would wear, hair done perfectly wavy, pretty make-up and killer heels....she looked like a blooming supermodel. No surprises when later that week, she told me that I was looking really nice and I blushed bright red thinking "omg the supermodel is saying that!" I actually feel as though I´m becoming more arrogant with my looks whilst I´m here though what with men always shouting "guapa" at me down the street. Not that I approve of this, and knowing that the men here only do it because of my pale skin and light hair and the fact that all Spanish men are complete sleazes....but still....when I walk down the road or into a club in Newcastle, lets be honest...I am not going to get that sort of attention!
Liz was asking me the other day if I am going to miss my wee apartment here. I guess there are kind of mixed feelings in regards to that. There are downsides to living alone definitely, you do get loney and you really always have to make an effort with people to keep your social life up. I´m also just a massive mahoosive over-thinker, so spending all that time alone can make your mind go a bit mad and fill up the ash tray with hundreds of cigarette butts! On the plus side, there is so much freedom, when I´m hungover I don´t have to talk to anyone (not the most sociable hungover person here....in fact...I generally just dislike people when I´m hungover...), I can eat when I want, sleep when I want, ignore tidying up for a while and of course the best part...NAKED TIME! I would say I spend 90% of the time in my flat naked....I´m even sleeping naked now, which before I ALWAYS had to have my jammies on lol. The only downside to being naked is the cooking part....oil splutters are not the funnest on bare skin!
Finally, although I´ve never been the biggest football fan ever.....of course the excitement of Atletico winning this weekend was great fun....town was filled with people in their Atletico strips all weekend and every single madrileño was in a good mood. ¡Viva Madrid!
Work has been fairly busy and I think I will be really sad when I leave it....depite some things driving me crazy, Mabel, as always, is such a sweetie, firstly organising a going away dinner for me, and secondly, after just spending the weekend in Ireland this weekend, where she met up with Niall Horan´s parents (family friends yanno...), asking them to get Niall to send me some One Direction stuff....hahaha, such a babe. I must also note that now into her summer wardrobe she is looking even more stunning. She walked in last week in this outfit that someone like Nicole Scherzinger would wear, hair done perfectly wavy, pretty make-up and killer heels....she looked like a blooming supermodel. No surprises when later that week, she told me that I was looking really nice and I blushed bright red thinking "omg the supermodel is saying that!" I actually feel as though I´m becoming more arrogant with my looks whilst I´m here though what with men always shouting "guapa" at me down the street. Not that I approve of this, and knowing that the men here only do it because of my pale skin and light hair and the fact that all Spanish men are complete sleazes....but still....when I walk down the road or into a club in Newcastle, lets be honest...I am not going to get that sort of attention!
Liz was asking me the other day if I am going to miss my wee apartment here. I guess there are kind of mixed feelings in regards to that. There are downsides to living alone definitely, you do get loney and you really always have to make an effort with people to keep your social life up. I´m also just a massive mahoosive over-thinker, so spending all that time alone can make your mind go a bit mad and fill up the ash tray with hundreds of cigarette butts! On the plus side, there is so much freedom, when I´m hungover I don´t have to talk to anyone (not the most sociable hungover person here....in fact...I generally just dislike people when I´m hungover...), I can eat when I want, sleep when I want, ignore tidying up for a while and of course the best part...NAKED TIME! I would say I spend 90% of the time in my flat naked....I´m even sleeping naked now, which before I ALWAYS had to have my jammies on lol. The only downside to being naked is the cooking part....oil splutters are not the funnest on bare skin!
Finally, although I´ve never been the biggest football fan ever.....of course the excitement of Atletico winning this weekend was great fun....town was filled with people in their Atletico strips all weekend and every single madrileño was in a good mood. ¡Viva Madrid!
Thursday 8 May 2014
DAY 212: El reencuentro ecuatoriano
After my wee break in Barcelona I had some visitors come to Madrid - Graeme and Elaine who I spent my "gap yah" with in Ecuador. They weren´t staying with me, to their own benefit of not having to deal with my unwashed dishes, stench from the shower drain and general mess, and despite me having to go to work in the mornings, it was so great to see them in the afternoons.
On Monday, after a reasonably busy day of work and a fair amount of sweating in my tight pencil skirt, which I really shouldn´t be wearing in this weather, I headed off to meet the others for some chill time in the Retiro Park...truly one of my favourite places in the world. Now, seeing as we don´t have a beach here in Madrid, this is where people go to tan and so to Matt´s delight (Graeme´s friend), I found a nice wee patch with lots of practically naked women. After that, I took them to another great place, the Círculo de las Bellas Artes, which has a rooftop bar overlooking Madrid. It´s so lovely, and although expensive, is really worth it. We indulged in some cava, whilst Graeme kept saying to me "you have such a great life here Sarah" and although I guess I do, I had to remind him, that drinking cava on a rooftop bar in the sun isn´t actually part of my daily life here.....maybe for someone from Made In Chelsea though! The next stop was to my favourite restaurant in Plaza Santa Ana, Tartufo, where I have been far too many times, showing the others the Spanish way of ordering lots of tapas and gorging on sides of jamón and manchego cheese. I felt bad not going out with them after the meal, of which the last hour consisted of taking each other´s phones and messaging people on Tinder, but Graeme had a wee "date" planned anyway and Andrew, who came along with us, took Matt out for a few drinks after too... it was sleepy time for me though as I´ve started trying to be "sensible" during weekdays....hmmm....
Drama happened on Tuesday, the crack of the screen of my beautiful iphone causing it to completely not light up at all. I´m a phone addict so this was just not an acceptable occurance, and it especially did not help for later on when I was meant to be meeting the others. However, all got fabby, I was recommended a phone repair shop in town, and left my poor baby there all beaten up, to be collected later all fabulous and new. Anyway, I was meeting the others (and Lucy) to go to the Madrid Open (ATP World Tour) and it was so much fun. They had got there earlier whilst I was at work and then Lucy and I joined them about 4pm just in time for the brilliant Ferrer/Ramos match. Ferrer won, much to what seemed the crowd´s delight, as even though they are both Spanish, Ramos is Catalan...oooh. The others really enjoyed it and it was their first time watching live professional tennis so I was really glad I got us tickets. And my mum, the tennis addict, was very jealous. Elaine then had to rush off for her flight and Lucy off on a date (people are getting lucky this week ;) ) and so Graeme, Matt and I then went off for yet another meal out, before again, I called it a day.
I feel like I´ve had a non-stop couple of weeks what with Izzy coming, then being ill, then going to Barcelona and then having the Ecuador lot here, but I can´t really complain...it´s not a bad life! Knackered yesterday, I had a big siesta and avoided once again any cleaning, and today I finished my uni essay, finally (nothing else to do at work)...so I´m a pretty happy bunny. Emma´s birthday night out this weekend with perhaps another wee trip to the Retiro but apart from that, not much else to do but enjoy my last 4 weeks!
On Monday, after a reasonably busy day of work and a fair amount of sweating in my tight pencil skirt, which I really shouldn´t be wearing in this weather, I headed off to meet the others for some chill time in the Retiro Park...truly one of my favourite places in the world. Now, seeing as we don´t have a beach here in Madrid, this is where people go to tan and so to Matt´s delight (Graeme´s friend), I found a nice wee patch with lots of practically naked women. After that, I took them to another great place, the Círculo de las Bellas Artes, which has a rooftop bar overlooking Madrid. It´s so lovely, and although expensive, is really worth it. We indulged in some cava, whilst Graeme kept saying to me "you have such a great life here Sarah" and although I guess I do, I had to remind him, that drinking cava on a rooftop bar in the sun isn´t actually part of my daily life here.....maybe for someone from Made In Chelsea though! The next stop was to my favourite restaurant in Plaza Santa Ana, Tartufo, where I have been far too many times, showing the others the Spanish way of ordering lots of tapas and gorging on sides of jamón and manchego cheese. I felt bad not going out with them after the meal, of which the last hour consisted of taking each other´s phones and messaging people on Tinder, but Graeme had a wee "date" planned anyway and Andrew, who came along with us, took Matt out for a few drinks after too... it was sleepy time for me though as I´ve started trying to be "sensible" during weekdays....hmmm....
Drama happened on Tuesday, the crack of the screen of my beautiful iphone causing it to completely not light up at all. I´m a phone addict so this was just not an acceptable occurance, and it especially did not help for later on when I was meant to be meeting the others. However, all got fabby, I was recommended a phone repair shop in town, and left my poor baby there all beaten up, to be collected later all fabulous and new. Anyway, I was meeting the others (and Lucy) to go to the Madrid Open (ATP World Tour) and it was so much fun. They had got there earlier whilst I was at work and then Lucy and I joined them about 4pm just in time for the brilliant Ferrer/Ramos match. Ferrer won, much to what seemed the crowd´s delight, as even though they are both Spanish, Ramos is Catalan...oooh. The others really enjoyed it and it was their first time watching live professional tennis so I was really glad I got us tickets. And my mum, the tennis addict, was very jealous. Elaine then had to rush off for her flight and Lucy off on a date (people are getting lucky this week ;) ) and so Graeme, Matt and I then went off for yet another meal out, before again, I called it a day.
I feel like I´ve had a non-stop couple of weeks what with Izzy coming, then being ill, then going to Barcelona and then having the Ecuador lot here, but I can´t really complain...it´s not a bad life! Knackered yesterday, I had a big siesta and avoided once again any cleaning, and today I finished my uni essay, finally (nothing else to do at work)...so I´m a pretty happy bunny. Emma´s birthday night out this weekend with perhaps another wee trip to the Retiro but apart from that, not much else to do but enjoy my last 4 weeks!
Monday 5 May 2014
DAY 219: Barcelona
Spain is keen on their bank holidays, or "puentes" as they call them here, so after only being back for four days of work, last week we had 3 days, or in my case, due to being ill one of them, 2. The plan had originally been to go to La Rioja with Liz, but with a lack of funds, Liz unfortunately had to bail and so I was left to decide what to do. Taking my mother´s advice, I spontaneously booked flights to Barcelona for 4 nights, as not only is it a great place to visit but I have a few friends from uni who live there. Unfortunately, about an hour after I had booked it though, I fell ill. I had a fever and a headache, was being sick and generally felt like I couldn´t move, once again, this is just a classic case of dehydration for me, but after then missing work the next morning and sleeping til about 3pm, I was fine to head to Barcelona Wednesday night.
Now I´ve never come across this before, but apparently airlines can overbook their seats?! How, is beyond me, as surely with technology these days stuff like that shouldn´t happen. However, I arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and when I went to check in they told me that my seat was on standby and that I might not be able to get on the plane. What the fuck? I was incredibly angry, and so storming through to the gate, I waited for everyone to board before they told me if I could get on or not. Luckily....I could, with the slight inconvenience of them then checking in my bag and a hefty 45 minute wait to get it back when arrived in Barcelona. However, there was Hannah waiting, all hugs and kisses, and as we hadn´t seen each other in months, there was a lot to catch up on. Once into the centre of town, we then headed to a restaurant, each buying a delicious steak, and of course, being in Spain, we were eating them at midnight!
Thursday was beach day and as my pale-skinned, heat.suffering, Scottish self, I felt I should be prepared, so I lathered on the factor 30 and bought about 4 bottles of water (which wasn´t even enough). Of course though, being me, my back went the colour of a lobster, and whilst everyone panicked and thought this was horrendous, I sadly just had to admit that I was "used to it"...sore skin from sunburn is now something, that especially living in Spain, I have become accostomed to. The beach was packed but very beautiful, and at about 6pm, Hannah and I decided to take ourselves off for a big jug of sangria....it´s a tough life.
Now, if there is one thing that Madrid needs more of, it´s brunch places. There are several in Barcelona and they are so so cute and so so yummy. On Friday "brunch-time", I had a beautiful quinoa salad (my new favourite word as I don´t really know how to pronounce it) and Becky had these amazing pancakes which I´m sure I would have just inhaled if I had ordered them. It was such a cute wee cafe and served everything from donuts to cakes to salads to sandwiches to eggs benedict on waffles. Our next stop was Barcelona´s famous cathedral, La Sagrada Familia, and wow, it is impressive. First of all, it´s huge, and secondly, the sculpturing and artwork of it is just so intricate and beautiful. Every single part of it is so detailed. I didn´t actually go inside, cba with the queue, but it was lovely to see anyhow, of course with a few sneaky tourist snaps. Hannah and Becky then dropped me off at Izzy´s flat, who amazingly lives right next to it, and we chilled on her balcony in the sun with some good old cups of tea.....where of course, I burned even more.
That night, the four of us, plus 3 of Izzy´s friends, went to a really good tapas restaurant called La Tosca. Really good food for a really good price, and on top of that, very very cheap cocktails. I lost my Amaretto Sourz viginity (twice) and also indulged in a very strong caiprinha and some bitter lemon thing. It was fair to say that by the end of the night, we were all feeling a little bit "tipsy"...and then there was Izzy...pissed, with her classic sleepy drunken eyes on, and stripping off in the living room when we got home :P (Sorry Izzy, just thought I would mention that). However, being a morning person, she was up bright and early Saturday morning all dandy and chipper, whilst I reached for the bucket full of water and begged for some ibuprofen.
Saying that, it wasn´t long before I was sipping on the booze again as it was time to meet Vicky and we hadn´t seen each other in a long loooong time. Like our regular nights in Newcastle together, where we went to either Bar Berlise or Bar Ru on our favourite Ozzy Road, we ordered some nachos and potato skins with a mixture of cocktails, of which was mostly persuaded by our very friendly waiter. After that, now verging on obese, we went off to Parc Guell which is a park showing Gaudi´s main pieces of work through mozaics and beautiful buildings. Unfortunately, the wait to get into the actual "Guadi bit" was far too long, so instead we just walked around the open park space, but it was still lovely and the view of Barcelona was beaut. That night, we met up with Izzy to go and see the "magic fountains" and I have to say that this was probably my highlight. It probably sounds corny, but I´ve never seen fountains like it before. They changed colours, changed effects and music was playing alongside the "show". We also got soaked whilst at it, trying to take one of our many selfies with it in the background. Anyhow, it was a really good way to end a great day.
Cultural time for Sarah on Sunday and a trip to Barcelona´s big museum, the MNAC, which I kept accidentally calling the MCAT, causing the others to think that I was now into all that mcat jazz. I don´t think Vicky even noticed when I told her that we are going to the MCAT, it´s an easy mistake to make! It was cool, and definitely very different from the Prado in Madrid, with less portraits and less paintings of Christ. There was also a cool terrace on top of it, which again was great for a few cheeky snaps. Unfortunately that morning, we had also tried to go to this big food market, which from what I´ve seen pictures of is pick n mix heaven (my favourite thing everrrr), but it was closed for the puente darn it. On our way there we also encountered a grotesque old man who stopped in front of me and oggled at my (not even on display) boobs whilst moving his tongue around his mouth and making horrible sounds. Grim. Once again, I HATE Spanish men. We then joined Hannah and Becky for lunch in a sushi restaurant, right beside Barcelona´s Arc de Triomf. Izzy had kept mentioning this arc, and I was getting so confused thinking, I sweaaaar that is meant to be in Paris, but turns out, it´s just another wee one.
I was really sad leaving on Sunday evening because I had had so much fun and Barcelona is just so cool....I might even prefer it to Madrid (!!!) ...did I just say that?! The city has so much character and there was so much to do. I struggled with the heat, of course, but that´s nothing new, and I think also there were a lot more toursits than there are in Madrid. But no, great few days and I´m glad I did it before I leave in a few weeks time!
Now I´ve never come across this before, but apparently airlines can overbook their seats?! How, is beyond me, as surely with technology these days stuff like that shouldn´t happen. However, I arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and when I went to check in they told me that my seat was on standby and that I might not be able to get on the plane. What the fuck? I was incredibly angry, and so storming through to the gate, I waited for everyone to board before they told me if I could get on or not. Luckily....I could, with the slight inconvenience of them then checking in my bag and a hefty 45 minute wait to get it back when arrived in Barcelona. However, there was Hannah waiting, all hugs and kisses, and as we hadn´t seen each other in months, there was a lot to catch up on. Once into the centre of town, we then headed to a restaurant, each buying a delicious steak, and of course, being in Spain, we were eating them at midnight!
Thursday was beach day and as my pale-skinned, heat.suffering, Scottish self, I felt I should be prepared, so I lathered on the factor 30 and bought about 4 bottles of water (which wasn´t even enough). Of course though, being me, my back went the colour of a lobster, and whilst everyone panicked and thought this was horrendous, I sadly just had to admit that I was "used to it"...sore skin from sunburn is now something, that especially living in Spain, I have become accostomed to. The beach was packed but very beautiful, and at about 6pm, Hannah and I decided to take ourselves off for a big jug of sangria....it´s a tough life.
Now, if there is one thing that Madrid needs more of, it´s brunch places. There are several in Barcelona and they are so so cute and so so yummy. On Friday "brunch-time", I had a beautiful quinoa salad (my new favourite word as I don´t really know how to pronounce it) and Becky had these amazing pancakes which I´m sure I would have just inhaled if I had ordered them. It was such a cute wee cafe and served everything from donuts to cakes to salads to sandwiches to eggs benedict on waffles. Our next stop was Barcelona´s famous cathedral, La Sagrada Familia, and wow, it is impressive. First of all, it´s huge, and secondly, the sculpturing and artwork of it is just so intricate and beautiful. Every single part of it is so detailed. I didn´t actually go inside, cba with the queue, but it was lovely to see anyhow, of course with a few sneaky tourist snaps. Hannah and Becky then dropped me off at Izzy´s flat, who amazingly lives right next to it, and we chilled on her balcony in the sun with some good old cups of tea.....where of course, I burned even more.
That night, the four of us, plus 3 of Izzy´s friends, went to a really good tapas restaurant called La Tosca. Really good food for a really good price, and on top of that, very very cheap cocktails. I lost my Amaretto Sourz viginity (twice) and also indulged in a very strong caiprinha and some bitter lemon thing. It was fair to say that by the end of the night, we were all feeling a little bit "tipsy"...and then there was Izzy...pissed, with her classic sleepy drunken eyes on, and stripping off in the living room when we got home :P (Sorry Izzy, just thought I would mention that). However, being a morning person, she was up bright and early Saturday morning all dandy and chipper, whilst I reached for the bucket full of water and begged for some ibuprofen.
Saying that, it wasn´t long before I was sipping on the booze again as it was time to meet Vicky and we hadn´t seen each other in a long loooong time. Like our regular nights in Newcastle together, where we went to either Bar Berlise or Bar Ru on our favourite Ozzy Road, we ordered some nachos and potato skins with a mixture of cocktails, of which was mostly persuaded by our very friendly waiter. After that, now verging on obese, we went off to Parc Guell which is a park showing Gaudi´s main pieces of work through mozaics and beautiful buildings. Unfortunately, the wait to get into the actual "Guadi bit" was far too long, so instead we just walked around the open park space, but it was still lovely and the view of Barcelona was beaut. That night, we met up with Izzy to go and see the "magic fountains" and I have to say that this was probably my highlight. It probably sounds corny, but I´ve never seen fountains like it before. They changed colours, changed effects and music was playing alongside the "show". We also got soaked whilst at it, trying to take one of our many selfies with it in the background. Anyhow, it was a really good way to end a great day.
Cultural time for Sarah on Sunday and a trip to Barcelona´s big museum, the MNAC, which I kept accidentally calling the MCAT, causing the others to think that I was now into all that mcat jazz. I don´t think Vicky even noticed when I told her that we are going to the MCAT, it´s an easy mistake to make! It was cool, and definitely very different from the Prado in Madrid, with less portraits and less paintings of Christ. There was also a cool terrace on top of it, which again was great for a few cheeky snaps. Unfortunately that morning, we had also tried to go to this big food market, which from what I´ve seen pictures of is pick n mix heaven (my favourite thing everrrr), but it was closed for the puente darn it. On our way there we also encountered a grotesque old man who stopped in front of me and oggled at my (not even on display) boobs whilst moving his tongue around his mouth and making horrible sounds. Grim. Once again, I HATE Spanish men. We then joined Hannah and Becky for lunch in a sushi restaurant, right beside Barcelona´s Arc de Triomf. Izzy had kept mentioning this arc, and I was getting so confused thinking, I sweaaaar that is meant to be in Paris, but turns out, it´s just another wee one.
I was really sad leaving on Sunday evening because I had had so much fun and Barcelona is just so cool....I might even prefer it to Madrid (!!!) ...did I just say that?! The city has so much character and there was so much to do. I struggled with the heat, of course, but that´s nothing new, and I think also there were a lot more toursits than there are in Madrid. But no, great few days and I´m glad I did it before I leave in a few weeks time!
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