I’m baaaack… (without photos because its way too long if I add them)
I cannot believe that we are halfway through May, crazy crazy! Ever since I got back from the US for Semana Santa, I feel like time has been flying by! I have LOTS of updates since then, so here we go:
ESTADOS UNIDOS
Being home was amazing!!! I am not going to go into a ton of detail for this section, but I will give the gist! I got to see (almost) ALL of my people and it was such a happy 10 days. I landed in Dallas on April 11 around 4:30 pm! I spent the night at home, and then went to Austin on the 12th for the weekend to see my friends and family. I had such a fun time seeing friends on Friday and Saturday, and then Kate, Griffin, Mimi, Shana, and Tommy on Sunday and Monday!! I also went to Oak Hill and surprised my old students, and saw all of my old coworkers, and it was just perfect! On Tuesday the 15th I drove back to Dallas and spent the rest of the break there! I saw high school friends, college friends, and got to spend time just relaxing at home!! The cats were good, except for the fact that Abby didn’t come near me. Kate and Griffin came to Dallas for Easter Weekend and we went to Sunrise Service for Easter and then my flight was that afternoon! Overall, I had SO MUCH FUN but I was excited to go back to Madrid!!!
MADRID
I landed in Madrid on Monday, April 21 and had the whole day to relax and unpack since we didn’t have school until Tuesday. I got back into the swing of things with school and babysitting, and then we had a birthday to celebrate! Mary Grey’s birthday was on Thursday the 24th, so we went to Plaza de Olavide and celebrated! She wanted to go to this bar called La Via Lactea after which is very popular with auxes / study abroud people and we literally transported to the 70s. There were so many characters there and it was so fun to people watch. On Saturday, we had Red Charlotte’s birthday and we celebrated in the park! We had a picnic, the weather was perfect, and it was such a great day. It was a perfect first weekend back in Madrid.
THE BLACKOUT
The Monday after I got back, the 28th, was a perfectly normal day, until 1 pm. I was sitting in the café at my school with some of my coworkers when the lights and radio suddenly turned off. We were all pretty confused but just waited for it to come back on… and it never did! We learned from other teachers in the school that the power was not just out in our school, but all over Madrid. THEN, we found out that it was a nationwide blackout in Spain, as well as Portugal, and a little bit of France!! We were all super confused because our phones weren’t working at all and we were completely off the grid. Luckily, it was a beautiful day, so we sat outside while we waited for our next classes. I had a class at 2:15, and it turned out my teacher for that class was on the Metro when the power went out, so there was no way she was going to make it. After learning this information, my coworkers and I discussed the worst possible scenarios that could happen and we decided being stuck on the Metro underground would be the worst possible thing. Luckily, my teacher got out and was okay, but it was definitely scary!! I walked home because I obviously didn’t want to take the metro and the streets were crazyyyyy. All of the traffic lights were out, so the traffic was insane and there were cops everywhere directing the traffic. The buses were still running, but the lines were so long and people were so crammed in there that no one was going to fit! It was such a mess. When I got to my apartment, the elevator, stove, and oven didn’t work (clearly the elevator but I was kind of surprised about the stove not working? idk). I sat on the couch and read my book for about two hours before I started to worry about Mary Grey. To catch y’all up, MG works about an hour away from Madrid and she has to take a metro and a bus to get to school. It was about 4:30 at this point and I knew that she was probably on her way home but I had no way to contact her or anything (also Rachel is in the US for a wedding at this point so it’s just me and MG). At 6:30, MG walked in the door. The typical 45 min bus ride turned into 2 hours because of the traffic, and then she couldn’t take the metro so she walked 2 HOURS to get back to our apartment. I was very impressed that she did it without maps!! We briefed each other of our experiences, and then we needed to figure out what we were going to eat for dinner. We had turkey wraps and a salad (only had to open the fridge twice) and listened to music while I worked on a puzzle and MG drew. We walked around the block and it reminded us a lot of covid. Around 11 pm that night, the power came back on in our apartment and you could hear cheering ALL over Madrid. It was so cute!! Overall, CRAZY but it was such a funny experience. (Also it was something about the weather that caused the blackout but I honestly don’t know).
CACA IN MADRID
The weekend after the blackout, one of Kate’s friends from school was in Madrid with her husband and kids for a wedding, so I babysat for them! The kids were great and I forgot how much I miss english speaking babies.
On Sunday, Caca arrived in Madrid! We got Honest Greens for dinner to catch up and chit chat! On Monday, Cinco de Mayo, we had to celebrate with getting some margaritas! We checked out some cute stores by my house and we had the best time! On Tuesday, we went to Plaza de Olavide and had amazing weather where we sat and had a drink (or three). There was a mini library there that I had never seen before, and a book in English so I have to read it and then return it! I’m excited :) We went to Restaurant HER (the best restaurant in Madrid in my opinion) and ate until we were too full to move! We said our goodbyes there (this is the goodbye restaurant as well - where I said bye to my fam when they were here for Christmas) but it was so fun having her in Madrid! We had good weather, good food, and good quality time! :)
THE FALL
The Thursday after Caca was here, the 8th, I went out with my coworkers to celebrate some birthdays and I had such a good time! Some of us decided to go to Córdoba the following weekend, so it was fun to plan more things with them!! My roomies decided to watch Survivor and puzzle on Friday night, so we had a very chill night.
On Saturday, we went to Michelangelo’s birthday party! We met at a bar close to our house, and there were like 30 people there! He had his friends from Rome in town who were all SO NICE and we just had a really fun time! We all went to his apartment after (it was very crowded) but overall it was really fun. His apartment is very close to a bar called Sala B which has live music on the weekends, so we decided to go there. MG, Rachel, Red Charlotte, and 3 of the Italians went early so we wouldn’t have a huge group in line, but we were the only ones who got in. After a while there, MG, Char, and I made the terrible decision to go to the other bar where the rest of the boys were EVEN THOUGH WE WERE HAVING FUN - looking back it didn’t make sense. So we went to the other bar, called Cadavra, too close to “cadaver” if you ask me, where the incident occured.
I walked into the club and immediately am hit with the fog machine and dim lighing. I pay for my ticket and see a black curtain halfway covering the “hallway” so I turn and start walking (Charlotte and MG are behind me). However, the “hallway” was in fact NOT A HALLWAY AND A SET OF 12 STAIRS. I don’t remember what happened next, I just remember my feet going over my head. When I tell you I ROLLED AND ROLLED LIKE A RAG DOLL I am not exaggerating, and I have the bruises to prove it. When I finally got to the bottom, I was just laying there and Charlotte was at the top, stunned. She thought I was unconscious because I wasn’t moving. Finally, I started to stir and she came running down and helped me up. I played it off like I was totally fine, not like I just rolled down 12 stairs and went into the club. As I was standing at the bar, the pain in my knee set in and I realized I couldn’t stand and that it was time to go home. So long story short, I paid 25€ to fall down the stairs!
The next two days were terrible because I felt like I had just been hit by a truck, but its been like 10 days and the bruises are fading and my knee is healing. Hardest part is going down the stairs, but I think it will heal the more patient I am. Anyway, that happened.
CUMPLEAÑOS Y CÓRDOBA
So last week, we only had a 3 day week because of San Isidro, a Madrid holiday. We didn’t have school Thursday (and never have school on Friday) so we had an extra long weekend! On Wednesday, my birthday, my friends and I went to Bakan which is a Mexican restaurant near Puerta de Alcala where we sat outside (but then moved inside because it started raining). The food, the ambiance, and the service were perfect and it was such a fun night. After dinner, we went to a bar right next door and had cake!! 10/10 night.
We relaxed on Thursday night, and Friday morning I woke up and went to Córdoba with my coworkers, Amber & Audrey (twins), two of their roommates, and Emma (coworker)! We took an ~hour and a half~ train ride to the South and we had PERFECT WEATHER. Not a cloud in the sky! We walked soooo much that I was definitely limping by the end, but it was so worth it. Córdoba was so beautiful. The streets, the flowers, everything was perfect. The buildings are white washed with mainly yellow trim (some blue) and it was just ideal. We had tea at a beautiful tea shop, walked down Calle de Las Flores (the street of flowers), went to the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba which was so cool. It was originally a mosque when Muslims ruled Spain, and then was turned into a cathedral during the Reconquista (when Christians started kicking Muslims out of Spain in the 1200s). It is so famous because of the architecture. It was one of the coolest things I have seen. The mix of cultures in the architecture was just so cool and I definitely recommend going. Córdoba, Seville, and Granada are all very close to one another, so I suggest trying to do all three at once since you are already in the South. The food, the wine, and the views were amazing and overall I was very impressed with Córdoba!
NO SÉ POP-UP & SUNDAY SUPPER
For the last few months, Brown Charlotte has been collecting and curating vintage clothing and jewelry to, hopefully, have a pop-up for the brand she wanted to start. On Saturday, her dreams came true - and it was sooooo fun to be a part of. Her brand is called “No Sé” which means “I don’t know”, and because the clothes and jewelry are from different brands all over the world, whenever someone asks where you got something, you can say “no sé”! I think it is so cute. She hosted the pop-up at her apartment and had a great turnout. Shoutout to nosemadrid on Instagram if you want to go follow and see how it went! It was from 1-6pm on Saturday and there were people popping in throughout the entire time - we were all SO PROUD of her! On Sunday, we had dinner at Zoe’s apartment rooftop which was so nice and a perfect end to the weekend.
That was a lot of information, but I hope you enjoyed. See you next time! I will stay on top of this!!!!!
xoxoxoxooxo,
Elizabeth in España
LOVE this post!! Great update!!! 🥰🥰🥰