¡Hola España!

So this past weekend I headed to Spain to meet up with a bunch of my favorite Loyola ladies!  My Nine West peeps, as I like to call them (because we all lived on the 9^th floor of Newman West last year) reunited in Madrid to spend some quality abroad time together! I had been soooo looking forward to seeing everyone because for some of us, we haven’t been together since the last day of school in May.

Reunited and it feels so good!
(not everyone made it in this picture, but you get the idea...) 

People flew in from Italy, England, Denmark, and Belgium (of course), to meet up with the lovely ladies spending the semester in Alcala de Henares, Spain. It was a very long day traveling from Leuven to Alcala on Friday morning. We started our journey biking to the Leuven train station, hopped on 2 trains and a bus to finally arrive at Brussels Charleoi Airport. From there we flew into Madrid International around 6pm, where we proceeded to get on the wrong metro and have to backtrack to the airport (#awkward).  We than hopped onto 2 more metros and than another train line to make it to our final destination. All the hours of tedious traveling were worth it when Gianna and Claire finally met us at the station closest to where they live. We walked through Alcala to head to our hostel where we met everyone else. There were countless hugs to go around, as well as stories about what have been happening in each of our lives the past 2 ½ months.

The Tapas restaurant we went to on Friday night.

This is one of the dishes that came with the sangria, it is salsa,
and egg sunny-side up and some delicious bread.
Eggs were in SO many of the dishes I saw this weekend.

We settled into our rooms and got ready to get some Tapas at a local restaurant. We had sangria and some delicious authentic Spanish dishes. It was one of MANY dishes from the weekend that I thoroughly enjoyed. By the time we were eating it was 9:30pm, so around 11pm we headed into Madrid to check out the nightlife. We took a 40 minute bus ride into the city for 3 euros and spent a few hours there before heading back to Alcala for the night.

Saturday we stayed around Alcala to spend some quality time together. We had a long and relaxing lunch, which lasted about 3 ½ hours….(we’re definitely not in America anymore, the waitress REALLY took her time).  After lunch, we got some fro-yo (frozen yogurt, of course) for dessert, because that is something I am deprived of in Belgium…tough life. After a few hours of walking around and shopping, it was dinnertime! Are you sensing a pattern? There was so much food, and so little time, but lets be real, I didn’t hate it!

Katie, Cait & I after dinner on Saturday.

For dinner we had some more sangria and croquettes with ham, or “jamon.”

I enjoyed exploring the grocery store in Alcala, it is interesting how all the food shops are so different from country to country. The most interesting find was definitely the wine juice boxes…yes, there were juice boxes with wine---Only in Spain! There were also actual legs of lamb hanging all over the place…quite interesting.

I suppose its 5 o'clock somewhere during lunch time in Spain...

There were so many Christmas goodies, and I couldn't have been happier to see them!
¡ Feliz Navidad!

On Sunday we packed everything up early to put our bags in lockers at the Madrid International Airport because we were heading to the El Rastro Market in Madrid. We were warned that there were a lot of pick-pocketers around, so we didn’t want to tempt them with huge backpacks in a crowded market. We also had an encounter on the metro with a pick-pocketor.  My friend Katie (yes, this is the same Katie who solved my pick-pocketing dilemma!) spotted one in action and stopped him before he could take anything from another man on the way to the metro.

So back to the market, it was quite an astounding sight. There were streets and streets packed with people and vendors. There was everything there from food, to scarves, to soccer equipment. I picked up a few souvenirs to remember my fabulous trip to Madrid. I had an chorizo empanada as a snack to hold me over at the market, it was “soooooo Spain,” and so delicious!

El Rastro Market
Madrid, Spain

There I am, enjoying my authentic chorizo empanada at the market!

We went to Plaza de Mayor for lunch/dinner. I had some Paella, it was my first time having it and it was very good. I am not a huge seafood person, but I figured I should embrace the culture and try the authentic dish. That was our “Last Supper,” so to speak because after we ate everyone had to split up, some heading to the airport, some staying in Madrid, and some heading back to Alcala.

Paella with seafood and chicken.

Angelica & I after dinner.
Who would of thought from New Hyde Park Memorial High School, all the way to Madrid, Spain?

Just casually touching down on the actual center of the country
before we headed back to reality. 

The Leuvenites (myself included) headed back to the airport in the evening to spend the night…yet again. It was a lot colder than our last airport stay experience, but we made it alright. 

Roomies for the night!  So comfy, right?
(Yes, I am a poet, and I didn't even know it.)

What a wonderful world!
The breathtaking view of the sunrise over the clouds from the plane.
One of the few perks of a 6:30 am flight...

We ended up back in Leuven around 11:30am for a well needed rest. Overall it was a great weekend, but I was very happy to be back at the huis! "Home Sweet Huis," as I like to say.

                                         Amsterdam is next, adios for now!