Madrid

Okay okay, delayed again, but YOLO. Or YOHOSA (You only have one semester abroad) and YOIMO (You're only in Madrid once... or Malaga...)

So, we took a flight from Barcelona to Madrid and we were so absolutely exhausted none of us spoke to each other and we slunked down to catch some serious z's. We took the bus into the centre and took the metro to our hostel. However, on the way we had a rare run in with a Paparazzi - I'm surprised you haven't seen our photos plastered all over the Tabloids... or maybe you have! We were being crazy ratchets on the bus and 3 guys sat near us - watching us, whispering our names, making fun of us, and overall being creeps. They got off the stop before us and as the bus is pulling away, Lucy says "Is this really happening right now?!" and we all look out the window. And sure enough - they are taking photos of us THROUGH the bus window - so, like the classy ladies we are, we mooned them.... kidding... we just posed with our thumbs up haha. But for real??

And here comes the scene from Taken 3 - ERASMUS ABROAD Edition. We arrive at our hostel - book up, pay and the man begins to describe to us that the hostel is full - and so he has called his friend to come get us and take us to another hostel - another building a few blocks away - and that is where we are staying.... What? So we impatiently wait, and a man from the Sopranos comes in with his long black coat, slicked black hair, harsh voice and black leather gloves. He proceeds to tell us to follow him, and well... we did. We were following this ax murderer or drug lord through creepy alleys and avenues of Madrid - until we got to this building, but it was a maze. The elevator only worked until the second floor - and every hallway took us through a new room - which led to a new hallway, and a new room, and a new floor, and OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO BE DRUGGED AND KILLED AND NO ONE IS GOING TO FIND ME BECAUSE I DON'T THINK ANYONE IN MY FAMILY IS GOOD AT MAZES. 

But instead - it is this gorgeous hotel room with a private bathroom and everything! CHACHING. We moved down to a bigger room the next day that had 5 beds so we each could have our own bed - and holy hell was this place ever nice! So, we immediately got ready and messaged our friend Sara who was in Madrid as well and we got dressed and drank and went to Capital. This club was RIDICULOUS. I know I saw that always but I have NEVER been to a club like this before. There were a billion floors - a billion people - and a whole floor dedicated to Bombay Saphire... couldnt stay up there too long due to my negative Gin experience a few weeks prior. But we danced and laughed and did ridiculous things. Lily and I decided to tag team it and dance two songs on every floor. SUCCESS. Oh god it was so much fun!

The next day we walked around Madrid taking lots of photos, buying animal hats, we went to this beautiful Cathedral  Charlotte and I went into the Palace of Madrid. We went back to the hostel - ate 5 bags of chips, had a nap and got ready for a fancy Thai dinner and a night out. 

Keep in mind it is a Sunday, and unlike Phils, it wasn't really bumpin. We end up in this empty bar that played terrible music, until around 1am where it started to play all of our Spanish favourites. We met some ridiculous Dutch guys, some LIAR that the girls nicknamed "General Swag". More like "General Knob". He was humping the wall, and going on and on about how he was a US Marine. Nice try buddy. He did however buy us a drink! Kind, Texan.....

General Knob humping the wall..

We turned heads, not due to our great looks, but instead because we were playing Bernard's Watch. This was a television show in Britain  where this child Bernard, had a stop watch - and he could stop time whenever he wanted and everyone around him would freeze, and he would go around and eat their food, drink their drinks - things like that! Lily bought a BEAUTIFUL stopwatch necklace at the market that day and so we played it. Whenever she would flip it open we all had to freeze - regardless of our position - and we had to stand there frozen while she danced around us, drank our drinks, did ridiculous things and we took turns. Holy Hannah was it ever hilarious. 

Playing Bernard's watch! 

The next day we set off to be in love and tour around and we paid 4 euros to take a boat out onto the lake! Oh my god it was like I was back on Manitoulin Island. We took turns rowing, and it was a beautiful day. We were in this gorgeous park. We did have some difficulties - we hit a boat, and got splashed. But it was still a success. 

We headed back to the centre - spent a nice time in Starbucks and killed some time before our train home.

The train home was phenomenal  It was way more practical and comfier than a plane. We had tables so we played MASH and Consequences and ate snack and just did crazy girl things. Although... I did pass out HARD on the table.

It was such an AMAZING weekend. One for the books :)