Behind. So overwhelmingly far behind. Córdoba, Granada, Alicante, Tenerife, Budapest, Mom and Andrea’s visit, Rosanna’s visit…not to mention the extraordinarily ordinary things in my Madrileña life, such as the decision to renew for another year, the search for (and acquisition of) a new apartment, the daily struggle of surviving the relentless heat, the school year’s end…the list goes on and on. I am so behind.
“Behind on what!?”
Blogging. My strength and my struggle. It’s a love-hate relationship we have. An occasional reader has told me, “I love your blog! Writing comes so naturally for you!” I laugh. No, no it doesn’t. It’s agonizing actually. Each entry takes me hours if not days to write, edit, re-read, re-write, re-edit, finalize and post. Just that sentence alone took me about four minutes. So you can imagine how quickly my beloved blog found itself at the bottom of my priority list as my weekends filled with travel, visitors and summer sunshine, and my week nights were left to deal with the heaps of laundry and bureaucratic expat paperwork, but I digress.
In an attempt to get my blog up to speed while not losing my soul to WordPress as I fuss over entry after entry, we’re going to shake things up with a speed round. Is that a thing? I don’t know. It sounds like something from a game show when they pick up the pace to accomplish a lot in a little amount of time. If that’s not a thing I’m making it a thing – my blogging speed round. The goal is to recap the biggest happenings over the past twelve weeks in as few words as possible without leaving you, my poor reader, completely confused. Here goes nothing…ready, set, GO!
Córdoba, March 26: The fourth of our five destinations during spring break (prior to Córdoba, my friend Kristen and I made visits to Morocco, Málaga and Sevilla – all of which occurred during Spain’s Semana Santa celebrations). Like Málaga and Sevilla, Córdoba is located in southern Spain. It’s a fairly small city (which is why Kristen and I only spent twelve hours there); but, regardless, it’s worth visiting for one very big reason: La Mezquita (The Mosque). Built in the 8th century by Moorish (a.k.a. Muslim) conquerors and later converted into a cathedral during Spain’s 13th century Christian Reconquest, it now remains as a UNESCO World Heritage site to teach us a whopping history lesson about the religious and cultural clashes that took place there and much of southern Spain about 800 years ago. And aside from the mosque, the city itself just screams “take my picture!!” – white walls, small alleys, lots of hanging flower pots. Sunshine was lacking the day we visited, so I didn’t capture that money shot to share with the social media world, but I digress once again. The city was lovely and made for a great pitstop between Sevilla and Granada.
Granada, March 27-29: the last stop of the spring break series. Home of Spain’s #1 paid tourist attraction, La Alhambra, as well as the coolest city subdistrict ever, El Albaicín. If we’re going to play the ranking game, I’d say Granada would have to take slot #2 on my list of “you gotta see this” Spanish cities (What’s #1? Sevilla, of course. That place has had my heart for two years now.) But back to Granada and all its Moorish glory. The Alhambra, the Alhambra. What’s all the fuss about the Alhambra?! I’ll make this as simple as possible. It began as a protective fortress in 889A.D. A few hundred years later the fortress got a facelift and they made a minor addition: a palace. NBD. It served as home to Granada’s Arab sultan until the Christian Reconquest invited themselves to the party here, too. The Catholic Royals made some adjustments to the palace to fit their Renaissance tastes. Sometime later it was abandoned and for centuries fell into disrepair, but was eventually rediscovered and restored. Today it’s recognized as another UNESCO World Heritage site, displaying some of Spain’s most impressive Islamic architecture. Oh, and about that Albaicín I mentioned before. I’ll explain that briefly too. Built into a hill, this old Arab quarter of the city is where you’ll find the streets are rocky, steep, windy and other-worldly. Navigating the area is exhausting and confusing but amazing, which is why it’s also listed as a UNESCO site. To top it off, this area houses the best Alhambra viewpoint of the city, especially for sunset.
Alicante, April 15-17: my first Spanish beach vacation and my first trip with Lola! On Spain’s southeast Mediterranean coast, touristically this city does not have many attractions to offer; the Castillo de Santa Bárbara is just about the only item on the list. However, that’s not to say this city should be overlooked. My South Korean flatmate, Lola, and I spent a weekend there, and let’s just say the return to Madrid had us both a little depressed. Lola had lived in Alicante previously and was ecstatic to revisit her old stomping grounds, catch up with friends, and introduce me to it all!
Mom and Andrea’s visit, May 19-28: A nine-day whirlwind of “Kelly girls taking Spain!” Originally Andrea was going to fly solo to spend a week with me in Spain. But when we realized I would not have vacation time during the week that worked best (right after her college final exams), it seemed silly for her to visit alone and spend half of each day by herself…which made the perfect excuse for my mom to say, “Okay, I suppose I’ll just have to come too!” It was our first ever girls-only vacation (but, I definitely missed your presence, Daddy).
The first four days we spent in Sevilla; this was my third trip there, first for my mom and sister (FYI: this was actually Andrea’s first time in Europe!). We had toyed with visiting a city that I hadn’t seen previously, but after much debate Sevilla seemed like the best choice for a couple reasons. #1) Knowing how much I adore this city, they wanted to experience its magic, too. #2) Less stress. Two years ago, when my mom and dad visited me amidst my semester abroad, we traveled to Barcelona. I had never been to Barcelona. They had never been to Barcelona. With the blind leading the blind, it got chaotic at times. So the idea of letting me play tour guide in a city I already knew was an undeniable temptation. We were the ultimate tourists (in a positive sense…I don’t know why being a “tourist” has come to have such a negative connotation). From a flamenco show to a horse-and-carriage ride to tours of the Cathedral and Alcázar…we left nothing untouched. By the end of the weekend they were singing my “I love Sevilla” tune, too.
The return to Madrid was refreshing for us all. The temp was a smidge lower (mid 70s rather than high 80s) and for some of us it meant catching some extra Zzz’s while I went to school each morning. The afternoons we spent together visiting Madrid’s top tourist attractions: The Royal Palace, the Prado Museum, Retiro Park, the Plaza Mayor, the Puerta del Sol…you get the idea. But aside from those standard must-see activities, they also wanted to glimpse my “normal life” in the city. We had lunch with Lola and dessert with my “girl power squad” (I’ll explain later) so they could meet my wonderful friends. They tagged along to school one day to see me in action with the kiddos and so the kiddos could meet my family. Many of them presented my mom and sister with cards and homemade (some rather odd) gifts. The first graders were especially inquisitive, asking the same questions they had been practicing with me all year: “How old are you?” “What’s your favorite color?” “What’s your favorite food?” I loved every second of it. And to top off the week, mine and Lola’s potential new apartment became our official new apartment while Mom and Andrea were here, so they got a sneak peek of my future home for the coming year!
Tenerife, June 2-5: one of Spain’s Canary Islands located off the northwest coast of Africa. Tenerife is the place “that suits all tastes.” My friends, Megan and Kristen, and I stayed on the south end of the island where you’ll find several beautiful beaches; perfect for the vacationer looking for some R&R. However, just an hour-long bus ride away you’ll find yourself at the base of an active volcano, El Teide! From there you can catch a gondola and then climb to the peek, bringing you to Spain’s highest altitude; ideal for someone looking for an adrenaline rush of adventure! And off to the west coast there are giant cliffs (which is how they earned their name, “Los Gigantes”) and volcanic black sand beaches; another relaxing, but unique, place to set your mind and body at ease. I’m telling you, two days in Tenerife is just not enough. But if it’s all the time you got, then still GO GO GO!
P.S. My beautiful and oh-so-talented friend Megan made a video montage of our weekend in Tenerife! If you’re still taking the time to read this never-ending blog entry, tack on another 2 minutes and 18 seconds to watch! I could watch it for the rest of my life on loop.
Rosie’s Visit, June 9-12: one of my closest high school friends, Rosanna, is working for a non-profit peace organization in Northern Ireland this year. She and I have spent months trying to tack down a time and place to meet up and we finally settled on the second weekend of June in my neck of the woods! She was an absolute pleasure to host and it was wonderful to spend some long overdue time catching up and reconnecting. We both agreed that we have come a long way since high school, but our friendship still comes so easily; it feels as if we never went separate ways.
Budapest, June 16-19: Last, but most certainly not least, last weekend’s venture to Hungary with the “girl power squad.” (This is the name that’s been most recently designated to that amazing group of women I usually refer to as my “right-hand ladies” – Vanessa, Simone and Kristen). Our squad initially formed around February when we got together on a yucky gray morning for brunch and shopping. None of us could deny how well we jived and continued to make plans whenever possible. Sometime around April Kristen and I were paroozing the internet for flight deals and discovered a 90€ ticket to Budapest, Hungary! A couple days later the squad was having lunch and we mentioned the discovery and next thing I knew all four of us had roundtrip tickets to Budapest for the third weekend of June. To say we had a phenomenal time together is putting it lightly. There is no denying we are all very unique, which could be a recipe for disaster or the most decadent piece of chocolate cake you ever tasted. Luckily our experience was the latter. From the moment we arrived we drew up a game plan for how to make the most of our 2.5 days and we did a hell of a job getting to almost everything while maintaining smooth seas. We had our hiccups (which mainly revolved around finding breakfast in a country where no one seems to eat breakfast…), but nothing detrimental. My favorite moments included drinking sparkling wine along the river at sunset, soaking and steaming in the thermal baths, and frolicking around the nature escape, Margaret Island, on a three-person bike. Hehe.
If you’re still with me, two orders of business.
#1) Congratulations! I hope you’ve enjoyed! We are almost done!
#2) As a reward, here’s a ridiculous video of us singing our hearts out on the three-person bike. Feel free to laugh at our expense. We know we’re fools and we’re okay with it.
What did you think of my blogging speed round? Hopefully I didn’t leave you with your head spinning! Life’s been a wild ride over the past few months and these are definitely some of my favorite moments (but don’t be fooled, the expat life is most definitely not synonymous with “a perfect life”). So as much as I’ve been loving life and am ecstatic to return in the fall, I am feeling ready to return stateside for the summer. Ready to relax and recharge my battery while indulging in some of my favorite American vices including the Today Show, HGTV and the Food Network, coffee from the Keurig with vanilla caramel creamer, my full-size bed, BBQs on the deck, hard cider, and infinite trips to Target….oh and to see friends and family, too! Only ten days remain til my feet are back on that all-American soil. And (in case you’re counting) yes, I’ll be missing the Fourth. Can we celebrate “part two” when I get home on the fifth?!
Besos a todos! Hasta pronto!
Sarah
A través de mis ojos 
Dear Sarah,
I loved reading a recap of each city you went to. Your writing for the Sevilla part was awesome, and you are making me consider a trip to Tenerife this summer…as well as a trip to Córdoba asap. Budapest was outstanding. I still think we need to go back for more and them some. I love you. You are going to BIG places in life. xoxo