Jillian in Madrid

With just under a month left in Madrid, one of my best friends from home, Kaleigh, came to spend a week in Spain with me. I did all of my homework ahead of time and saved up my "excused absences" for class so that I could spend the week doing fun things around the city and in Barcelona! The first thing we did once Kaleigh had gotten settled at her hostel was walk around La Puerta del Sol, the main plaza in Madrid. It is all decorated for Christmas right now, which means it is busier than ever. We got Chocolate con Porras (a better version of Churros) at Chocolateria San Gines, a famous spot in Madrid that only serves churros/porras with chocolate and is open 24/7. That night we went out to El Tigre for drinks that come with a huge plate of tapas, which was our dinner. We met up with some of my friends from the program and went around to different spots in the Chueca neighborhood, ending up at a rock music bar called Space Monkey, before calling it a day. T...

While most of us will be home in time for Christmas, Thanksgiving will be spent in Spain. We wanted to do something so that we didn't miss out completely on the best excuse to eat a ton of food ever, and so Graciasgiving was conceived. I ended up taking the lead and planning the event. This required that I find an Airbnb big enough for 12+ Americans, with a stocked kitchen, and that we wouldn't get in trouble for having a party in (jury is still out on if that will work or not, tbd). (UPDATE: Everything was fine except too many people sat on the futon and the leg bent on one side, hopefully we don't get charged too much. Honestly, having 13 people in one apartment, that is not the worst thing that could have happened by far.) I went and checked into the Airbnb in the afternoon. I was worried for a bit because nobody was there to let me in like the host had said there would be, so I was worried it was a fake listing. Luckily, they were just running late and I got in ...

My friend Jessica's one goal while in Europe was to visit Paris. Because I'm super thrifty when booking trips and have not spent too much money since I have been here, I was able to fit in this trip as well and go with her. At this point, I do wish I was spending more time in Madrid, but I will have basically a whole 5 weeks in Madrid after this trip so it isn't too bad.  We got into Paris late Thursday night and arrived at our Airbnb which was in the 20th arrondissement of the city and was also home to a grey cat. I was excited to have something to pet again, but turns out cat allergies don't disappear just because you want an animal to love in place of your dogs at home and I ended up feeling pretty crappy all weekend and am still sick a week later :(  We had a lot to get done in a short amount of time, so we took to the streets early Friday morning and saw all the sights. We made our way past Bastille, along the river to the island that houses Notre ...

By the time Jessica and I reached Vienna, we were tired. We had been walking so much for a week straight, but we were ready to take on the last stop of our Fall Break tour through Europe. Eliyas, a friend from our program, also happened to be in Vienna at the same time as us so we met up with him to go exploring. We walked along the main pedestrian street in Vienna, which is lined with shops of all sorts, most of which are extremely out of our price range, but it was fun to look at nonetheless. What struck me the most was how massive all of the buildings were. They were tall and wide and super imposing.  My favorite thing about arriving in a city later in the day is that you first get to see how it looks at night, and then when you wake up it's like you're in a whole new place again because everything looks so different. Our late night views were so impressive, that I couldn't wait for the next day. We stopped at Cafe Sacher, home of the original Sacher To...

With just about 48 hours in Budapest, Jessica and I were determined to squeeze in everything we had originally planned. We arrived at about noon, and the first thing we had to do was exchange our currency to the Hungarian Forint. Hungary's currency has crazy denominations- I received bills marked as high as 10,000 and 5,000 Forints. (1 USD is equal to about 282 Hungarian Forints). Then, we were prepared to make our way to our hostel, which I 100% selected based solely on the fact that it is called The Lazy Muggle. We chucked our luggage into our room and hit the streets. We didn't stop walking until 8 hours later. The first thing we saw was the Hungarian Parliament Building. Honestly, after seeing that insanely beautiful structure, I could have contentedly left Hungary. It is so massive and intricate and each side is more beautiful than the last. As we meandered the old streets of the Pest side of Budapest, we came across an enormous train station, outside ...