Road Trip!

Perhaps the most exciting adventure in a long time is tomorrow. Jolene and I are going to La Rioja Spain and we are driving there. It might not seem like a big deal at first since we have both embarked on numerous road trips in the USA. Between Jolene and I we have 16 years of driving experience, but the catch is between the two of us we also have only perhaps 20 hours ( a generous estimate) of driving a stick shift. It will be an interesting trip to say the least. Wish us luck on Thursday and Friday- we will be fine... I hope!

A most likely epic driving post will be coming soon.... Or at least a good story.

Me in Avila, Spain. Notice the short jacket!

My last day in Madrid is Friday night and then it's off to Barcelona to see family and then to London, where I ended up finding my own place to live via Gumtree, London's Craigslist equivalent. A story for another time, after I see how it unfolds Sunday evening!

Happy Easter! And Passover!

Spanish Fashion Report! and Short Update

Life Update:

Since Nick left and Jolene returned to work I really haven't done a lot of anything worth talking about. I feel like there is nothing new to see in Madrid that I haven't already seen. I would love to go shopping more, but I have no more room in my suitcases and it is kind of a waste of money, plus I want to be able to buy at least one currently "in-style" piece from every country that I visit.

The one piece of good news is that I have my passport back with my indian visa stamped in it! After the hassle and the commute I am very glad to have it in my hands. I feel life I can actually start planning and talking to my friend about what I would like to see and do with my time there. Apparently I am going to be in Calcutta in the height of summer, right before monsoon season.... should be interesting to say the least!

Jolene and I are planning a short overnight trip to La Rioja (the famous wine region) for semana santa and will hopefully go and visit Anguiano, Spain! Small problem- neither of us drive stick very well and you can pretty much only rent manual cars.... it will be an adventure!

I have also been fortunate enough to spend more time with actual Spanish people in Madrid. Courtesy of Jolene's boyfriend, Alby, we went to a spanish house party that was supposed to be pre-discoteca. We ended up staying until 4 am, hanging out and then a spontaneous dance party broke out- much like Boulder! I was forced (for my own good) to speak spanish a lot. I also met with an intercambio (someone who wants to trade their spanish skills for my english) yesterday and it is interesting to hear how people from Spain think. It seems like a lot of people are interested in the USA youth culture. I think I will keep doing intercambios in London to meet new people and practice spanish.

Now back to fashion.

Jolene and I discussed that we believe fashion trends are getting closer together in the US and abroad with the availability of the internet and global shipping. Nonetheless, there are a few things that stand out from home.

For Women- well people my age:

1. Drop-Crotch pants and jeans - yes this is a real term, look below for a photo
2. Jean skirts and shorts with black tights - wish I had brought mine
3. Long shirts and leggings
4. Long sweaters
5. Men's style button down shirts in blues - glad I stole one from Josh!
6. Skinny jeans are still in, but I have seen more boot cut
7. Slouchy jeans that are light wash and rolled up at the bottom
8. Short cropped jackets, especially with asymmetric lines
9. Northface fleece coat - taste of Colorado!
10. Scarfs
11. Ankle boots - suede and other colors
12. Converse shoes with skinny jeans - also didn't bring those
13. Over the knee suede boots in interesting colors
14. Not very much makeup, except heavy eyeliner
15. Heavy front hipster bangs - haha Jolene :)
16. Long wavy hair with short layers
17. Side- swept bangs

Drop-Crotch Pants

Now for the Men (young men):

Flashback to high school...

1. Abercrombie - especially t-shirts and long sleeved shirts
2. Gap sweaters - according to Jolene, I haven't seen them much
3. Polo shirts
4. Tighter than US jeans- they look soooo much better
5. Nice brown or black shoes
6. Leather jackets
7. Faux-hawk hair

I haven't really observed men's fashion that much, because I don't care as much....

Now if you are a woman over 60-

we call them Franco women, because that's the last time they bought clothes or changed style since that time:

1. Long coats to the knee- either fur or camel colored wool
2. Peinado (means hairstyle) - very short, blonde, always curled and done
3. Flesh-colored tights
4. Square - toed shoes
5. Gold blingy earings
6. Look on their face that they are annoyed, bothered by youth

For everyone in general- people wear very neutral and boring colors around here. The brightest thing I have seen is a red pea-coat. The best thing to wear to stand out - my very bright pink rain jacket! Seriously it's the brightest thing within ten miles!

I'm trying to post at least once a week, this one was a stretch.

Cafe Solo- I'm learning to like it!

Changes and Challenges

After a fabulous week with Nick and Jolene, Nick has just left for the airport! The past week was a whirlwind back into Madrid to show Nick everything he wanted to see. We did a lot during the 5 days that we had to tour- jetlag be damned! Throughout the week, palacios, alcazars, cathedrals and numerous parks were visited. A slight tension overshadowed, as Nick and I travel oppositely- I could care less if I see any museums, art or the inside of cathedrals, while Nick could (and did) spend hours carefully surveying every paint stroke and detail of paintings and architecture. Other than that difference we had fun taking walks, drinking wine/beer and enjoying the food.

We were lucky to have a Spanish guide this time- Jolene's boyfriend, Alberto aka Alby. With his help we learned to make tortilla española and found a great marketplace that on weekend nights has specialty shops that have wine, cheese, jamon, seafood, etc. All of which you can buy and then enjoy together with 100s of people you don't know in a table area with standing room only. Very delicious food!

I have also had the chance to shop again is Madrid. Every store in Colorado seems like walmart in comparison to the cornucopia of choices offered here. Things I looked for months in the US for I found within minutes. Shirts that are long enough to cover your butt with leggings, great layering pieces, cute cardigans and jackets. And they are all made for people my size- smaller built people. I have missed Spanish shopping. Why did I bring any clothes again?

Palacio Real with Nick, Jolene and I

Coming back to Madrid 2.5 years later has shown me how much a city can change and develop in such a short time. The construction is gone from Sol and thus the city center feels much more safe than it did in 2007 and definitely more safe than in 2003 where we watched 20 people get pick-pocketed! Some of the metro lines have been replaced with new cars and they seem to come more often, with the longest wait for a train less than six minutes and the llegar sign not changing to add more time. More people seem to speak english as well this time, I have many memories of when Lindsay (novia) and I would talk about people all the time in english with no notable flicker of the eyes that told us they knew what we were saying!

The changes make the city feel slightly easier to live in and I do not feel like I am constantly on guard for being pick-pocketed- now I'm on guard for someone hearing and understanding what I am saying!

There are several things that have not changed as well, and those feel like the most frustrating. Nothing is on time or specified exactly. Case in point, I had to go to the Indian Embassy- way on the opposite end of town twice! The website did not clearly state what the hours are for dropping off your visa, so I went after siesta and they "only do visas in the morning". Ugh. So on the third try of trying to submit my visa (the first being online in the USA) I finally dropped it off monday, with far less paperwork than required in the USA. I have faith that the third time is the charm, though I am hoping it gets done in a timely manner as semana santa is coming up and everything important will be closed in Madrid for a week! Very typical of Spain, very difficult for my american self to understand.

The other challenge has been the smoking and pollution. People are infatuated with cigarettes here and for me that means problems. I am ridiculously allergic to them, quite inconvenient I know. The past few days I have had the worst allergies since, well last time I was here. I forgot how bad it was and how bad I felt before losing my voice entirely. Thus I have found the chemical compound of my allergy medicine and will go to the farmacia to try and get some without a prescription. We'll see what happens... I think it depends on the day, when and where you go. Why can't they all just follow the same rules?!?

My suitcase broke today as well, so I will be off to buy a new one somewhere and then drag it home via the metro- an annoyance shared with any big city. At least it broke on a morning that I had no plane ride or place to travel!

I am sitting here after re-organizing my clothes for what feels like the millionth time and waiting until an hour when things are actually open for business (10-2, 5-9ish, nothing during siesta) and scared to go out because Jolene's door is impossible to open....

Wish me luck!

Mmmm homemade tortilla- how I missed you!

My Bags Are Packed

A few of my friends, mostly Emily, have urged me to write a blog about this next stage in my life, so here goes nothing!

In two days I am embarking on what is arguably the most exciting journey of my life thus far. I am going back to Madrid to visit one of my best friends, Jolene, for three weeks. I will then be heading to London to take a TEFL certification where I will become certified to teach english as a foreign language so that I can eventually go teach english in South America- Cartagena, Columbia is top on the list right now. But, before I actually "settle down" in one place to teach (pretty sure no one else, especially my mom, will call it settling down until I am back in the USA and married or something), I am going to travel to Israel to see my recently ex-boyfriend (due to living in different countries, not by lack of feelings) and best friend, Josh and head to India to see my friend Arush.

Seriously how could you not want to see all of it!

Travel is the most natural and inherent thing in the world to me. This traveling paradigm started three generations before me in my immediate family. I grew up listening to stories of my grandparent's recent vacations and plans for vacations. I'm pretty sure every time I saw or talked to them they were planning a new trip. The two of them traveled the world together and I look forward to emulating that! In fact, my great grandparents, the original globetrotters, went on several round the world cruises, the last one my great grandfather actually met his demise on (yep they have morgues on cruise ships).

The past few years have been spent planning the next trip and the next time I get to leave Colorado. I know that this has been a source of contention for me and past friends and family. It's not you all that I want to leave. I just feel so unsettled in Colorado and itching to travel the world while I am still young. It's not that I want to leave you, in fact, I would love to go everywhere with friends, but not many people have the same goals. Trust me it's equally hard for me to understand why someone doesn't want to see the world, as it is for people to understand why I feel like this is something that I need to do!

I feel like my whole life has been setting myself up slowly for travel. In school I studied two languages, spanish and french, so between those and english I have positioned myself very well to travel a lot of the world with much more ease. My goal in SA is to come home from Columbia fluent or close in spanish. I didn't know in 7th grade when I first stepped foot into french class that I was adding to my propensity to travel!

I have been so lucky in my life to be fortunate to travel to so many places at the young age of 24. As I was filling out an ill-fated first attempt to get an Indian visa, I had to list all of the countries I've visited in the last 10 years and it was quite the list:

1. Spain- where I lived and studied abroad for 4 months
2. France - 3 times
3. UK
4. Italy - twice
5. Greece
6. Germany - Oktoberfest!
7. Belgium
8. Monaco
9. The Netherlands
10. Czech Republic
11. New Zealand - volunteered and backpacked for four weeks
12. Australia
13. Mexico - a few times
14. Nicaragua - 2 medical mission trips
15. Peru - just got back last wednesday!

I have had some amazing adventures and met amazing people, many who I've lost contact with, but also made some lifelong friends, such as my novia, Lindsay!

This trip is different for me. Past trips I have either had a friend, relative or a program with a set plan to follow. This time I'm going alone, not by choice, but it is something that I feel so strongly about that I cannot sit back and wait any longer for someone who wants to travel with me. The struggles and successes that come with foreign countries will be mine alone to figure out this time.

As I sit in my room, stark, empty walls and bags packed- I'm excited more than anything. Excited to move into the next phase of my life and excited to meet new people. I have had some incredible travels mixed with complete and utter joy, disappointment, danger (both good and bad) and complete adventure. I've said my goodbyes and now I'm left with the anticipation and utter intoxication of excitement that always comes before a big adventure.

I've appropriately entitled this blog wanderlust as that is the only word that can describe this feeling that I cannot shake as I head out into the world without trepidation!

Next stop Madrid!

Most people would probably choose retiro or something, but tio pepe you spell madrid to me!