Madrid - Monday Feb. 23

The hostel said there would be a free walking tour of Madrid in the morning, but when we got to the meeting space the only people we found were other confused girls staying in our hostel. The seven of us decided to go take a tour of Palacio Real instead.

The Palace was impressive - ornate fabric wallpaper, silver and gold threaded tapestries, priceless works of art, etc. To be honest, it was so gaudy I thought it was ugly, and some of it gave me a headache. I'd say the Gala Dining Room was my favorite because it was grad but a little more subdued in color palette.

The best part of the self-guided tour came when we entered the room with the stradivarius violins. They are among the most famous and prized treasures in the Palacio Real. Casey mentioned off-hand that violins, even the most fragile and precious, need to be removed and played on occasion or else they will become ruined. At that exact moment a group of men, decked in protective suits and gloves, marched into the room, carrying with them cases for the violins. They ushered us out as quickly as they could. Apparently they were going to play them that very day!

After the Palacio we walked to a Museo del Jamon (Museum of Ham) to get a baguette and some cheese for lunch. I again had a chance to practice my Spanish when we ordered - I guessed at what cheese to buy, but it turned out really well. We made our way to Parque del Retiro, my other favorite place in Madrid (it's up there with el Prado). We ate in the park and then spent a few hours meandering around the grounds. The boat house as probably my favorite part. The building is grand, but what is really cool are the boats you can rent for 5 euro. They're nothing special - just a simple rowboat, but they looked like so much fun for a date, parents with children, or just with friends. We didn't get one, but such a wide variety of people use them! The weather was perfect for it - so warm and sunny. I was also really impressed by how such a large public space could be so well maintained.

Museo del Jamon!

We walked through the Crystal House in the park, which had some great, funky crystal art. Then we moved to a bunch of cherry trees where we had a siesta. The rose gardens were still pretty too, even though they're not in full bloom yet, and I really like the fountain of the "Fallen Angel." It's the only public statue dedicated to Lucifer in the world.
We spent a significant amount of time in Parque del Retiro, which I'm very glad for - it was time well spent. That night we decided to go out, and Amanda called her friend Joel who is studying in Madrid so he could meet up with us and possibly show us around the city a bit. He and his roommate Brandon brought us to a tapas place in Plaza Mayor that was good, but nothing special. We had some sangria and shared patatas ali-oli.

Next they took us to Dubliners. There are a ton of Irish pubs in Madrid. It was kind of funny to go to an Irish pub in Madrid - but I didn't think we'd stay there all night! We were in Spain - I wanted Spanish nightlife! We had a decent time there all in all, but afterwards things became difficult.

On the way back the guys took over leading the way. Jackie thought it was wrong, but they wouldn't listen to her and she didn't want to argue. Truth be told, I had no access to the map and don't have the best natural sense of direction, so I couldn't really argue either way. Eventually, though, things got uncomfortable as they led us into some rather sketchy parts of the city, and we all realized they had been wrong. Turns out they study outside of Madrid and don't know the city that well. They still wouldn't listen. They didn't speak the language well either. It was 2am, my limited knowledge of the language was all we had, and we were lost in a foreign city. The guys and Amanda wouldn't stop being loud or pulling out the map. Eventually we ran into a really nice Australian guy who led us back in the right direction.

Joel and Brandon ended up being huge jerks, and Amanda was all upset at Jackie for "emasculating" them. She could have cared less about the fact that our safety was in danger. Overall, Amanda was incredibly dumb and I don't think we'll be travelling together again. Still, her behavior was the only bad part of my spring break. I still would do that trip over again - it was fantastic otherwise. More later...

Madrid - Sunday Feb. 22

Downtown Madrid

We left Hotel Scandinavia in Venice early in the morning to catch the vaporetto to the bus station, so we could take a bus to the airport. The city was cold and foggy on our way out, giving it an eerie yet beautiful appearance. The flight to Madrid was uneventful. I was exhausted from Carnivale, which helped matters; we had only slept 3 hours.

Arriving in Madrid we took a cab to our hostel - Estudiantes Luis Velez de Guevera. The cab driver didn't speak any English. This was to be a common theme throughout our stay in Madrid. For such a large international city, very few speak English with some fluency. I was the only one in our group of four who had any background in Spanish. Although I'm really rusty, it proved incredibly helpful and at times necessary. I remembered enough to be able to converse about the weather in Spain as compared to Ireland and I was surprised at how much I could understand.

The hostel was a bit difficult to find, but definitely worth it. It was the least expensive place we stayed in total although we stayed the longest amount of time there (3 nights). It was probably the cleanest and most comfortable place we stayed too, in a great area of the city. I highly recommend it to any fellow travelers thinking of a trip to Madrid!

We had a big lunch nearby - patatas bravas and empinadas to start, and then paella. Our waiter spoke English, but refused, insisting that I test out my limited Spanish. He was an agreeable, funny character, and I think we were the day's entertainment.

In the evening we decided to go to the Prado, which is free on Sundays. I fell in love! I recognized dozens of the paintings and the stories behind them thanks to the CORE program at BU - The Naked Maja (Goya), Las Meninas (Velazquez), The Garden of Earthly Delights, The Triumph of Death, and tons of others. My favorite, though, was the collection of Goya's Black Paintings. The eyes in the figures are so incredibly simple, but haunting and crazed! Saturn Devouring His Son must be one of my favorite paintings of all time. It's definitely not for everyone, but there's no way to deny its power when you see it in person. I could have spent all day in the Prado, but we only had a few hours before it closed. I would go back to see more in a heartbeat - although I mapped out and saw all the key paintings I wanted to, we barely scratched the surface the place was so huge.

We were all tired but Amanda was hungry so we went to a tapas bar where I just ordered dessert. It ended up being something like flan in texture, which I wasn't expecting from the description on the menu. Gross, I really detest flan. After yelling at the guys harassing the women in our hostel (they stopped after I set them straight), I went to bed and fell asleep.

Street artists are everywhere in Madrid
I <3>

Plaza near our hotel

What???!

Not only do they work together, but Peggy and Martin are married! Did not notice that when we had lunch! Hahaha...sometimes I am such an idiot.

Today was such a good day at work. After getting a better idea of the project, I'm actually more excited about it now. There might even be a chance (but definitely no guarantee) that I could go to Brussels to the EIWH office and European Commission sometime this semester...how awesome would that be? I'm crossing my fingers.

Internship and the Bodhran

Before I continue with tales from my spring break adventures, I have to interrupt with some important updates from the last few days.

Yesterday I began my internship phase of the Dublin program. I'm working at the European Institute of Women's Health. I didn't stay a full day yesterday, but I did today. So far I have determined a couple of really positive aspects of the workplace and a few things that might bother me along the way. To start, the woman I work for, Peggy, is incredibly nice and welcoming. I'm hoping she'll be great to work for. She seems brilliant.

I'm super excited about the nature of the organization. It's an international non-governmental organization (NGO) that deals with issues of health equity. Basically, they examine (sometimes gather their own research) information related to health issues from a gendered perspective across European Union countries. They lobby to get key issues of health disparity on to the agenda of the EU. Peggy directly lobbies and works on various committees in Brussels. That's where the problem comes in for me - I'll be totally alone a good deal of the time while she travels. In fact, I'll be working from home (my DCU apartment) a few days a week. The other full time staff members of the EIWH work from around the world - Australia, U.S., and projects throughout Europe.

Working from home will be great - I'm able to provide myself structure, so I'm not too worried. It will cut out my commute (time and money). But it might get lonely!

Still, I'm excited. The project I'm going to start working on is a database, focusing on distributing women's health information to citizens of the EU. It's going to be repetitive grunt work, but in the end I really think it could be useful.

Peggy took me to lunch today at a super-Irish pub and I met Martin, the tech guy we'll be working with. He's a giant old Scottish man with a big beard. Truth be told, the BU program had me so worried about making a cultural faux pas regarding pub behavior that I could barely understand a word he was saying.

After getting out of work at 4pm I had class. My Tuesdays are extremely full! Instead of taking Irish Literature for my elective like I originally intended, I opted for The Arts in Ireland. It's made up of two components - Music and Theater. For the music section, we're learning to play the Bodhran! The Bodhran is an Irish drum, usually made from goat skin. It is played with a little wooden stick. I was so nervous; I have no musical talent. But like a lot of Irish culture, Irish music has been passed down orally. There is no formal method for reading and writing notes! I'm also already familiar with the basic tempos from Irish dance. Today we learned to play a basic hornpipe, reel, waltz, and jig, and even a few fancy moves like playing notes on the side and trebles. We each have our own Bodhran to take home and practice. I never get to take fun classes like this - it's so exciting!

More on Madrid and Granada to come soon...

Carnivale Day Two

Jackie and I slept in while Casey and Amanda went to check out some sites. We woke up and decided to get gelato for breakfast. The "cookies" flavor was awesome! Though it didn't match well with the strawberry (fraggola) - also good in its own right. We spent the rest of the morning shopping (window shopping really), before meeting back up with Amanda, Casey, Maya, Christine, and Luca. Luca took us to a counter-deli type place (cheap and a favorite of the locals)- and I got a sandwich with some prosciutto. Basically that's the meat of choice in that area of Italy. It comes in a variety of forms.

We wandered around the shops before getting some more gelato (cafe and stratiatella for me this time) at San Marco. The place was great and cheap - a shop on the corner of the square by the water. We ate by the water and the gondolas for a while, just hanging out and catching up. Luca's cousins Nico and Pirate Hat guy (I can't remember his name) joined us there. They seemed nice enough, but they couldn't speak a word of English, so sometimes it was a little awkward. Our conversations pretty much consisted of "I like to eat nutella and gelato." We hung out some more by the water, shopped, and checked out more sights in San Marco.

Christine, Me, and Maya

Our Venetian tour guides

Later at night, dressed for the celebrations, we went into the plaza by our hotel (Plaza del San Maria Formossa I think). There was an Italian band dressed in Elton John- style outfits, singing old and awkward American songs (think "Freak Out," "YMCA," etc.). But everyone was into it, so it was a wicked fun dance party!

We headed to Plaza del San Margarita to meet up with Christine, Maya, Luca, and his cousins. The only problem with that plan was that San Margarita was a while away through a maze of alleys, canals, and bridges. We had to go toward the Academy. On the way there we ended up in back of a band of clowns. As they played and marched through the streets a larger and larger group followed. They would stop periodically in plazas and everyone would dance. We spent a good deal of time following them before we realized we were getting further from our destination. Upon getting redirected, we headed to the Plaza to meet my friends. The crowd there was huge, but the music was terrible - a dj spinning boring, trippy music.

Leaving the plaza we followed a boombox which was attached to an amp attached to a car battery. Again, a huge group of Carnivale celebrators followed the contraption and it would stop in various plazas for people to dance. We danced the night away with people from around the world in the streets of Venice. Amazing! I was sad when we had to part from Maya and Christine, but we had such a good time all in all.

Casey, Jackie, Me, and Amanda

This time was such a different experience than the last time I was there. It was even more crowded than in the tourist season of summer, but it still had a great vibe. It is always, and was this time especially, a feast for the eyes. A feast for the senses may be a more accurate description. I love the colors and activity. It was such a blast, and I'm so glad I was able to do this with my friends.

Venice is one of those places I am in love with. I would never want to live there - the flooding and tourists make life so difficult. However, given the opportunity, I wouldn't mind visiting over and over again.

Carnivale in Venice! Day One

Hey everyone. I got back from my spring break late Friday night, and it was an absolute blast! Be prepared for a ton of pictures and stories. It might take me a little while to get them all up on this blog.

I'll start with last Friday. Jackie, Amanda, Casey, and I took a cab from DCU to the Dublin airport. The flight from Dublin to Venice only lasted a few hours and I managed to sleep, so it was fine (a big thank you to Penny and my mom for that). Flying over the alps again was fantastic, and this time we were a little lower over them because of the location of the airport.

We landed in Treviso (Jackie shouted "Where the Hell are we?" much to the amusement of the Italians behind us). It's a small town slightly outside of Venice, so we took a bus for a half hour to get to the edge of Venice. We skipped the water taxi and vaporetto and instead lugged our bags through the maze of bridges and alleyways to get to our hotel, Hotel Scandinavia. While it was hard to find at first it was actually in a great location between San Marco and the Rialto bridge. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was clean, comfortable, and inexpensive.

Waiting at the airport: Jackie, Me, and Amanda (left to right)

I couldn't believe I had the opportunity to go back to Venice so soon, and this time for Carnivale! Our hotel room had big shutter windows that opened directly onto a square, where there were celebrations at all hours. It was amazing!

Above: views from our hotel window

After settling in to our hotel we walked along the water by San Marco. I got my first gelato of the trip - cherry and chocolate. We then got our first good look at the most elaborate of the Carnivale costumes. The colors are so vibrant, and the designs incredibly varied! While I loved celebrating with the peons, I would have loved to dress up like that. Instead I wore the cheapest mask I could find, and probably had just as good a time. My favorite costumes were probably the traditionally Venetian ones with the full white masks, although some of the other period dresses were amazing as well.


In San Marco there were less pigeons than usual (although still plenty). The ground was covered in confetti, which children throw at you throughout the day. From the corner of the square a giant white balloon floated into the sky. Attached to it was an acrobat, who twisted, turned and flipped in time to the music. The balloon would float up and down over the crowds. We realized it was not being controlled by a machine, but by men running back and forth pulling wires and cords. It was one of the most bizarre and simultaneously beautiful performances I have ever seen.


We then met up with my friends from BU who are studying in nearby Padova - Maya and Christine. I'm so happy I got to see them! We split off for dinner (which was ok but not the best by Italian standards), and we met back up at San Marco later that night.

There was a drag show going on in the square that we watched for a bit. Wearing our masks, we hung out in the square before moving to a tiny bar filled with locals. Luca, a cousin of Maya and Christine's Italian host mom, brought us there. He's lived in Venice all his life and acted as our guide for the weekend. The bar opened on to a canal, and was in such a strange out-of-the-way location I could never hope to find it again in a lifetime. We had a bit of spritz, which is apparently very popular in Italy. Typical Italian protocol is to eat or drink outside when it's remotely crowded in the bar (even though it was freezing!). Everyone keeps their jackets on throughout the night, so there's no need to dress up.

Next we made our way to another plaza where people were dancing and partying. Vendors sell snacks and hot wine, and everyone dresses in some kind of costume. We were exhausted, though, so Amanda, Jackie, Casey, and I called it an early night.