Missing Madrid

Beth's 'Things I miss from abroad' post from a few months ago made me realise that I'm also feelings pangs of "homesickness" for my summer "home" in Madrid. Here's my list of things Spanish wonders that I long for...

• Tortillas
• The ubiquity of good coffee
• The metro (except for the 'circular' line that is six flights underground)
• My pain au chocolat breakfast
• Red wine
• The design on iron entrances
• Shabby lifts
• Zara
• Late dinners - even by European standards
• My incredibly passionate astronomy professors, who are also twin brothers
• The pedestrian-friendly structuring of the entire city
• Sliced dry sausages
• The food market
• The incredible architecture
• Going out for expressos with my Guatemalan roommates/"sisters"
• Wooden floors
• Fried pork intestines (which sounds terrible, but is really good and can be eaten like popcorn)
• My household of women
• Lively dinner debates
• Dancing until sunrise
• The heat
• My Mandarin-speaking Spanish mother
• Crazy football matches

In the Streets of Barcelona - Photos

Here are some more photos from my time in Barcelona this winter. A caption below each photo explains everything - enjoy! 

Apparently all the infants of Barcelona get their picture taken with this elephant, while crying, for their Spanish identity card.

"The Fountain of Water" - the Spanish are very inventive at naming their monuments ;)

This fountain changes colours every few minutes - I passed it everyday on the way back to my residence! It marks the intersection between four major streets, including Gran Via and Paseig de Gracia (which is where most of the big shops and chic restaurants are). 

I visited the Catalan parliament in the Parc de la Ciutadella with some students in my Spanish class - this is the ceiling of the 'stairs of honour', where foreign delegates and Spanish politicians are welcomed. 

Where all the important Catalan political debates happen!

Almost every café in Spain has this obnoxious gambling machine that you must hope nobody plays because the noise is unbearable! This café is a few minutes away from La Sagrada Familia. 

Check out Barcelona's politically correct stop lights 

Barcelona & the Cabalgata de los Reyes

For the second half of my winter break, I'm in Barcelona learning Spanish at the Don Quijote language school. It's been interesting so far; the students in my classes come from different countries so along with Spanish, I've also been learning about German and Brazilian culture. I'm living in a student residence on Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes in centre city and my classes at the language school are from 8h - 15h on weekdays. Scroll down to see some photos of my week...

EasyJet flight from Geneva to Barcelona

Bird's eye view of Switzerland

Five minutes from my student residence is the Plaza Catalunya

My room in the student residence - the building is huge and resembles a hotel! 

Yesterday evening I went to see the Cabalgata del Reyes with some classmates. It's a parade on the eve of the 'Dia de los Reyes' (the Day of the Kings) which is today. The parade is mostly for families and children, but it was interesting to see what type of innovative floats the city of Barcelona came up with to entertain kids.

I passed the Arco de Triunfo on the way to the parade

The city supplied parade-goers with ladders for children 

After the parade, we stopped at a bar called 'Obama' on Gran Via for a late dinner