By bmlee18
I had the amazing opportunity to take a short trip to Madrid, Spain the past weekend. The voyage to Madrid was rather harrowing - I've never been very good at functioning on minimal sleep, but I had no choice but to stay awake the whole night, as my plane departed at 6am. At 3am, I boarded the bus from Cambridge to the airport, and after checking in and passing through security, I dozed off on the hard, uncomfortable bench by the gate like all of the other travellers around me who were waiting for their flights. Unfortunately, my flight was also delayed, and I remember feeling as if I was moving back and forth from a state of consciousness to a dreamy delusion - too nervous to fall completely asleep for fear of missing my flight, but also simply too tired to actually stay wide awake.
Despite the rather troubling start to my journey, once I landed in Madrid, I absolutely loved the city and knew that the lack of sleep and the restless night/morning at the airport were totally worth being able to bask in the warm Spanish sun and experience a new and exciting culture. As much as I love England, Spain was a really refreshing and exhilarating break. Madrid was such a vibrant and lively city, with people out and about at all hours of the day, and especially at night. This was different from Cambridge, or even London, where shops close much too early (especially on Sundays) and people are back at home by at least 6pm. Even the libraries at Cambridge (and there are many more libraries in this city than I have ever encountered elsewhere) close maybe at midnight latest, with most of them closing around 6 or 7pm, and not even open on the weekends. This certainly came as a shock when I first arrived because the sole library on GW's campus doesn't ever close, and past attempts to retract the 24/7 library hours have met vocal opposition from students. Now, don't get me wrong - I do appreciate the strict separation of work and personal life at Cambridge. But I really appreciated the energy and constant activity of Madrid, and the overall relaxed and laid back attitude people exhibited.
In Madrid, thanks to the afternoon rest culture of siesta, restaurants didn't even start opening for dinner until 8pm - so I was eating my meals at 10pm, which clearly broke from my habituated dinner time of 5pm in England. Perhaps one of my favorite places that I visited after a very satisfying dining experience of delicious tapas was Chocolatería San Ginés, a famous churro and hot chocolate cafe. To my surprise, I discovered that the cafe was open 24/7, and even at late hours of the night, people were standing outside in a long line that curved around the corner of the shop. Thank goodness for this cafe because it served possibly the richest and most delicious cup of hot chocolate I have ever had, which paired extremely well with warm, freshly made, deep fried churros.
Apart from good food (which undoubtedly could very well be the focus of many of my vacations), I was able to visit some of the main attractions of Madrid such as the Prado Museum, Royal Palace of Madrid, Temple of Debod, Gran Vía, Sol, Plaza Mayor, and Buen Retiro Park. While each place was uniquely wonderful, I particularly fell for Retiro Park, as I was able to peacefully stroll down the paved sidewalks of the park, watching various street performances ranging from puppet shows for children to comedy acts that drew large crowds. The highlight was renting a small row boat on a lake located at the heart of the park. I had actually wanted to do this so much that I came to Retiro Park three times, finally being able to hire a boat on the third attempt - the line had been too long the first time and our luck cut short on our second time as we missed the service hours. I remember thinking what a fantastic place this would be for families to bring their kids out on weekends and have picnics - perhaps I'll find myself back here a few years down the road with my own family (a simultaneously frightening yet exciting thought).
Overall, Madrid was absolutely a wonderful weekend getaway destination. I had always been fascinated by Spanish culture and cuisine, and had actually taken Spanish for a few years throughout middle and high school - which unfortunately was to no avail, as I still had trouble communicating, with my brain toiling to decipher what the bus driver or the cashier had asked and getting all my phrases mixed up with the other foreign languages I had taken up after Spanish. I do have to say that my trip renewed my interest to study Spanish again, and the only regret from the trip was not being able to visit other places outside of Madrid. Over the remainder of my semester abroad, I hope to be able to find myself again in Spain, especially in Barcelona - but this time with a better grasp of the Spanish language!