Madrid, April 5

So for many crazy reasons, I went to Madrid. The main reason being that I wanted to do a Skype session with Yoojin and my parents so that I would feel a lot more relaxed when they ask about her and so they would also have a person to envision when they think of my roommate.
I also wanted to go and visit the city. I mean who doesn't want to, right? I didn't really know what to expect not only from the city but also from Yoojin and Jenny because I have known them both for quite a while, but not well enough to live with them for a few days. I know that something like this could probably have happened in NY but I know that it would not have felt as natural as it did here. It's strange what a foreign place does to people. I was so happy to see another familiar face in this foreign country and I know they were too. I have also realized how lucky Moe and I  were to have found familiar faces and people to guide us when we arrived. I don't know if I fully appreciated that while it was happening.
Well long story short these three days were amazing and so much more than I expected. Yoojin and Jenny are both amazing hosts and I felt immediately at home with them. They came with me to strange neighborhoods just to look at libraries, they showed me around their favorite neighborhoods and even went shopping with me. I know I wouldn't have had as good a time by myself at all.
The city itself is a city of many faces. I say that because it's obviously a Spanish city but doesn't show it's Spanish side in the older land marked buildings. In fact, those are rather typical European post renaissance buildings with columns and orders of window proportions, glorious sculpture reliefs and the like. Then comes another personality which belongs to the more recently developed neighborhoods with interesting clusters of apartment buildings and little parks where children and grandparents spend their time. This is also a non-American, but not specifically Spanish trait. It reminds me of Albania in many ways. The youth (and my youth I mean people between the ages of 15 and 40) of Madrid take over the older part of the city at night, where plazas that may seem very grand an somewhat austere during the day transform into a playground for teenagers and college students both Spaniard and foreign alike. The whole city comes alive with a completely different personality at night, as if the city has become young again.The stereotypically  Spanish part is really the art that lives in museums and the occasional Toledo gift shop with real swords and medieval Crusader uniforms, as well as a few restaurants that claim to have preserved the traditional Spanish cuisine: Spanish tortillas (yum!), Iberian ham (wouldn't know), and the coffee (mmm, coffee!).
But what makes this all particular to this part of the world is the lifestyle or better yet, the common outlook that Spaniards have on life. It's all about this idea of living such a relaxed life where you have time for a nap in the middle of your day and there is time to go out after dinner (at 10PM) and get a cup of coffee. It's a life where your diet consists of food that your mother makes without having to think about how processed something is, even if you buy it at the store.

So thank you Yoojin and Jenny!