La Noche en Blanco

Hemingway once wrote

"Nobody goes to bed in Madrid until they've killed the night".

Locals heartily practise this during White Night in Madrid. The extravaganza of arts and cultural events takes place every September full moon, between sundown and sunrise.

Over 150 activities make up the ten-hour Noche en Blanco. The entire city is taken over by live music, light projections, street theatre and more. Parks, museums and galleries stay open all night for special tours, exhibitions and interactive projects, where the public work with professionals to produce pieces of art like films or collages.The White Night (or Nuit Blanche) phenomenon started in Paris in 2002 and has since spread to other cities across the world. Brussels, Rome, Riga, and Bucharest all make up the European White Night series.

The La Noche En Blanco (The Night In White) took place in Madrid, Spain, on Saturday night September 13, and ran well into the morning of September 14. Free events of the La Noche En Blanco in Madrid, Spain are made up of some 150 free musical, film, photography, art, and theatre performances. La Noche En Blanco Brings Out Thousands and Thousands into Madrid, Spain September 13-14

Festivals are a great way to sample the flavor of a city or region when traveling. More About La Noche En Blanco (The Night In White) In Madrid, tens of thousands of people roam the streets and watch performances. It's so crowded that Metro (the subway line of Madrid, Spain) trains going into the center of town (where many of the performances took place) were jammed like sardine cans. Thankfully though, the nighttime weather was mild with a bit of a breeze.One of the main drags of Madrid, Spain, the Gran Via, was closed off to automobile traffic. It's a surreal scene, because one is so used to seeing zillions of cars on that street, which is quite intimidating. The Gran Via has many retail shops and noticeable advertising, and is a bit like Times Square or Piccadilly Circus. Off this busy avenue, on the side streets many people just hang out and drink and/or eat.

One of the free performances during the La Noche En Blanco was at the Teatro Real (Royal Theatre). Outside this Madrid, Spain tourist attraction, many chairs were set up in the plaza so people could watch the opera Caballeria Rusticana on a giant big screen television that was attached to the theatre. This is usually culturally important for some Americans because this opera is featured in The Godfather, Part III.

As you walk the streets of Madrid, Spain, you'll notice a lot of street performers, some performing music and others dressed up in costumes trying to get reactions from people. The police patrol in cars and on foot en masse for this event. There are some interesting works of art at the CaixaForum that this year included a graffiti-inspired exhibition. Outside this cultural center, various graffiti designs were being displayed on the building while dramatic music played. A constant stream of people was coming and going to and from this exhibition called Graffiti Virtual. Being a part of the La Noche En Blanco in Madrid, Spain is something you will long remember. Festivals really bring the people out, and travelers would take heed to attend these events and get a fuller appreciation of a country's culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeygmfr_sFM

Personal Experience:

For weeks, I saw huge signs on every corner of Madrid advertising this Noche en Blanco. I asked around my work about what exactly this night was about. I was told that it was a cultural night where all the museums, libraries and stores are open all night. Most of the time, there was no entrance fees; however, the good places like La Biblioteca Nacional (Library), El Prado Museo and La Reina Sofia Museo (Museums) are jammed packed full of people by 10 pm. I was still intrigued but all my friends, having participated in previous Noches en Blanco, weren't too keen on the huge crowds. Well, I went along with their advice and enjoyed the local festivities around my barrio.

I pregramed at my place till around 11pm as I got ready: a customery routine that I kept from the US-- haha. I met up a little later with Devin and one of his friends. We strolled around Malasana doing a mini-botellon while we took in some of the live performances and crowds of people. Then we went to a little 'house party' at one of our friends. A group of about 10 sat around drinking and talking. When it got to be around 1ish, we all left to hit the bars around Malasana. By this time, all of us were pretty well 'hydrated.' There had previously been some tension between Devin's friend and some of the other people which came to a climax on the way to one of the bars. But after a few dramatic moments, everything was settled and we continued our night.

Being the 'White Night,' most of us were dressed in.... well, white. Club promoters were handing out free promtional things like posters and masks in order to draw in the crowds. Lines for most of the good discotecas were insane. The group of us were standing outside one for a good 15 minutes; that was until I felt the 'call of nature.' Luckily, Dev was in the same predictament so we left the line for a few minutes. When we got back, our group of friends had disappeared. So we ventured off to some other bars for awhile until we eventually ran-into the group at another bar. It was a crazy fantastic night. Everyone was just full of excitement and voldka which always makes for a 'interesting' night.

I strolled back to my apartment around 6 am after the last bars closed down. It was one of the best nights I had in Madrid to date. It was one of my first weekends in Madrid so also one of the first times I was really able to socialize with my friends I had made from work. I wish I had done more culturally important things but overall, I had an amazing first Noche en Blanco!

Home Sweet Home

Well the time had finally arrived. It was time for my first trip back to the United States since I had left 6 months before. I was a little nervous because most people say that your first return trip is your hardest: meaning that it is harder to get back on that plane back to Spain. I had little time to really anticipate the trip because I had so much work to do before hand. I was going to be taking an entire week off of work. So I had to prepare all my classes for my substitutes. But of course I couldn’t plan the next week until I had that previous week prepared. Therefore, in a matter of 3 days, I had to plan 12 days of class. That whole week, I spent every minute possible making photo copies, looking for resources and meeting with my substitutes to discuss my classes. Needless to say, I was tired. I was also pretty emotionally stressed too that month with financial and personal issue so I desperately needed this vacation.

I left mid-morning on a Tuesday which put me into O’Hare about 7pm. The flight was pretty standard. I had a layover in Copenhagen, Denmark for an hour and then a 9 hour flight to Chicago. I would definitely recommend Scandinavian Airlines, if you have the opportunity! I was greeted with signs and flowers by my mother and my siblings: Derek, Brock and Kylie. It was just the homecoming I needed. That night, I ate dinner at my Mom’s and then met up with some friends for a few drinks. I started my errands straight away the next day, picking up things to bring back to Spain. I visited some of my old hangouts and spent every second visiting the people I had missed the most. Thursday night, Carrie and I were up to our old shenanigans and went to Bourbon Street for Ladies Night. It was like I never left. Plus, it was Halloween that weekend so I even got to dress up! As you can see from the picture, I went as Limp Bizkit (though no one knew until I did the 'Rollin' dance) Some of my boys met up with us along with my other bestest Leslie. It was an amazing night.

Friday, I did more running around and then went downtown for Colleen and John’s rehearsal dinner. Saturday was their wedding, so it was a hectic day of hair, makeup, fake nails and last minute touches. My best friend Ray aka my wedding date drove down with my dad and brothers to meet us at the Church. It was a drama filled day but everything turned out perfect. Colleen made an absolutely gorgeous bride. The reception was one that will go down in infamy within my family. Words cannot describe it… so enjoy the pictures! We ate, drank and danced till the wee hours of the morning. Being Halloween, the theme of the wedding was Vintage Masquerade. Unforgettable.

The next night, I met up with my dad and other siblings, Liam and Windsor. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time as I wanted before they had to go back to their moms. That was probably the most disappointing part of the trip. These kids are growing up so fast and I want to make sure they know how important they are to me, all my siblings. It’s probably the hardest part of being so far away with such a large age difference between us. I have to take advantage and treasure every moment I have with them.

Well Monday came ever so quickly and it was time to head back home to Spain. I spent the morning packing and running last minute errands before my mom and grandmother took me back to the airport. The flight home felt a lot longer this time. I enjoyed every second of being back in Chicago but I was kind of glad to be going back. It wasn’t as hard as I expected it to say goodbye again. This trip was what I needed to reassure myself that I made the right decision to move to Spain and embark on this crazy adventure. As soon as I got back in Madrid, I had to throw myself back into my classes which was good because it didn’t allow me time to wallow. So this blog is dedicated to John and Colleen Whitehead that gave me the perfect excuse to come back for what was an amazing first homecoming! Congratulations!

La Virgen de la Paloma

One of Madrid's oldest and most celebrated fiestas, the Virgen de la Paloma, begins on August 11th and culminates on the 15th.

The fiesta has taken place since the 18th century in the Plaza de las Vistillas, which itself is an excellent example of old Madrid.Behind the celebration of the Virgen de la Paloma - which translates as the Virgin of the Doves - is the story of Maria Isabel Andrea Tintero, who healed one of the children of Queen Maria Luisa.

To this day, the climax of the fiesta remains the procession of a statue of the Virgin of the Doves, carried by the city council firemen from the Plaza de las Vistillas and through the streets and squares of the surrounding area.

However, the celebrations start much earlier than that, with events beginning four days before. Concerts, dancing and street performances can be found on every corner. The event remains a traditionally Spanish feel, with many of the locals dressing in Madrileño costume. Visitors can observe the men and women of the region dancing the chotis as they wear Chulapo outfits and shawls respectively.

http://www.fiestas-de-madrid.com/

Personal Experience:

Well as usual, I didn’t know any of the background of this holiday before I wrote this blog. I just knew that it was another excuse for dressing up, heavy drinking and dancing in the streets of Spain. This particular fiesta is special to Madrid. At the time, I was still living in Toledo but I knew from the stories I was hearing that I had to take part in at least one night of La Paloma. I finished out my work week and returned to Toledo. The next day I made plans to meet up with one of my colleagues, Luke, that I was quickly becoming friends with. I hopped the late morning bus back to Madrid and took the metro to Luke’s barrio. I met up with a bunch of his friends that I had met some weeks earlier when they came to visit me in Toledo. We went back to Will’s place and relaxed because they were still recovering from the previous night’s festivities.
When night fell, we hit up a small bar for some tapas and drinks then met up with some more of his friends. The streets were already becoming more and more crowded by the minute.

The small group of us went to a nearby ‘chino’ to get our take in beverages for the night as this is one of the few occasions where excessive alcohol consumption is completely ignored by authorities. We roamed the streets of La Latina with our full cups of calimocho as I took in every second of the insanity. We did the cultural part and stopped by one of the churches that held a procession for the religious ceremonies. I love Spain’s deeply rooted religious undertones to all their holidays; they definitely haven’t been overtaken by the novelty business as the US has been.

After I took my fill of touristy pictures, we found a corner to rest on while we drank and socialized. There were people in traditional dress, actors in full-costume, drunken tourists running around and wide-eyed children taking in the spectacle. Around midnight there was an amazing firework display. After our bag of drinkable goodies was gone, the group and I walked back to the main plaza where we hunted down some more beer. We sat in the plaza until early morning with groups on Spaniards drinking, dancing and signing along with hardcore “American pop.” Haha

A few of us staggered our way back to Will’s where we crashed around 6 am. Luke and I went out to this pretty tasty Indian place the next morning and by mid afternoon I was back in Toledo trying to recall the madness that happened in the last 24 hours. Definitely 2 thumbs up for La Virgen de la Paloma.

Working Girl (September)

This blog is going to be a lot shorter than the my usual ‘Working Girl’ blogs for 2 reasons: one, it was an uneventful month with a lot of the same students and two, I’m writing this eight weeks after the fact so I don’t remember much. This started the first month that I worked and lived in Madrid. Therefore, I it was the first month I took on a full-time schedule. September is still considered a summer month here so there aren’t as many teachers or students for that matter.

I had a morning class starting at 10 with only two women (Vivi and Patricia). This was a difficult class because they had totally different personalities. Vivi is very outspoken and controlling where Patricia is very shy and insecure about her Englsih. So it was a battle everyday trying to get Patricia to speak English and not Spanish and then keeping Vivi quiet enough to let Patricia actually try to talk.

It was also the first month I had classes in Tecnicas Runidas, one of my academies business clients. I met with 2 of their executives for private classes in the morning. I enjoyed these classes the most because I get to utilize my business knowledge instead of the repetitious travel, food and body parts vocab that I teach normal students.

I had an afternoon intensive class as well 5 days a week with 6 more students. The class wasn’t anything exciting but over that month I did encounter something I hadn’t encountered in the 4 months I had been at the academy: my first student complaint. He thought that the information I was teaching was irrelevant and that I didn’t utilize class time in a productive enough way. It was a big strike to my ego as I have always been a little insecure about my teaching abilities. I sat down with my bosses a few times to work out any kinks and to see where I could improve my classes. It took me a week to get my confidence level back but overall I took this as a positive stepping stone.

All in all, September was just another month at the academy. It was pretty under-emphasized in the grand scheme of things as my new life in Madrid stole the show.

La Vida de Una Madrilena

After 2 months of contemplating it, I finally decided that my time would be better spent living in Madrid. Toledo has my heart forever, but the 3 hours traveling and the extra expenses swayed me towards moving. My lease on my apartment in Toledo ended in August so I started looking for apartments in Madrid in my spare time. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Friends told me about some great websites to search:

http://www.idealista.com/
http://www.loquo.com/
http://www.fotocasa.com/

I found a lot of great places; however, with my limited free time, it was almost impossible for me to look at any apartments. Another teacher, Craig and I were looking to room together. So he was able to look at a few places but we never found anything we thought was decent enough. So it was coming up on the last week of August and I hadn’t found anything yet. Needless to say I was stressing. Well as fate would have it, I spent the weekend in Madrid with some friends that came to visit from Ohio. We went out with some teachers from ALA and I was telling a few of them about my predicament of finding a place. Then Christelle, one of the teachers, told me that she was going home to Canada for September, and if I needed, I could stay at her place. She had a small studio apartment in the Centro just 10 minutes walking from work. She said that I could pay her half the rent and could spend the rest of the month searching for something in October. I couldn’t believe how perfectly timing worked out. So later that week, I began moving things from Toledo to Madrid. It was official; I was leaving the City of My Dreams and starting another new chapter in my life as a Madrilena!

Well, my first night ended being a very interesting start to my new life in Madrid. One of the ALA teachers, Melissa was leaving to move to Granada. So after I dropped off the last of my suitcases, I met up with the group of ladies for some ‘quick’ goodbye drinks. 6 hours later as I’m stumbling back to my new apartment in a hurry to change clothes for a movie I was going to see with some other friends, I knew that I was in for a wild ride.

It was an amazing month. I got to sleep in and not worry about being late for class because I missed the bus or there were metro delays. During siesta I was able to go ‘home’ and take an actual siesta... wonderful! I had free time to run errands and not worry about when I could do the grocery shopping or laundry. Most importantly, when one of my friends asked if I wanted to go out for a quick drink or something, I could actually say yes instead of my common reply “Gee, I wish I could but I have to catch the last bus to Toledo now!” Without a doubt, this past month has definitely been less stressful and I was able to enjoy working in Madrid and actually discover all that it has to offer.

October came quickly. My birthday was at the end of September and I still hadn’t decided which apartment I wanted. Going back to the same websites, I looked at a place in Plaza de Castilla. The room was massive with its own sitting area and mini-fridge. However, my roommate was an older French woman. But I knew I wouldn’t find a room and accommodations like this. The other room was about a 3 minute walk from my work. I would share an apartment with 3 other people. It was definitely smaller but all the roommates we around my age. In the end I chose the second apartment. At this time in my life, I want to be around people my own age and to be able to come and go as I want not worrying if I am a bother to my other roommate. As far as I can tell, it was the right decision. I’m still working out the kinks with all the roommates but that’ll be in another blog! :)

I still haven’t discovered a third of what Madrid has to offer in the 2 ½ months I have been here already. I miss Toledo everyday but I know that Madrid is where I need to be right now. It’s been a wild ride and I can’t see what is in store for me down the line!

PICTURES COMING SOON!

The Joys of Friendship

I must say that throughout my 20-some years, I have been blessed with the best friends anyone could ask for. When I look back at my months here, I think about everyone I left back in the US. Sometimes I think I’m crazy for leaving home but then I realize how supportive everyone was of my decision to come here.

Well, to prove how fantastic they are, I actually had a few friends come visit me over the past few months. When I first came to Spain, my friend Stephanie sent me a lovely message saying how much she wanted to visit me. She and I studied together in Toledo, Spain back in the beginning of 2008. Throughout the rest of college and the following year, we stayed in contact and always reminisced about our fantastic time in Spain. So when she told me that she was planning a visit, I was overly excited about reliving my college days with her in Toledo. Without hesitation, I told Steph that she could spend as much time staying at my place (one of the many perks of having friends living abroad: no hotel expenses). She and her friend Audrey arrived the middle of August. I had class at the time her flight arrived so Dani went to the airport to meet them. Steph and Dani were also friends from our time abroad in Toledo; they planned the trip to coincide with another one of Dani’s friends, Emily that was arriving the same day to Spain for a visit. The group of them met me at my work and we all went to lunch with some of my ALA teachers. Then Steph, Audrey, Emily and Dani went back to my apartment in Toledo while I finished up my night classes. When I got back home, we all went out for some quick drinks and tapas. The girls were exhausted as was I, so we called it an early night. The next day Dani and Em returned to Dani’s village and I gave Steph and Audrey free reign of my place while I was at work. I have to say, that week was one of the best weeks I’ve had in Spain. Everyday when I got back, the girls had dinner already for me. They had both been in Spain before so they weren’t in real tourist mode, more of a simple, relax and enjoy the Spanish culture mode. The 3 of us went to the Perelada on Friday and reaped havoc as the only natural blondes there.

It was a blast. The next night, we decided to party it up in Madrid with some of the ALA teachers. Steph was recovering from one nasty resaca (hangover) so she stayed in the hostel we got for the night. Audrey and I ventured out to some bars with my friends and all in all had a fantastic time. We went back to Toledo the next afternoon and the girls finished out their trip within the next few days. I enjoyed having them immensely mostly because it gave me a taste of American that I had started to miss.

A few months later, I had another visitor… one of my best guy friends, Matt. He moved to Baltimore from Chicago the year before so it had been awhile since we both spent more than an hour together. His trip was a bit more taxing but I enjoyed every second of it. Unfortunately, when he booked his flight, I didn’t know what my class schedule would be the following month. As chance would have it, I had class when his flight arrived in Madrid. But we discussed it (immensely) and he decided to try his luck on the metro by himself. He made it to my work safe and sound and ready for the adventure to begin. We spent the following week exploring Madrid every free second I had. Of course, I couldn’t take a week off of class so I would get up early, go to class, come home, take Matt around, go back to class, go out with Matt, get a few hours of sleep and repeat the following day. By that Thursday, I was utterly exhausted. In Spain, I am accustomed to my daily siesta which was not remotely when one has a friend in town. He was a great sport though even considering my crankiness by the end of the week. During my breaks between classes we did the typical tourist things. I took him to the Prado, the Reina Sophia, Gran Via, el Retiro and other sites. We usually ate lunch at typical Spanish restaurants and most dinners I cooked at my place to save us some money. We went out Friday night with Nikki, one of the ALA teachers and met these really interesting Spaniards at one of the bars. Matt couldn’t get enough of the Spanish culture: everything from the concept of botellons, to the open prostitution on Gran Via, to the Chinos that “sell beer and Kit-Kats to booty-dancing Spaniards” as he put it. Haha! Saturday we spent a few hours in Toledo so I could show him where I lived for so long. I love sharing these places with my friends and hopefully get them to understand why I love my life here. Sunday we did his souvenir shopping and whatnot. He left Monday afternoon. By the time Monday came, we were already discussing his next trip to Europe. Next time, we agreed to meet up in another different country that would be an adventure for both of us. Can’t wait…

Another great thing about living abroad is the surprising amount of old friends that are also living or visiting abroad for some time. One of my good friends, Brian, is stationed in Naples, Italy with the Navy. So I’m planning a trip to visit him and vice-versa. Plus, we’ll most likely meet up in other random places to travel. Then about a month back a girl that I went to high school with contacted me on facebook saying that she was coming with some friends to visit Madrid and if I could offer any advice. I was more than happy to help and even offered to show them around when they got into town. So need less to say, I have had my hands full with friends’ requests to come visit. It’s been less than a year so I am really excited to see what the future holds. Remember all are welcome :) Hasta Pronto!

Birthday Celebrations

Well with the month of September flying by so quickly, I didn’t even realize that my birthday was the next week. It’s kind of a pain having a birthday at the end of the month here in Spain because no one really has any money left to throw a big shindig. Therefore, I decided to have a pretty low-key night. In Spain, it’s tradition that the birthday person buys the drinks when everyone goes out. Well, not being made of money and knowing how much my friends can put away, I decided just to have a few friends over to my place and buy some beer and calimocho stuff. Simple, easy and affordable.

My friend Dave came in on Friday from Talavera for my birthday weekend which was a lot of fun. It had been the first time he’d been back to Madrid since he studied here some months back. So Friday, we walked around downtown and hit up a bar that was in the basement of a hostel he had stayed in awhile back. At first the idea didn’t seem that fantastic, but it turned out to be a crazy, fun night. Plus, I loved watching how excited he got seeing everything again. It’s those emotions I miss the most; it’s so hard to explain but I love watching people when they have these moments of “Damn, I can’t believe I’m actually here! I can’t believe that I followed through with it!” Madrid and well Spain in general lost its zeal some months ago. Not that I don’t love it; but now it’s just… home, not that distant magical place it once was.



Anyways, Saturday was crazy hectic. It was the night of my “party” so I had a lot of cleaning and prep to do. Plus, I was in the middle of apartment searching because the girl, who I was renting the apartment from, was returning to Spain that weekend. On top of it, the girl was not happy that I was having people over to the apartment for my birthday… so it caused a lot of unnecessary drama that I didn’t need. But whatever. I spent the afternoon running errands and making my final piso decision. Late-afternoon, Dave and I stopped in at this going away party/ rummage sale for one of the ALA teacher that was moving back to the States. It was simple and a good way to socialize with some of the teachers outside of work. We couldn’t stay long because we were meeting Dani and Xandra for my birthday dinner. I hadn’t seen either of them in a long time, so I was really excited about it. I was told to pick the restaurant so I found this cute little Mexican place a few blocks away.

However, Dani and Xandra failed to tell me that neither of them likes Mexican food. Well, that dinner ended up being a big disappointment haha. But it was a nice gesture from them to let me get what I wanted while they suffered through it in silence.

With little time to spare, we returned to my apartment to get set for my birthday get-together. I didn’t have as big of a turnout as I had expected. People that I was sure would come, didn’t. And people that I didn’t think would come, did. In the end though, I couldn’t have asked for a better crowd.
Dani and Xandra left a little early to catch the last metro to their part of town. Nikki, a new teacher at ALA, came and I soon realized that she and I were going to become really close friends… which we did in the weeks that followed. My friend Emilio came and also Tisha and Devin, other teachers from ALA made an appearance. Dave stayed that night too and we all had an AMAZING time. We sat around and talked and joked about anything and everything. Then when all the booze was almost finished, he hit up Malasana (local street with lots of great bars). I don’t remember much about the bars but from what I’m told, I had a great time. When things closed down, he headed back to my place for a few more drinks before we passed out for the night.

Overall, it was the least pizazzed birthday I’ve had in a while but there’s nothing really special about turning 23, I guess. The people definitely made the birthday and I couldn’t have been happier! Thanks everyone :)