Over the past 13 days—Spring Break at the University of California at Berkeley—Morgan and I hosted 9 friends in our place in Madrid. It was a wild, beautiful, nostalgic, cramped, hilarious ride. I didn’t take a warm shower the entire time and we ran out of toilet paper twice but I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to show my Cal friends around the city I love.
I have been so busy hosting I haven’t gotten around to blogging since my trip to Florence nearly three weeks ago, so get comfortable because this blog covers a lot of ground. I am so thankful my Berkeley friends were all able to come and wanted to spend their spring break visiting us in Madrid. We showed them Taverna Malaspina, Takos al Pastor, La Via Lactea, Palacio Real, Museo del Prado, Plaza Mayor, San Gines Churreria, and much more. The line of shoes reached from our entry door all the way down the hallway nearly to the kitchen. Every single sheet, pillow, blanket, and towel in our apartment was put to use. At one point there was not a single glass left in the cupboard or dishwasher. My body is still recovering from lack of sleep, but I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
I did a day trip to Barcelona with my ‘little,’ or mentee, in Garb: Mr. Buss (formerly known as Declan). We had tremendous success thrifting at Els Encants then ate lunch at the homemade pasta place next to my old host family’s apartment. Our train back to Madrid was at 6:30am so we decided to just stay up (and out) all night to avoid the risk of sleeping through it. We were successful in making the train but unfortunately when we arrived and I switched over to the Renfe to go to class at 9:30, my body crashed and woke up 45 minutes outside of Madrid in the completely wrong direction from Getafe campus at 11am. Needless to say I will not be pulling another all nighter in a different city the night before an early class–although I am glad I got to truly show Mr. Buss what nightlife is like in the wee hours of Spain.
After missing my class, we (barely) made our train to San Sebastian–although unfortunately for Morgan she got a nasty bruise from running into a pole during the final sprint to our coach as the doors were closing. San Sebastian, also known as the food capital of the world, was absolutely stunning. Due to its proximity to the French border, the influence of gothic neoclassical architecture was prevalent in building details and city structure. The large river cutting across the town reminded me a lot of Florence, especially in the way the bridges lit up at night. Going in the Spring was the right call because the flowers were beginning to bloom all over and we had perfect weather for our hike up to the Jesus monument that resembles Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue. It soothed my soul to spend time with my California chicas again; Brenda, Ale, Dani, Talissa, Jess, and Dani’s older sister Sam. We played volleyball, kicked around a soccer ball on the beach (it was too cold to swim) and tasted some of the most famous tapas in Spain. The people were friendly, the drinks were cheap, and there were more little dogs with jackets than I’ve seen anywhere else in Spain.
We came back from San Sebastian to meet Sam, Evan, Cass, and Joel back at my apartment in Madrid after they wrapped up their individual travels to Barcelona, Lagos, and Rome. It felt like a full circle moment seeing everyone again for two days before they headed back to the states. Evan very kindly took me out to lunch on our last day together, which was great because we got to debrief our travels that we did separately over fantastic Italian cuisine. My friends’ visits reminded me how lucky I am to get to spend a full semester here. When Sam arrived he was so over-the-moon excited to exist in Madrid that he was bursting with energy after his 12-hour flight and practically danced into our apartment. Cass and Joel were experiencing their very first time in Europe and I am honored they spent some of their time with me in Madrid. A reoccurring half-joke/half-real-reminder that the whole group kept saying all week was “y’all, we are literally in Madrid right now.” Such a simple phrase reminded me that even though I get to spend 6 months here, every moment is a blessing and I should enjoy every day as much as I can.
Along with their beautiful presence and novel excitement, my friends also brought American politics into my mental space in Madrid. While I had been actively pushing away news on what Trump is doing, seeing my friends reminded me that outside of the fact that I am still an American citizen and will have to return to it all, the people I care about are experiencing this terrifying political environment firsthand and I can’t just ignore it. I delved even deeper into the American political rabbit hole with my sister, Ruth Elizabeth, when she came to visit the following weekend. She worries about Trump’s executive orders targeting law firms for their DEI policies.
Outside of politics, Ruth Elizabeth and I had a blast. Taking my 33 year old sister to my favorite dance bar made me a little anxious at first. Would she like the vibe, the people, the music? Would she like my friends, the way I act when I’m out, our timeline? My nerves were unfounded. Even though I made her wait in line in the pouring rain for over an hour, we had a grand time once we got inside. We talked to strangers, danced to yacht rock, tried on a pair of left behind glasses, chatted up the bouncer, and ended up leaving 30 minutes before the bar closed at 3:30am.
After a much needed day of rest, Ruth Elizabeth and I did a day trip to Toledo, which blew my mind. Toledo is home to one of the largest, oldest and most extravagant cathedrals I’ve ever seen, as it was the capital of Spain until 1561 (our Madrid walking tourguide hammered this date into my brain.) The historic town felt like walking into the set of Game of Thrones, and to support this feeling all of the souvenir stores specialized in selling swords, axes, and daggers made of the river minerals that cut through the city. Although we didn’t have enough time to participate ourselves, we had fun observing the bridge zip-liners while we waited for our Hop On/Hop Off bus to take us back to the train station. I also got one of the best chicken shawarma wraps of my life for 5 euros that I literally had dreams of the following night.
Ruth Elizabeth sadly left early this morning, but I had such a great time with her one-on-one in Madrid–we’ve never spent that much time together without other family around. All in all, I am sad my friends and family have completed their visits, but I look forward to seeing my parents when they come in May and find comfort in knowing I will never be alone in Madrid while living with such wonderful roommates.
