Day 72: Dream Day ^_^

Today was amazing.

This is the first blog post I've had this trip that I'm afraid to write, because I'm scared I won't do the day justice. I remember having that feeling a lot last summer while I was here and it frustrated me and made me so happy at the same time. :)

So here goes...

I woke up with enough time to put makeup on and put a little thought into my outfit. :) It was our day off of school to go into Madrid to do our finger prints for our Spanish ID card. Katie and I left around 9:15 and despite some serious freaking out about time, we made it to our appointment 15 minutes early. When we got there, we were greeting by a bit of a bureaucratic shit show. Apparently the others hadn't expected this like I had, because lots of people in our group were pretty complainy about it all. See, our director had really messed up (as usual) and informed us at the last minute a bunch of us needed new photos for our ID picture. While everyone else was pretty butt-hurt about this, I was delighted, as I didn't want my ridiculous looking blonde photograph to be my picture on my official Spanish ID card!!

After we got our photos retaken, our fingerprints done and our paperwork in order, it was time to start our leisurely adventure! After all, we had the day off, the weather was gorgeous and we could do whatever we wanted! And so as our first stop of the day, we decided to have lunch at an American 50's diner, called Peggy Sue's! We had to wait for a bit for it to open up, but once it did, we ran right in. We all ordered cookies 'n cream milkshakes and some yummy American food.

Next, it was off to Retiro Park!! I can't believe I've been here for practically two months and hadn't gone to Retiro before today. I absolutely adore that park - it's so calming and beautiful. Last summer, the long walks, getting lost, having picnics, people watching, exploring, zoning out to my iPod... it was the perfect, blissful place to spend an afternoon or night. <3

The park was no less breathtaking this afternoon. For the first time in weeks, the sun was out and the skies were completely blue. We laid down on the steps overlooking the little pond with the boats and soaked up the warmth while the enchanting sound of a saxophone danced on the water and filled the air. <3 Bliss.

It was honestly one of my infamous moments of, "Oh. My. God. I am in the middle of Madrid, Spain right now with a group of close friends sunbathing on the steps of Retiro Park, being serendaded by an anonymous saxophone. I must be in a movie. This is too amazing."

<3

After a bit the others decided they wanted a more comfy spot to sunbathe and wandered over to a grassy patch. Katie and I, though, wanted to do a little exploring, so we broke off from the others to take a stroll around the park. First, we saw two kitties posing adorably on a big statue. We quickly realized the were the first of many kitties to be spotted in the park (we saw at least 15!!).

First, we walked around the lake and took a few pictures. :)

While Katie stopped to fill her water bottle, I came across the man who had been playing the saxophone so magestically and gave him all the change I had. He was extremely grateful and stopped his song just to thank me. I smiled and thanked him for his music. <3

The saxophone was Conor's instrument. Just say'n.

We continued around the lake and an older gentleman asked if we would take a picture of him in front of the pond. We did and asked for one in return! :)

 The park was absolutely gorgeous with the fall foliage and the bright sun shining through the trees and onto the paths made everything feel very surreal and whimsical.

As we were taking a stroll around the park, a man suddenly approached us, asking if we spoke English. We warily responded that we did, and quickly realized that he was a native speaker himself. He asked us if we had time to help him out with a research study he was doing for his graduate degree at Manchester University in England. We glanced at each other and then shook our heads yes. What did we have to lose!? Haha.

The "research" turned out to be seriously strange and oh-so-epic. He told us it was a study about lying and what the face does when it's lying versus telling the truth. What we had to do was this: record each other answering a list of questions about the man who had approached us and about a man who we'd been given a photograph of. The questions were extremely strange and started off innocent enough and then got odder as we kept recording.

First, we had to give our honest opinion of them physically, the answer if we would ever date them, then if we would ever introduce them to our friends and finally if we would ever have "relations" with them.  The whole time the man was standing across the way out of hearing range. Katie and I couldn't stop giggling, wondering if this was indeed real research or if we were on some strange version of Candid Camera and what the prank was!?

Just as we thought we were done, he recorded us answering questions about each other:

Man: "What is Chelsea's favorite color?"

Katie: "Um... ALL of them."

Me: *laughing hysterically*

Man: "Uh, no... you have to pick just one."

Katie: "No, you don't understand. You haven't seen her jacket."

Me: *almost peeing my pants laughing*

The questions were all good and fine until he asked us to guess each others' underwear color!?! Without thinking about it, we did (and, may I say, we both got the answer correct). He said there was a study done that suggested questions like that one could really illustrate how close two people were, but I've definitely looked it up since then and am pretty darned sure he made that up.

When we finally were finished with his experiment, we briskly walked away, laughing and asking each other, "Wtf was that all about!?" Hahaha. Katie was a little embarrassed/ashamed. I was just totally amused and felt like I was in some strange, European Twilight Zone. o_O The man seemed so professional and serious that it is almost unfathomable to think that this was some sort of strange prank or something else, but the questions were just so odd that we cannot possibly figure out what kind of graduate research he would honestly be conducting for such a relatively reputable university!? Mystery. Haha.

By the time we finally got back to our friends, they were a bit impatient with us and were happy to finally be able to leave. We explored the park a bit together and came across the Crystal Palace (which was what Katie and I had actually set out to find, but had been so sidetracked by the strange video study thing that we never had a change to find it and go there). The Crystal Palace is just so beautiful - especially with the late afternoon sun shining through all of that glass!!

We continued our walk and came upon a crazy squirrel with some pretty intensely awesome, fuzzy ears! I whipped out my camera and took a bunch of photos of him, as he was just so unique - and brave! The others walked up to him to scare him away, but he just continued eating his bountiful merienda. :) I named him Kramer Squirrel - he just radiated that Seinfeld character's personality SO WELL -  and had a nice chat with him before continuing onward. ;)

By this time it was just about 5:30 and everybody was ready to head home - except for me, of course! As I walked them to the train station, Ali called to see if my plan was still on for the night and if she had time to come into Madrid to join in on the fun. "Duh!" ^_^

 

 

While I waited for her, I decided to journey around the Letters' District - in the DAYLIGHT for a change! Admittedly, I actually got more lost in the sunshine than I do when the moon is the only celestial being lighting my way. I guess I've just been getting much more used to exploring Madrid at night than in the day time, and everything really looks a lot different. 

 

The first thing the light showed me that the dark had previous hidden was an adorable little note taped to a pipe on the side of a building. It was written as a sort of "Lost Connections" type letter... I think... if my Spanish serves me right (which, who knows, maybe it's actually a letter about how stupid fold-up bikes are - at least, that's what I thought it was about the first time I read it!?).

 

 

After reading the cute note a few times, I set forth to find that cookie shop. I went in a few circles, not remembering where it was and finding the daylight making things oddly more difficult, but at long last I found it and bought ten delicious, mini, homemade cookies! Yummmy!!! ^_^

 

 

I continued forth past Sol and up to Callao, towards our meeting spot. On the way I passed my favorite lingerie store - the one with that amazing bra I've practically been having dreams about (Victoria Secret Withdrawals are a real thing for super girly American girls... having one tiny store in a whole country that can serve to quell my cravings if even just for a moment is indispensable to a girl abroad!!). I wandered into the store and the lady asked if I needed any help. I pointed to the dream bra and she smiled and said, "Oh, yes! This is the only one we have left!"

O_O

WHAT?

My budget had given me two weeks to dream about the bra before I could financially afford to consider purchasing it if I was really responsible in all my other matters. But this changed everything. This was no longer children's games.

The lady asked me my size. I said I didn't know. At VS, this would be a signal for them to whip out their tape measure and start groping your upper body, but here in Classy Europe, this is a signal for the lady to stare at you incredulously and wonder how you call yourself a woman. >_< Fail.

"Well, this is an 85, so I think it'll fit you perfectly."

Bahahaha. An 85!? What the heck kind of bra size is that? Where's the letter? Why is the number so large? Huh? It's a great thing I didn't go with telling her what I'd thought my bra size to be. The strange glance she would have given me would have been way longer.

Needless to say, the bra was just as amazing as it had been in my dreams and I am eating nothing but pasta for the next week and a half.

Well worth it. ;)

By this time Ali was in Madrid, so I walked up Gran Via to meet her at the metro stop. Little did I know that the arrival of Ali meant that as wonderful and strange as my day had been up until this point, things were about to get a million times more amazing and weird!!!

The first thing we did was go to my appointment. The appointment I had been looking forward to for forever. The appointment I had made on a whim. The appointment I'd gone to Madrid last Thursday after it was dark at the last minute to set up. The appointment Ali ventured all the way into Madrid at night for. It was totally nerve-racking, and at one point I may or may not have begun to faint, but thanks to Ali's water bottle, pack of cookies and cheerful you-can-do-it attitude, I pulled through! And besides choosing to live in this amazing apartment with these amazing girls, it's the best decision I've made since I got here! ^_^ *in love and awestruck*

After my thirty minutes of rebellion and awesomeness, Ali decided it was her turn. :) We walked up Fuencarral (I LOVE that street!!! ^_^) and found her a piercing shop. Ironically, the same piercing shop in which I purchased my rather *epic* black bird belly button ring last summer that L gave me so much shit for. ;) Ali burst through the doors and asked how much a piercing would be. Twelve euros was definitely cheap enough to persuade her to go for it. I cheered her on as she paid they guy and went back with her. Unlike any piercing I've ever gotten, the guy just let us talk and then, without any warning, just did it. Oww!! >_< Ali squealed and giggled at the same time and I couldn't help but laugh myself. :) Haha! Poor Ali.

 

 

Completely hyped up on adrenaline and awesomeness, we went down the main "Hooker Avenue" of Madrid with the destination of PaPizza. :) Ali looked around at all the girls in their tall  boots and tiny dresses, mesmerized. She'd never seen anything like it!

 

As we approached Sol, we were became engulfed in a sea of red flags and banners and quickly realized that we had just found ourselves in the jumping off point for the big "huelga" or, in English, "strike. N14 was the name of the strike and was poised to hit over 20 countries in the EU. People were everywhere, holding up their flags and listening to a speaker on the other side of the plaza. It felt like one of those history-in-the-making moments!

We took a few pictures and took in the scene and then headed for some much needed food.

 Over pizza we continued to talk about the girls we had seen on that street moments earlier and we came up with a list of questions: Where do they go? How long do they go for? Do they work for one guy? How do they always look so presentable? Etc.

After dinner, Ali said she wanted to walk back up the street to see it all again. This turned into three strolls up and down the street, taking it all in. Just as we were about to finally leave, we saw a girl getting propositioned. Suddenly, she pulled out her cell phone, made a quick call, lit up a cigarette, and started walking so fast she was practically jogging. The guy followed a few meters behind her.

I looked at Ali. She looked at me. "How badly do you want to follow them right now?" I asked her. "Let's go!" squealed Ali. And we were off.

We walk/jogged on the other side of the street from them, trailing them just a bit. We only had to follow them for thirty seconds because the girl walked up the street, turned the corner and then entered a door marked "4," right next to an Asian buffet and the guy followed!!

Ali and I turned to each other, our jaws dropped. We felt like secret spies. We felt like we had just solved the hugest mystery Madrid had to offer. We felt like BAMFS. And so we did the natural thing, we stood behind a tree and waited for the pair to exit.

Four pairs went into that same door by the time the original ones exited - which was 20 minutes practically to the second they had entered. Ali and I couldn't believe what we were watching. It was sad, exhilarating, strange, depressing, intriguing and weird all at the same time. We stood there for over 45 minutes, just observing and talking about it all. We felt like we'd just entered an alternate reality and we couldn't pull ourselves out of it!

So someone finally came along that managed to do so for us.

Yeah, we had been standing by that tree on "Hooker Ave." for almost an hour. Yeah, there were a group of three girls standing feet away from us, clearing there working and clearly around our same age. But no, we did not have high boots nor short dresses. Hell, I had my crazy CUSTO jacket on! But we should have expected it.

An older, drunken man approached us. My instinct was to run. Ali's instinct (being the sweet girl she is) was to think the poor guy simply needed directions. He started saying something. Ali said she didn't understand. I quickly hid behind Ali, and grabbed on to our purses, ready to bolt. What ensued was a very odd discourse between those two - the man making fun of the way Ali said "forty" and Ali having no idea what was going on. I finally looked away, out of awkwardness and laughter and wtf-ness, but Ali said that as soon as the man began to gesture something was when she finally grabbed me and made a break for it.

Hahahahaha.

It took us the whole thirty minute walk back to the Atocha train station to process all that had just happened. While stopping to take pictures of the gorgeous lit up buildings and fountains, we giggled and squealed all the way home.

Being surrounded by friends all day long, having the day off of work, being in the city and in different parts of it, relaxing in the park, finding myself in super strange situations, yummy food, taking pictures... just, everything! Epic. Awesome. Amazing. Definitely one of those "European Adventure Dream Come True" days! ;)

Best. Day. Since. Arriving. By. Far. ^_^

XOXO