Twenty Fun: Madrid Nights

Buenos Dias Readers,

You might be wondering why I greeted you guys in spanish. As you might’ve guessed, I rang in my 21st birthday weekend in Spain’s lovely capital, Madrid (I spent my actual birthday in Cork hamming it up with some pals though). That’s right guys, your favourite blogger is officially an adult! And if that wasn’t exciting enough,  I checked two more things off of my list: I secured an internship with the Office of the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Nashville. That means that I’ll get to continue to explore the law and be a little bit closer to home. I also got accepted into the Sociology Honors Program, which means I got the green light to do my thesis next year! It’s been an exciting week, so without further adieu, let’s get into the birthday festivities.

I went to Madrid not only to explore the city, but also to visit my friends Arianna and Asha who are studying there. Since I haven’t introduced Asha on the blog yet, let me provide some backstory. Asha went to the school with Arianna, Allison, and I. She came to USN in the 3rd grade and we’ve had some great times ever since. She goes to Boston University and we’ll actually be interning at the same place this summer (what a coincidence!). Also Allison and Julie, Allison’s roomie and member of the Edinburgh squad, is also studying in Madrid so they both joined us for the birthday festivities.

I arrived on Friday afternoon and made it to the air bnb without getting lost (that’s a big accomplishment for me) and met up with the rest of my tribe. I was starvin like Marvin so we headed to get some Thai food (my latest food obsession) and to catch up in true Spanish fashion at around 9:00pm. In honor of my born day, we headed to a club to dance the night away and ended the night eating churros con chocolate (delicious!!).

The next day, we spent a good chunk of the day catching some rays in Retiro Park, Madrid’s central park. It was so nice to just bask in the sunlight (something Ireland rarely sees) and chat with some of my oldest pals. We visited the Prado Museum and caught a glimpse of Diego Valazquez’s famous painting, Las Meninas. We walked along the puerta del sol and the gran via and that night we actually met up with one of my friends from Holy Cross named Emily Winn. As it turns out she was also in Madrid celebrating her birthday! It was nice to see a familiar face.

The next day, we slept in and visited the Plaza Mayor (Madrid’s most famous plaza) and El Mercado de San Miguel (I’m a sucker for food markets). We also visited the the Reina Sofia Museum and saw Pablo Picasso’s famous painting, Guernica, depicting a bombing during the Spanish Civil War. I left late Sunday night and took the very last bus back to Cork at 12:30 am (it was a long night). Madrid was the perfect place to ring in such a monumental birthday and I had so much fun having the company of some amazing tour guides! This week is our last week of classes at UCC so now the only thing standing between me and summertime is 4 essays, 1 final exam, and my ICIP for Holy Cross. Wish me luck and I think my final trip will be to Galway, Ireland  so stay tuned. Until Next Time,

Keep Calm & Chase Your Destiny

Elena

Retiro Park!

The most central point of Madrid. Excuse the Random Leg!

Me at the Plaza Mayor!

El Mercado de San Miguel.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 13th, 2016 at 11:01 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.